RAOC Gazette - page 168
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1977 |
| Late date | 1977 |
| Transcription |
'•'.W 2 Armoured Division 5 FIELD FORCE ORDNANCE COMPANY THE pride of place of the opening para- graph goes this month to Private Ray Toplass who married Miss Susan Vickers at Tunstall Methodist Church in July. A guard of honour consisting of Staff Sergeant Roger Bowdem Corporals John Selkirk, Mick Higham, Mick Cutbush, Lance Corporals Mick Shepherd and Jim O'Hara, and Guardsman Pete Ward, went over for the wedding- Congratulations to Ray arid Susan. Whilst on the subject of matrimony may we also congratulate Corporal Bill Holmes on persuading our delectable Miss Christine Hardacre into becom- ing his fiancee. Having had our Gunner and Guardsman on approval for what seems to be forever they have now rebadged and have accepted the proud and honourable title of Private. Welcome to the Corps to Privates Bob Validly and Pete Ward. Now if only we can teach them to speak English Strength increases as ever must be offset by postings o u t It is with a sense of loss we say goodbye to Corporal Ian Spencer and his family. He is only going up the road to Osna- bruck and as Sergeant at that, but exercises will never be the same without a large helping of Spencers Stew. We also mourn the passing on of Lance Corporal Dennis {to give him his posh name) Tattersall. Tatty you will be missed if only for your free fall demonstrations. Lastly, Private Roy Blythe is off to Kineton. As our APTI his working day was from 0800 to 0830 when the daily run finished. It's to be hoped Kineton don't spoil things for him by actually making him work! Corporal John Selkirk took some time off from his running to sit his EPC and passed first time—including two subjects with distinction. Now he's had a posting order to the Hebrides which insists that all soldiers posted there must be able to swim. De- fence cuts really do seem to be taking effect! Last item here concerns Lance Corporal Jim Eccleson who. expecting a swan of a few months, volunteered to go to Belize for a spot of sunbathing in a warm place. In fairness it must be pointed out that he did volunteer before things got exciting. Finally a story that was going to be the subject of a separate article in THE GAZETTE. But as the Administration Officer said to the Second-in-Command " Who would believe that we volunteered to go on exercise?" Anyway, volunteer they did as umpires for Exercise Long Range Eagle. They expected to take things easy but were soon disillusioned when they had to pack everything for a six day exercise into their Bergens, including rations and a change of clothing for after the exercise! Captain Jim Morgan was placed in the care of a villainous looking patrol of four Greeks. Jokes about it being all Greek to him had obviously worn thin by this stage. Lieutenant Ian Quarrier set off with four German paratroopers and by the end of the exercise only had one left. As we said, you'd never believe it, so perhaps a fuller report in the next issue of THE GAZETTE may be necessary. experience when they ran out of food after three days in the Held! AQ Branch is almost totally renewed now with a new chief clerk in the form of WOI Donoghue who has come to us from 20 Ordnance Field Park. We welcome Sergeant Knight from Northag who is manning the Operations Room and con- gratulations to Corporal Welch on his promotion. Lance Corporal Lyneham has been moved down stairs from G Branch. He wonders if this ' promotion' is due to the fact that he basnet been fined for his driving over the last couple of weeks. The only person who is still in situ, is Private Adams who found himself at one point, as AQ Branch! Back in Headquarters RAOC, the Adjutant, Captain Steer and Chief Clerk Sergeant Reardon went off to Stuttgart for a week to see how an American Ordnance Unit worked. As well as inspecting the Unit, partaking in Physical Training, and having joy rides, they did a lot of work in the sphere of Anglo American relations in the PX. Just how much cannot be told in case their wives read this column! Sergeant Reardon has been seen writing off to various addresses in Saudi Arabia since the 4 Division football team, (of which he is Manager, Secretary and odd job man), held Huddersfield Town Football Cup to a two-two draw. The Materiel Branch is wading through the intricacies of restructuring, headed by W 2 Heritage and helped (?) by Lance Corporal Berry. Private Davies is keeping close to his micro- fische machine since he left it the other day and came back to find it being offered to another Unit. Throughout all this, our DOWO, Conductor Callaghan still insists that a run is good for the soul! Postings out: W 2 Bush, Staff Sergeant McTaggart and Corporal Davies. 