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RAOC Gazette - page 155

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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1977
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Transcription t , vnpany has set the Battalion over forties' squad a difficult
; : . :et to beat by complying, at the tender age of fifty, an
...••",•!ally timed and supervised three mile run in seventeen
ii Mites seventeen seconds.
Thirty six members of 16 Battalion, including six WRAC,
levelled up to Capcl Curigor for Exercise Capel Jaunt on the
9th July for a spot of adventurous training in the hills. The
weather on the way up was glorious but there were dark
nmtterings of " It'll rain tomorrow " from the pessimists among
the party. In fact it did not rain, at least, not until Wednesday
night but more of that later. On the Sunday Second Lieuten-
ant Lace, Corporals (XConnelL Duncalfe and Roper, Lance
Corporal Low and Privates Dunn and Mcintosh set out to walk
over the Devils Kitchen. This, although tricky and steep, was
accomplished without too much effort although, because of
bHliant sunshine all were glowing on arrival at the other end.
The next day it was decided to try something rather bigger—
Snowdon—with the whole party involved but splitting into two
groups to tackle the climb. Having decided to make the most
of the weather all were in T-Shins and consequently ail were
either burnt or, if lucky, bronzed. The view at the top was
magnificent and the journey was much easier going down than
up. Stopping at a small lake half way, two members of D
Company took a dip (fully clothed and not entirely volun-
tarily!). The Wednesday was the day used to trek up Craig-
p-iwr to camp overnight near the summit. Despite assurances
t;:at the weather would be so hot that fly sheets would not
be required on the tents all awoke the next morning, or rather
gave up pretending to sleep, in six inches of water! Still, none
had exposure and they plodded on regardless and were dry
before reaching base camp.
D Company WRAC entered the South East District Inter-
Unit Athletic Championships at Aldershot along with six
other units.
The meeting opened with the first event for
women, the long jump, which D Company won. From then on
they went from strength to strength managing a good placing
in all events. By the time the last event—the 4 x 1 metres
relay—was due to be run three units were neck and neck. The
race was on, and D Company were home and dry reaching the
tape first; this gave victory overall but only beating the
second team by one point and the third team by two points.
This success led to the Women's Inter-Unit Finals held once
again at Aldershot, with the Company representing South East
District (West). Seven teams qualified including a team from
Kraefeld in BAOR.
This championship proved to be even
more exciting than the qualifying rounds and again it all
depended on the 4 x 100 metres relay. D Company and 10
Company were at forty one points each, both fighting hard for
nrst place with the BAOR team a very close third. The gun
went for the start of the relay; the spectators were having
their monies-worth and the cheering reached a remarkable
crescendo. Again D Company managed to break through—
winning the relay and equalling the best performance time of
52.4 seconds held by the WRAC Centre, Guildford, since 1972.
D Company had now completed the double, so with the trophy
they set off back to Bicester to recover from the excitement.
A team from D Company entered the swimming champion-
ships at Aldershot. To start the afternoon off well they won
tpe 100 yards breaststroke and by 1630 hours, after winning
the 4 x 3 3 | freestyle relay, D Company were presented with the
winners cup,
dancers and even tug-of-war teams took part, and for a while,
Chilwell became a second Braemar,
This month we say farewell to Colonel Reggie Edwards,
our SSO, who has done so much for the Garrison over the
last three and a half years. Both he and his charming wife
Ann will be sorely missed. We also say farewell to Major
Mat Jones, Major Derrnot Cronin and Captain John Wynn,
all prominent in Garrison activities.
Apart from Dermot
Cronin, all the aforementioned are off to BAOR—AG9 have
done well! Major Geoff Albert is also off to Northern Ireland
on an emergency tour,
The Sergeants Mess held their Summer Ball which as is
customary went on into the early hours. We understand that
the day afterwards was cancelled, due to lack of interest.
We welcome this month Colonel Aubrey Whent, Major
John Duggan and Major Frank Smith and hope they will enjoy
their stay at Chilwell.
Central Ordnance Depot Donnington
LONG Service and Good Conduct medals have been presented
by the Commandant during the month to W 2 Roud, seen in
our photograph with his wife and the Brigadier, to Corporal
Metcalfe and Private Usher who must be one of the few Private
soldiers to receive this coveted award.
Brigadier Short with W 2 and Mrs Roud after presentation of
the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
Our minor units team came nineteenth in the Bisley Skill-
at-Arms Championship and we can report that twenty of our
over-forties have already completed their basic Fitness Test 3
voluntarily, in advance of the scheduled requirement which was
to do so in April 1978, We expect very shortly to obtain the
first certificates from the DGOS as having met his fitness
challenge.
Central Ordnance Depot Chilwell
IN spite of variable weather we succeeded
in holding two of the main events this
month in fine weather. The only one to
$
$
*
suffer was the Base Organisation Tennis
Competition which was unfortunately
affected by rain, but nevertheless was
completed and very successful.
The other two events were the Chil-
well Garrison Fete held on 9th July
which, from first reports, appears to have
been even more successful than previously.
The success of the Fete was of course
solely due to the prodigious efforts and long hours put in to the
preparations by the civilian and military staff and the wives
'"•' Chilwell Garrison, The second notable event, although not
J^ganised by us, was the Nottinghamshire Pipe Band Contest
held on our T sports field. The Chieftain for this most colourful
and • tuneful event was Brigadier John Smith (Retd), a former
Commandant.
Some twenty seven bands, Scottish country
W

Central Ammunition Depot Bramley
THE most important visit we have had recently was by Major
General Callan who visited us on the 24th June. The DGOS
spent a full day touring the Depot.
HMS Bubble, the Guided Weapons float, took to the road
again this month at the Basingstoke Carnival. The Galleon was
masterminded by Lance Corporal Ribs McDonald who was
quoted in the local papers as being a ' shy young soldier.' If
only they knew! The one hundred and fifty floats in the Carnival
were split into six classes. HMS Bubble won her class, the
Non-Industrial Clubs class and the overall Challenge Cup, She
also won the Hampshire Carpet and Furniture Cup.
After beating COD Donnington in the semi-final, Bramley
met 10 Ordnance Support Battalion in the Final of the DGOS
Cricket Cup. Having scored one hundred and thirty eight runs
for seven Bramley won by sixteen runs with all members of the
team contributing to the success in retaining the trophy. Cap-
tain Steve Goldring was awarded the Man of the Match trophy
119 —
Book number R0246