RAOC Gazette - page 126
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 field exercise season is now getting into full swing with • : . -nnel from the Company preparing to deploy to the field. We bid farewell to Corporal Biackhurst who has left us for (_ ; '--altar'and Lance Corporal Taylor who has gone to BAOR :U ni welcome Corporal Johnston to the Quartermaster's depart- ment and Sergeant Hollis to DSM(A). \>f COMPANY. First of all, congratulations to Lance Corporal \Vatkins on his promotion to Corporal, who at present is on a detachment to Camp Wainwright in Canada, if you manage to read these notes Taffy, the Company are awaiting your return! Corporal John Christian is representing not only 'A' Com- pany but also the Battalion in the Travers Clarke Inter Unit £d!f competition, needless to say we, or his shed, does not see :\\: that much of him now. Lance Corporal Steve Lynch has SL i returned from a Basic Swimming Course, and has returned still unable to swim a stroke, he puts it down lo a pulled ligament injury. It's rumoured that our Company Clerk, Tony Masham has finally been caught by a civilian girl at last—well done Tricia! 'A* Company have written to Battersea Dogs Home for a licence to keep dogs. Joan our civilian clerk is a spitting image to Mrs 1 Woodhouse, with her stern words of ' sit,' * walkies, etc. Our CSM Tommy Flowers has decided to stay within the Company Told for a further few months at least, and believe it or not, everyone in the Company is quite happy at the news—apart f.'jm CSM Flowers. Congratulations to Private Barry Abbot and his wife Kay on the birth of their daughter. The Company participated in a local charity event recently at Otmoor and the team of Lance Corporals Jim Johnston, Jerry Field, Privates ' L i p s ' Hancock and Mick Feger successfully raised approximately £30 for local charity. We say farewell to Lance Corporal McManus and Private Topham. but welcome into the Company, Corporal Colclough, Privates Feger, Htncks, Middleton, Walker and Whatmough. ' B ' COMPANY. It has been another quiet month on the porting front since the Company lost the athletics cup. How- ever, that is not so say we have not been active in the athletics field. A large number of athletes represented the Battalion in the South East District Championship at Aldershot We also entered teams in the local annual Otmoor Challenge. The challenge is a mini-marathon where the competitors have to run a distance of twelve miles around the seven towns of Otmoor. Our team finished in the top five in the team event and we had four individual runners placed in the first twenty. This was a tremendous achievement and reflects the standard of fitness n the whole Company. Congratulations to WOl Digger Denholm, Sergeant Bill Dodd, Corporal Steve Cook, Lance Corporal Stu Bamford, Privates Harry Arfield, Gaz Doran, Wally Walsworth, Jim Coyle, Jim Chynoweth, Alan Smiles, k Shadow * Macpherson and new arrivals O'Shea and Baker. You all deserved your certificates. Congratulations to Lance Corporals Pete Ramsbottom and Geordie Duncan on their elevation to Corporal. Also to Lance Corporal Budgie Hancox on passing his hygiene course and Private Mac Simpson on passing his driving course at Leacon- field. We welcome to the Company Lance Corporal Riley and as mentioned earlier Privates O'Shea and Baker and hope their stay is a happy one, Central Ordnance Depot Donmngton AS I sit here in my office and reflect pensively upon the past few weeks activity, all is quiet and serene. Not only have both WRAC subalterns gone on leave, but Major Richard Powell's porridge-gun has sprung a puncture! It has been a quiet month with the shadow platoons away on exercise in BAOR and (those less fortunate) at Nesscliffe, Many valuable points were learnt by all concerned and will hopefully put to good use on Exercise Red Claymore in October. Second Lieutenant John Bednall went out to BAOR as an observer, but due to excessive Pils was reported to have seen very little. On the sporting scene, the Garrison has had mixed fortunes. The athletics team enjoyed the Travers Clarke without any great success. The success of the day however, was the victory in the six hundred and forty kilogram tug-of-war match. After three weeks hard strain against assorted farming sides and the static pulley, WOl John Craig's team won the competition comprehensively, without losing an end. The Garrison cricket team has not quite found its feet yet, but hopes to win some trophies before the rugby season starts again. A social match was held between the Military and Civilian officers of the Garrison. Despite the erratic and somewhat biased scoring of Second Lieutenant Bridget O'Hara, who thought she was watch- ing Morris dancing, the Civilian Officers re-captured the trophy with a one run victory scored off the last ball of the game, As we move into the hazy summer days (due to torrential sheets of rain) the whole unit looks forward to several weeks summer camp in Capel Curig and all the breath-taking activity that that encompasses. We also say farewell to Major Richard Powell and Second Lieutenant Bridget O'Hara, WOl Plenderieith, Staff Sergeants Gaut and Bailey, Sergeant GilL Corporals Jameson. Seabrook and Atkinson, Privates Almond and Hargreaves, We also welcome Lieutenant Jill Webber, WOL Haugh, Corporals Langley, Bryson, Nevatte, Tudor, Lance Corporals Fletcher, Gaskarth, Bolden, Smith, Ramsay and Harrison, Privates MacOver, Kynoslin. Byrne, Wheldon, Beattie, Kirkhouse and Copeland to the unit and wish them every happiness in their stay with us. Materials Handling Trials Unit SINCE our last chat, the OC Major Boh Lawson, escaped the fickle English weather for a week by hitching up his caravan and crossing the border into his native Scotland for a spot of leave. Captain Jim Steel, our 21C, tried further afield and did a grand tour of Germany. They both talk of seeing a large orange ball in the sky our ancestors called the ' Sun.' I blame all this high rise racking for our plight. Enough of this rambling. The spotlight this month swings on- to Staff Sergeant Colin Boyes and his able assistants Sergeant Ray Walton and Corporal Rod Shaw. This trio constitute the team who teach WOs, SNCOs and civilian equivalents to be MHE Instructors. There are on average six courses a year and they are open to all Arms. June's course was a typical example, with five Corps members, a Royal Engineer Sergeant, a Royal Naval Petty Officer and a Civilian PTO. They also instruct ' Eager Beaver' Operators and Principles and Techniques of Material Handling. Sergeant Walton explains that it's Periscope. Raise Forks not Up Any E spare time' is taken up with external training which entails going out to Units or MOD Civilian Establishments who require training on specialist equipments, or are without an MHTU trained instructor. This month we bid farewell to WOl Ken Dickson who leaves after twenty two years service in the Corps. He is stay- ing in the business of MHE Instruction, having secured a job with a civilian training establishment. We wish Ken and his family every success, Sergeant Dai Wood has arrived to take over from Sergeant Charlie Taunton as Chief Crane Instructor. Sergeant Taunton has gone to the land of Duty Frees, Petrol Coupons and LOA. Army School of Ammunition ANOTHER busy month both in the classroom and on the sports field. The anniversary of the opening of Marlborough Depot was celebrated with an ' It's a Knockout Competition ' which proved an enjoyable and wet experience for most of the competitors. Three members of the staff were thrown into the water bath by |
| Book number | R0250 |