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RAOC Gazette - page 26

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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1977
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Early date 1977
Late date 1977
Transcription Che
at
Directorate
tatton Jleto£
otnt
of Supply Management
HEADQUARTERS
S MAN I. Last month S Man 2
listed in Episode 1, personalities
who worked in S Man 2. This
month It is the turn of S Man 1 to
do likewise.
Episode 2.—Storm.
Currently S Man la is located
in Old War Office and S Man lb in First Avenue House. S
Man la will be moving shortly to First Avenue House thus
gaining valuable movement experience before moving to And-
over later in the year.
Our Dominion (another goad word for Jubilee Year) con-
sists of: Colonel S Man I—Colonel John Liveing; S Man la
Lieutenant Colonel Geoff Shorrock, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd)
Jack Hearn, Major John Eddison, Major Ben Cooper and Major
Phillip Gratwicke (RCT) and Major Bill Collings <RA); Major
John Baker (Retd) (ex R Sigs), Captain John Norris, Mrs
Delia Harrison, Messrs Paul Henson and Ian Blakesley. S
Man lb Lieutenant Colonel John Marsden, Major Mike Rose,
Major Gill Jefferies (Retd) and Major Randy Jones, Captain
Jim Sykes, Messrs Ken Addy, John Bentley and Ron Wood-
roof. Last but not least our Chief Clerk is W02 Ralph
McKee.
Finally we wish the following all that they wish them-
selves, now that they have left us; Major Don Baker on retire-
ment, who will be taking up a research appointment; Bill
Leckie on retirement to take up an appointment with EMI.
Joe O'Hare on posting to HQ CVD Ashchurch and Maurice
Young on promotion and posting to command VSD Moenchen-
gladbach.
S Man 2 Episode 3. How they brought the good news
from Bicester to London (w*ith apologies to R. Browning).
Well it's not so much good news as bad. How bad?
Well judge for yourself—we missed out of last months notes
some of our civilian colleagues at Bicester! So to put that
right T we apologise to Mr Steve Tooke and Ms Francis Edmonds-
Jones and the clerical staff of S Man 2a(3), Ms Sandra Kavanagh,
Margaret McRobie and Mary Thompson.
Having got that over and done with, there is little to
report this month except for the hardy few who have braved
the weather and taken holidays and those who now look relieved
that the school Easter holidays have finished. But wait! Who
is this bronzed figure who approacheth? Why 'tis Colonel
John Skinner returned, limbs intact, from soaking up the sun
on the ski slopes of Austria.
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENTS DIVISION DONNINGTON
NOW that the Auditors have left we can get on with more
important matters such as THE GAZETTE Notes. The smell of
sulphur and brimstone still remains but at least Mr Terry
Foster has stopped humming * Silence is Golden/
Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Nares has just been posted
from our Weapons Branch to the COD. His departure, in a
welter of wood worm dust and beeswax, was marked by a
very pleasant party at the Red House. Late in the evening
Mr Bill Jameson and Lieutenant Colonel Tony Camfield got
around to lamenting the passing of the good old days of the
late forties in Donnington when even the present DGOS was
but the fifth subaltern on the left in Storehouse B2.
In Colonel Malcolm's stead we give a hearty welcome to
Lieutenant Colonel John Kostoff of the United States Army and
his charming wife and three children. We trust that their stay
with us will be both happy and memorable. However, it is
not true that we also received a free consignment of peanuts at
the same time.
Major Douglas Stobie and Major Nick Wall, Captain
Lennox Macewan, Corporal Steve Swailes and Lance Corporal
John Babbage helped the COD Donnington Hockey team
to nearly win the Plate competition of the Bari Cup. Need-
less to say this fine performance has not merited a bye for
them in the annual BE test.
SQMS Phil Buxton is to be congratulated on his promotion
to warrant rank. The flow of Battle Batteries will no doubt speed
up in consequence. Major Sam Allen has been seen up and
about. He is threatening to return to work.
Mr Brian Smith has passed his EO selection board and now
awaits an appointment. The only long serving civilian staff
retirement this month is Mr Vick (or is it Cyril) Vickers from
Weapons Branch. We wish him health and happiness.
Finally gardening is tending to exercise our minds and
bodies. Garrison Orders, as always keeping us abreast of im-
portant matters, require only one third of each quarter's garden
to be tilled—the remainder under grass. Therefore why has a
four stroke rotavator just been delivered to Colonel Lloyd
Davies' quarter, we ask ourselves?
Directorate of Clothing and Textiles
ASK YOURSELF dear reader, what other organisation in the
British Army would have two Directors at 30,000 feet above the
Sahara, beginning their lunches with caviar, washed down by
vodka, and all in the line of duty. Let it not be said that
Brigadier Malcolm Page's height above sea level was the result
of a monumental flap. In fact the journey was to one of the
larger African nations with some designs for a new ceremonial
uniform.
Other visits abroad by our staff have included Major Digby
Smith's visit to the German Quality Assurance Directorate at
Koblenz, followed by tours to clothing factories elsewhere in
Germany. The aim of the visit was to test out how in practice
NATO agreements for mutual quality assurance on clothing
could be achieved by one member nation for another. This
visit was Major Smith's swansong before leaving us to become
OC MHTU at Bicester. He claims that the highlight to his
tour with the Directorate was his achievement of the introduction
of the ' Babygrow.* in various pastel shades, on a tri-Service
basis, despite objections by the Navy and RAF to his choice of
colours* His successor, Major Peter Field from First
Avenue
6
House, is warmly welcomed and assured that the Babygrow *
saga is definitely at an end.
C and Tl, in the guise of Colonel Clive Brennan and
Major William Reeve with Lieutenant Colonel David Hall and
Mr Cyril Cooper from SCRDE, set off on an arduous fact
finding tour to Norway to investigate the success or otherwise
of our Arctic clothing. They visited 45 Commando north of the
Arctic Circle and 1 Royal Anglian Group further south, Apart
from user reactions collected (favourable) we have since been
regaled with their war stories. It must be hell to spend a night
in a tent at — 15°C We shall all treasure Major Reeve's
exposition and demonstration of the use of the Arctic Sock.
With much sorrow and liquid refreshment aboard the paddle
steamer ' Old Caledonia * we said farewell to Mr Jack Jarvis,
Principal C and T3, on his retirement after many years of service
with the Directorate. His first brush with the Army was in
1946 when, after leaving the RAF, he was made to don Army
uniform as a civilian in the Finance and Audit Department
with British Troops Austria. We wish him every joy in his
retirement.
Training Centre
HEADQUARTERS
CAPTAIN MARGARET GIBSON has vacated her chair as
S03 and been replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Elaine Anton.
Margaret has been posted to Larkhill and will be missed by the
whole Training Centre as well as the Headquarters Staff,
We must congratulate Staff Sergeant Pete Simmons on his
selection for promotion to W02 and WOl Larry Cunningham
on his selection to Conductor (just in time for his release party).
We are happy to see Mr Cunningham in the office, as with his
continuation training at the Training Battalion, Adventurous
Training in Norway and Management Training at the School of
Ordnance, we were beginning to think that he was SOS!
Sergeant Pete Smith has been capped for the Army at Rugby
and is currently on tour; and the last but not the least of our
Book number R0246