6 ORDNANCE FIELD PARK THIS month saw the annual departure of most of the Ord- nance Field Park on Summer Camp at Pfronten Bavaria, on Exercise Bold Crusader. Captain Mobley organised and ran the exercise with an administration team consisting of Lieuten- ant France, Sergeant Griffiths and our two chefs, Corporal Dempsey and Lance Corporal Gawthorpe. Unit personnel were split into two groups and changed over daily. One group went on a mountain trek of twelve to eighteen kilometres whilst the other group worked on community projects for Gemeinde Pfronten, in whose ice stadium the Unit was staying. The community project consisted of building small bridges, forest paths, walking routes and resurfacing mountain roads. The weather during the first week was poor but the second week the sun came out and all climbed the Aggenstein, the highest local mountain. Relationships with the town developed during our stay and almost everyone was given some present to thank them for their hard work. Even the hangovers were cheap. The Unit groups were guests of honour at a ' Heimatabend,' a local Bavarian evening, in the Town Hall, and experienced an excellent evening watching Schoh Plat dances and yodelling. We might even get the freedom of the town before long! The Unit also won twenty one gold medals and three silver medals in the seventh International Walk at Pfronten covering a distance, cross-country, of twenty kilometres in two hours forty minutes. We would like to congratulate Lance Corporal Halliwell on his promotion to Corporal, and Privates Cowl, Pattison and Pearce on their promotion to Lance Corporal. Congratulations must also go to Private McDonald on passing his B2 Store - man, to Private Stan Fletcher on passing his B2 Staff Clerk with his ammunition boots on, and to Private and Mrs Ward on the birth of their daughter. Arrivals: Sergeants Stent and Hughes, Lance Corporals Masham and Francis, Privates Lane, Pearce, Thomas and Wilkes. Departures: Corporal Warburton, Privates Chipperfleld, McQueen, Stewart, Seymour. Jordan and Popyk. 4 Division HEADQUARTERS RAOC THE Headquarters has been a veritable hive of toil, sweat, tears and moving bodies over the last month. The month began with the Silver Jubilee Parade at Sennelager. The CRAOC t Lieutenant Colonel Robinson, had the honour of conducting Her Majesty around the static Ordnance display in the afternoon. On the march past, RAOC 4 Division was represented by some twenty soldiers drawn from Units within the Division. Most of the staff were mobilised to help out in one form or another. Clerical support was masterminded by WOl Glen. Somewhere at the end of the line came the dynamic duo from Registry, Privates Gibbs and Patrick who although they tried to tell everyone they were hard worked, came back with suntans! After the parade, we were allowed a weeks rest before being thrown out into the greenwoods of Germany on Exercise Main Brace. New things were being tried and new faces being shown * the ropes.' At Main Headquarters, Private Green was almost convinced that his job in life was to sweep out the tented complex while they were in woods. Headquarters Logistic had Sergeant Knight looking lost and bewildered, Private Broad- bent was heard to ask at, one point, ' who was that fool banging his mess tins together' and Headquarters DAA had an 57 STATION WORKSHOP DURING the past couple of months, there have been more comings than goings. Our Chief Clerk of many years, Herr Woide, retired taking with him many years of valuable experience. Mrs Shaw, who not only made good coffee but served us well, has returned to England. Our arrivals number a few but the most talked about was the arrival of a daughter for Jennifer and Arthur Armour. WOl Hickey was presented with his Long Service and Good Conduct medal by Lieutenant Colonel B. S. Turner REME. Finally welcome to Rita and Angela our new account clerks. 130 |
| Book number | R0246 |