RAOC Gazette - page 23
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1981 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1981 |
| Late date | 1981 |
| Transcription |
THE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE LATE BRIGADIER ALAN FERNYHOUGH THE ADDRESS BY THE REPRESENTATIVE COLONEL COMMANDANT A MEMORIAL SERVICE to the late Brigadier A. H. Ferny- hough CBE MC y was held on 30th April 1981, at which the address was given by the Representative Colonel Commandant, Major General J. T. Stanyer CBE, As a tribute to the memory of Brigadier Ferny hough and for the many who wotdd have wished but were unable to attend, the address is reproduced below, We have come together today in this Garrison Church of St Barbara to thank God for the life and work of the late Brigadier Alan Fernyhough. The presence of so many at this Memorial Service is itself an indication of the \ovc, affection and respect which we had for Alan. His family wished this Service to be one of rejoicing and thanksgiving—and indeed there is so much to be thankful for in the contribution which this remarkable man made to our Corps, to the Army and in his local community at Ash. Before remembrance, i should as Representative Colonel Commandant of the Corps this year, extend the sympathy of the Corps, both serving and retired, to Brigadier Ted Fernyhough, Mrs Cadell and others of Alan's family. When Alan's brother honoured me with the invitation to give this address, I was frankly over-awed by the prospect. Over- awed because many others had worked much nearer Alan than I and probably knew him better. Although he was the first senior RAOC officer I knew well in those far away days of 1948 at Donnington, I quickly realised that all who knew him were in this same predicament as myself. Each of us can only have a personal and partial view of Alan at his works. We knew him perhaps on a two year posting, or as a student under him, or as a private soldier playing in a Corps rugger trial, or perhaps as a luckless MOD Financier who dared to challenge annual estimates for stores provision. In an appreciation of his life and work there are a number of key events which had significant influence. Alan f s father the late Colonel H. C. Fernyhough CB CMG DSO, after a dis- tinguished career of active service in the KOYLI in the South Africa War and on the North West Frontier, transferred to the Army Ordnance Department in 1906 and served in France throughout the First World War in this, the distinguished fore- runner of our Corps. The twin Fernyhough brothers were born in 1904. Alan was educated at Rugby and after two years at RMA Woolwich was commissioned into the Gunners in 1924, and was stationed with 9th Field Regiment at Deepcut and then to India in 1930. It was in India in 1934 that he picked up a particular virulent bug which permanently damaged his hip and gave him a stiff leg for the rest of his life—for forty seven years he bore the pain and frustration of this. When the chronic nature of his disability was confirmed, he clearly could not continue as a Gunner. No doubt influenced by his father's service in the AOD, he qualified on the 1935 and 1936 Ordnance Officers* Course and joined the Corps as a Captain in 1936—within three years, in 1939, he was an In- structor at the RAOC School Hilsea. Both now and later in the war, he was to find home-based supply appointments not to his liking. From Hilsea in February 1940 he became DAQMG Ammunition at GHQ BEF at Arras. In May 1940, after the German breakthrough, he reached Dunkirk—not for evacuation to UK—but to organise ammunition supply on the beach-head, For his work there during this critical phase of the battle he received an immediate award of the Military Cross. He arrived in UK on 30th May only to be told to join the recce party for a new Base being established at La Rochelle on the Biscay coast—on the assumption that the Germans could be stopped somewhere South of Paris—it was not to be and he returned to UK on 17th June. In all this do not forget Alan's disability. With this experience behind him Alan was in great demand for key appointments—Procurement duties in Canada, DDOS for Operation Torch, then to GHQ Middle East, and then to one of the loves of his life, the Central Ordnance Provision Office Cairo. The conclusions he drew from his latter experience described in his Corps History are the principles which the Corps use today—with computers to do the work instead of RAOC and Egyptian clerks. What of his post war career? The abiding memory of those of us who joined the Corps from 1947 onwards must be the welcome he gave to the newcomers at Donnington, Deepcut, Hamburg and elsewhere—we came from the Gunners, Infantry. Sappers and many other Arms and Corps in the Army—and a few from the Navy and the RAF. He wanted to know you, he wanted you to be part of the team to create the post-war Corps, We listened avidly and were refreshed by sweeping views on any subject—military, technical, political, sporting. But how wise successive DOS's were to keep Alan away from The War Office until his very last appointment in 19561 At least it avoided incidents of 'Grievous Bodily H a r m ' by aggrieved civil servants and the QMGs staff! It would be very easy to say that Alan was usually right in his criticism. In my judgement this is to evade his main method of tackling policies he believed to be wrong—he was 4 political * with a small *" p ' and knew that good causes need advertising, they need discussion, they need facts, they need tenacity, they need the skill of an advocate. Alan excelled in all these and he taught us all to be better critics. ' Cutters * always referred to Alan as " The Headmaster" when he commanded the School of Ordnance — the term does perhaps describe exactly what Alan gave to so many during his Service years and as a retired officer—wisdom, leader- ship, example, teaching, friendship, criticism. In our remembrance of him today, there can be no one here who does not know of his abiding passion for supporting Army sport and where he was able—to play. When Alan supported a Corps or unit rugger match, he was involved tot ally—sh outing, swearing, moving, encouraging. He moved up and down with the play and must have covered hundreds of yards in the course- of a match. He was Secretary of Corps rugger for seven years— giving up his formal duties aged sixty six but never his interest. What a crowning joy to him was the 3 BAPD victory over the Royal Regiment of Wales in the Army rugger final in 1980. He knew both the enjoyment and the importance of sport in the Army but insisted on active and total dedication. I think we are all, to some degree, the beneficiaries of his infectious en- thusiasm. We are privileged to carry our personal memories of Alan with us. Those now and in the future who did not know him will be able to gain an insight into his deep understanding of the work of our Corps by reading his history of the RAOC written with the help of Major Henry Harris. The clarity of the presentation, the development of the conclusions and the marvellous style make this an historical record of major im- portance to serious students of logistic support for the Army— and perhaps the other two Services. Beyond his work for the Corps, Alan was a President of St John's Ambulance Brigade locally since 1962, and was created a Member of the Order of St John. He was a Parish Councillor for Ash from 1972 until 1979. He was determined to be active in the service of others to the end. To him the true joy of life was in the striving for improvement and we are thankful for all that he achieved in his seventy six years of selfless service. In Act III of Julius Caesar T Caesar describes himself in these words: — " But 1 am constant as the Northern Star, of whose true fixed and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament" I am not sure how true they were about Caesar, but they are a worthy description of Alan. It was his constancy in his love of the Corps, his constancy in dealing with the humble and the mighty, his constancy in striving for improvement and his constancy in courage—both physical and intellectual—by which he will be remembered. |
| Book number | R0250 |