RAOC Gazette - page 194
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 |
Corporal Bill Brownbill who replaced Corporal John Hall and Private Steve Bolton who in a round-about way replaced Lance Corporal Jock Watt. We welcome new arrivals who have come to make up the new establishment Lance Corporal Mac McDonagh and Corporal Bob Russell. In the coming year we shall be saying goodbye to Staff Sergeant Bicker on redundancy, his replacement is to be Corporal Lord, (Sergeant to be). Lance Corporal Prior is being posted and his replacement is Lance Corporal Boneham. Corporal Wootton has had a surprise posting and promotion for next October. So that will leave Private Graham as the longest serving member of the Stores Section. RAOC in Cyprus ^ ^ • S ^ ^>t d» I 25 I \ £&} fa I •r^Tllw THIS month's notes cover the period from December 1977 to mid March 1978 and include a contribution from the Staff Clerks of Head- quarters Land Forces Cyprus. So much has happened during this time, particularly j n ^U0S^AV sporting and social activities that the reader ^^Sk^SW would be excused for thinking that we are ^E^f simply an extension of a well known chain of ^^^r holiday camps. To those of you who are ^ commuting or are working deep in slush or driving rain it will be hard to convince otherwise but we will do our best by reminding you that we also lead a routine existence, 1 albeit in somewhat pleasanter conditions than most and that Corps Troops East British Forces Cyprus which of course includes the RAF, as DURING March we lost the services of Herr J. Klatt who well as UNFICYP, continue to require to be fed, accommodated left to start work with ASU Celle as part of the reorganisation, and furnished, clothed, provided with ammunition, kept on Herr Klatt has worked in Headquarters RASC/RAOC in Celle the road and supplied with inordinate quantities of stationery, for almost thirty years and is known to many members of the and in this respect we are not short of something to do to Corps. keep us occupied- We do have a number of 'funnies' which WOl Brian Godden was presented with his Long Service break the routine, such as Major John Rose and Sergeants and Good Conduct Medal by the CRAOC, Lieutenant Colonel Mick Sharkey and Bill Orchard's sojourn in the baking heat of Oman, Major Ray Vincent's flying visit to a steaming hot C P, Dodworth. Bombay with frozen food for the Royal Navy and Staff Sergeant March also saw the return of our Snow Queen victim, Ken Storey's arctic month in the Troodos mountains helping Corporal Alan Brown, who contrived to have an accident on with adventurous training in three feet of snow during a winter the last day of the course 1 which was the coldest in Cyprus's recorded history. Add to this the Larnaca Airport incident in which SATOs staff WOl Jim Ordnance Services Belize Harper, Staff Sergeant Taff Davies, and Sergeants Ken Allen and Steve Mason were involved in a variety of ways, and WOl ORDNANCE SERVICES BELIZE is a most difficult place to Tony Brown and W02 Jim Caldwell's three month laborious write about, since by the time the notes are ready for type, and painstaking rewrite of Episkopi Garrison's LET would most of the present staff will have left, and the stories surround- ing them are of little interest to the newcomers. Best by far, seem to come under the general heading of * inequitable distri- bution of tasks/ therefore, is to go through some of the personalities. Officer-in-Command is Captain Peter Field and still recover- However, our impact on the local sporting scene can only ing from shock—doubtless he will survive the course. SQMS be described as dramatic. Bearing in mind that including Staff * Topper' Rumney is FOWO and now an MBE—these initials Clerks we total under one hundred military ranks even we admit have appeared rapidly on his nameplate, headed notepaper, that we are surprised at some of our achievements this season. memos and the like. All past and present members of Ord- RAOC UNFICYP are not eligible to participate in BFC com- nance Services however, I'm sure, offer their congratulations. petitions. The folowing is necessarily a summary of our record Another medal owner is SQMS Les Bowen who has recently to date and completely fails to transmit the build up, the been awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal— frustrations, elation and disappointments experienced before the ensuing party was well worth it. Staff Sergeant Mike and after each