RAOC Gazette - page 161
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1978 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1978 |
| Late date | 1978 |
| Transcription |
THE CORPS REPRESENTED UN THE • SURREY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS THE 1978 Surrey Golf Championships, held at Sunningdale, were open to all Surrey Professionals and Amateurs—mark you you had to have a handicap of five or less. Surrey, being good golfing country, boasts a fair number of top professionals and listed in the order of play, among such well known professional names as Neil Coles, Bernard Hunt, Peter Butler, Ken Bousfield and amateurs Ted Dexter and Jimmy Tarbuck was that of Staff Sergeant P. R- Wilson of the RAOC Training Battalion and Depot. Interesting enough in itself but also rather unusual—when it transpires that Staff Wilson, playing off a handicap of two, didn't take up golf until 1970! He first piayed in Singapore at the Warren Club and after winning two out of three major club events, found himself at the end of the year, with a handicap of seven and playing for the Army in the Far East Championships. Back in UK, at Deepcut the Army Golf Club soon further reduced him to six, SNOWCATS TO THE RESCUE FEBRUARY, as you know, saw blizzard conditions throughout Britain. Particularly badly hit was the South West—a tradi- tionally sheltered spot which has come to expect mild winters. At Ludgershall we store the Volvo BV202 (Snowcat); most of these were away on Exercise Hardfali in Norway, but there were still some new Mklls and older Mk Is, Their suitability for the conditions in the South West was obvious but, the RAF and RN helicopters appeared to be coping, despite their rather restricted payloads. By Tuesday the 21st of February fog and icy conditions were however, seriously interfering with their sorties. All that morning Ludgershall was handling enquiries as to the performance, payload and range of the Snowcats. At 1230 hours came the order to despatch two of the Mk lis to Devon. 1230 hours is five minutes into Depot lunch break, by 1430 hours the Volvos were out of storage, checked over, kitted up, crewed up, loaded onto ten-ton flatbeds and out of the gates, The crews spent that night at the Royal Marine base, Lymp- stone near Exeter. Next day started the work proper. The teams worked independently; team one, Corporal Strange and Private Rees, based on Barnstaple and team two, Lance Corporals McMurdo and Pollin on Okehampton. Their tasks ranged from carrying food and fuel to a snowbound version of the flying doctor. Some of the highlights of the exercise are recounted by the crews. An electrician had to be taken out to a remote farm to reconnect the supply. He sat rigidly in the Volvo cab gripping the grab handle as if he was convinced his life depended on it. The vehicle climbed, leaned, slithered and bucked at the crazy angles it was designed for. The electrician went paler and paler as they drove on and said not a word. Lance Corporals Mc- Murdo and Pollin were worried that he was going to pass out—if not die of fright. They reached the farm and helped him out; he then turned to them and declared it had been the best ride of his life and he wouldn't have missed it for the world! On a particularly difficult trip to one cut off village, the crew encountered an eighteen foot high snowdrift. This took some climbing over but they managed it and eventually reached the village. Once there a rather worried lady asked if they had m Staff Sergeant Wilson in the cap signs his card. With him are his playing partners Jeff Jukes and Keith Maxwell. Posted to the RMAS, he was a member of their team which won the Army Challenge Cup for the RMA for the first time in their history. Staff Wilson now joined Hindhead GC and while there reached the last eight out of five thousand entries in the Even- ing News Match Play Tournament. At this stage, after only four years, his handicap was down to two! Over the intervening years Staff Sergeant Wilson has played a great deal of competitive golf both in UK and in Germany, with considerable success, which takes us back to the Surrey Championships and Sunningdale. Alas no fairy tale ending here. Staff Wilson played in the qualifying round with Jeff Jukes the Wimbledon Common Pro- fessional and Keith Maxwell the Sunningdale Assistant in appalling weather conditions, and this time failed to qualify. Fm not sure if in recounting this little story I intended to give hope to those who newly take the game up or to add despair to those who for long years have toiled just to cure that slice—much less to reach single figures 1 feel sure it is the former. Staff Wilson completes his service later this year, he is no youngster, but hopes to again represent the Corps—and to chase a few more pots, before his retirement. THE SOUVENIR PHILATELIC COVER IN.addition to the commemorative Souvenir Cover to be issued with an 8^p Silver Jubilee Stamp, the cover will also be serviced with the 9p Tower of London Stamp. The Tower of London was the first Ordnance Depot in the United Kingdom. (This should be ordered as Cover B.) Full details of the issue were given on page 334 of the April GAZETTE. I R A O C O F F I C E R S C L U B B A L L 19T8 THE BALL will be held in the Headquarters RAOC Officers Mess at Blackdown on Friday, 19th May. Dancing will be from 9,00 pm to 3.00 am. In addition, a discotheque will be available in adjacent accommodation. Supper will be served from 11.00 pm to 12.30 am, and there will be hot soup from 2,30 am. The dress for serving officers will be Mess Kit. For others, it will be Dinner Jacket. The price of the first two tickets for Officers Club members and their wives is £7.50 each. Tickets for private guests—limited to two per club member—will be charged at £9 per guest. Subsequent bids for tickets in excess of this limit may be called for later if the total permits. The price includes the buffet supper and all drinks consumed with the exception of the following wines which will be available on bar chits: Laville et Cie at £4.50 per bottle, Buvet Ladubay at £2.50 per bottle. The minimum table grouping is for eight persons but this can be extended in multiples of four to a maximum of sixteen. Tickets may be obtained on application to the RAOC Secretariat, Deepcut, Camberley, Surrey. Cheques made payable to the RAOC Officers Club Fund, must accom- pany the applications which should also state the table size required and the names of any guests or seating preference, There is an absolute limit of two hundred and sixty six persons so order your tickets now and avoid disappointment. 367 — |
| Book number | R0246a |