event, but morale is good and spirits are high Costen is Rations NCO and deadly adversary of Brodies, our and the support of our * gladiators * by other members of the Dry Goods Contractor. He is ably assisted by Lance Corporal Unit and wives is magnificent. * Jock * Begg who has a penchant for Composite Rations. Army Cyprus Representation. To give you some idea of the Staff Sergeant ' Des ' Williams heads the Stores Section staff standard of sportsmen we possess here is a list of those who and can be heard daily muttering to himself that things must have gained their colours in Army Sports in Cyprus, Sergeant get better. Sergeant Dave Langham is our Chief Clerk and Don Pearson, cross country, table tennis and hockey; Captain quite unflappable—(for M and RO—please vet all future in- Lawrence Wood, volleyball and basketball; Staff Sergeant Dave cumbents for this quality). Sergeant ' Grimble * Grimsley is our London, basketball; Captain Roy Symons, table tennis; Staff Stores Sergeant and certainly shifts things around, and Stores Sergeant Taff Collins, rugby (coach); Staff Sergeant Taff Davies, aren't the only things he shifts either. Sergeant Ray Kennard rugby; WOl Pat Mackey, rugby; Corporal Dennis Head, cross is our Vehicle Specialist and walks with a satisfied smile on his country and Staff Sergeant Bill O'FIaherty, cross country. face, as though he knows something we don't. Corporal Nick It is interesting to note that RAOC Cyprus supplied three Bateman, big in coffee tables, and Lance Corporal Steve Carlyon, of the eight members of the cross country team. We also big elsewhere, are at present busily arranging R and R leave in expect to be represented in football, squash and a few other America. Corporal Peter Rogers, Privates Dave Cook and Keith sports. Edmunds are at present walking around in a dream having just Cross Country Running. This dominates our own Unit returned from Panama, Costa Rica and San Salvador. sports scene and since our very creditable showing in the Cyprus Sergeant Bob Cunningham-Norton and Lance Corporal Frank walkabout last September we have entered for no less than Cockayne are our Stocktakers and experts in Elsan toilets, end twenty events, winning some, runners up in others and never panels and mothballs. Corporal Vince Banton, who is not quite less than third against Army and RAF major and minor units sure why he is here, is discovering the delights of AFs G890. alike. The culmination of all these events was the remarkable Sergeant Steve Coelho, also in the Stores Section, has worked team win by RAOC Cyprus in the gruelling marathon run very hard on his tan with envious results. Sergeant Andy over a distance of twenty six miles three hundred and sixty Hawkins and Corporal Harry Bairstow work with Ammunition five yards. It was a fitting end to a superb season for fourteen and are elusive characters—always involved at Eshville. very determined men who have served the Corps magnificently. Finally we would like to say farewell to Corporal White To give them names they include; W02 Ken Norgate, Staff and Sergeant Douglas, and welcome to SQMS Marchant, Sergeants Dave Holvey and Bill O'Flaherty, Sergeants Don Corporal Scott and Private Standard. Pearson, Ron Parker, Ken Allen and Steve Mason, Corporals Dennis Head, Trevor Edge, Tony O'Connor, Dave Franklin and Scobie Greasly, Privates Bill Black and Kevin Bacon. None of those mentioned will mind that Corporal Dennis RAOC SECRETARIAT Head is picked out for special mention. He has been our 4 front runner' throughout the season and the teams success ONE of the objects of the Secretariat is to keep all has been established on his achievements which has placed him who are now serving, or have served, in the Corps, high in the order of merit for competition distance running in abreast of Corps events and to advise on Corps domestic Cyprus. Never less than two and often three teams were entered affairs. It is hoped that as many as possible will take for each event and in the marathon it was remarkable that we the opportunity of visiting the Secretariat whenever they gained first and fourth team placings, an achievement of which are in the vicinity of Deepcut, to see for themselves how we are all proud. Individual placings were: third, Corporal such affairs are being handled. Dennis Head; seventh, Sergeant Don Pearson; eleventh, Private Bill Black; fourteenth, Staff Sergeant Dave Holvey; fifteenth, — 396 — |
| Book number | R0246a |