RAOC Gazette - page 162
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 |
r -Hay during the exercise, was volunteered by forty five i',-"; to have a swim on the morning of his birthday. * ellwalking in the Isle-of-Man varies in. degrees of difficulty > our feilwalkers found the reward for their efforts was in i; , L . spectacular views they eventually had from the peaks as rivaie Mac McAleese can vouch, he turned out to be one of ,e most keen fellwalkers in the unit Our canoeing and sailing took place at the Mooragh Park ke in Ramsey, At the start most of our sailors had a tendency a j congregate at the north end of the lake especially with a but eventually after much r esh southerly breeze blowing ersuasive instruction were able to- sail their dinghies with the -(peruse of master mariners. Information had it that Mooragh _':•!;- was only four foot deep overall, a fact which was con- E.ir :ly verified by Sergeant Dixie Hale who found it hard to iay in any canoe, Irrespectively the majority of our canoeists under the in- duction of Sergeant Kent had good and varied canoeing practice (i the Sulby River and in the Jurby surf. It may be significant o mention that the CSM's canoe became known as ' Tug's Sub ' in d that Captain Pitchforth will remember all the waterfalls in the ;ulby River for a long time to come. The orienteering competition saw the start of the sections :i>mpetitions but unfortunately on the days selected for orienteer- r.£ the notorious Isle-of-Man Mist decided to blanket the island •,~c our orienteers found the course set out around the Arracy -iantation hard going. Pony trekking proved to be a great success especially among hose who had never ridden or even sat on a horse before. Lance Corporal Spud Murphy and Private Mac McAleese ;ave brilliant displays of mounting and dismounting at the ;allop and rumour has it that the owner of the horses may be vriting to the RSPCA, The rock climbing under the instruction of Sergeant Pip ft tt away took place at Cronk Sumark with many of our climbers fie wing the cliffs with apprehension. But after confidence was tt'ned all enjoyed the exhilaration of abseiling down the seventy foot cliff face. All too soon the time arrived for sections to put their military training into practice in the form of a twelve and a half mile navigational and casualty evacuation exercise codenamed fog Trot. To everyone's dismay the mist blanketed the island once again and section leaders had to search the depths of their knowledge to find some of the checkpoints. When the points were counted after Jog Trot, Section Five had taken over the lead position from Section One with Sections T-vo and Four close on their heels. There now only remained ha points from the potted sports competition to decide the winners. Volleyball, tug-of-war, football and a tyre race made up the events for the potted sports with each section competing against the other at every event. Section Three, Sergeant Dillow's heavyweights, won every pull in the tug-of-war, Corporal Sharpe made a very good run in the tyre race losing his trousers in the process and Sergeant Dillow was top scorer in the foot- ball with three goals. The volleyball was closely contested with Sections Two and Six tying for the points. At the end of the z:-,y after a very close competition throughout, Section One had a^ain crept into a narrow lead over Section Five. Later that evening an end of Exercise Bar-B-Q was held in the Jurby Hotel where the Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Roger Hurles presented prizes to the winners, Section One and mnners-up Section Five. A booby prize ' The Finn McCool Fag * went to Sergeant Dillow's Section Three. All that now remained after a memorable and enjoyable but tiring exercise was to pack and catch the ferry back to the Emerald Isle. i-OD Branch and Headquarters 321 EOD Company t THE 37E Team continue to plod their way through demonstrations and escort duties to other teams broken down vehicles, there are however persistent rumours that they have been out on actual tasks. Staff Sergeant Brian Sutton enjoyed, if that is the right word, a whirlwind tour of the Province while standing in for other Team No. Is who were actually allowed R and R. Our congratulations go to Sergeant Fred Hailes and his wife Mary on the birth of their baby son, Staff Sergeant Mick Farrell our intrepid CQMS is currently en- gaged in getting his knees brown in preparation for his forth- coming posting to Hong Kong. We say farewell to our OC Major John Hawkins who departs for the delights of Kineton and wish him well in his new appointment. We welcome Major Mike Thomasson as our new OC and hope that he enjoys his stay with us. Finally, we welcome to 37E Corporal Duncan Rudd who has taken the place of Corporal Geoff Palier who was returned to the bosom of his parent unit. AMMO INSPECTORATE, A very busy period culminated in a one hundred per cent pass on the BFT, fifty per cent of unit annual inspections completed, and still the bitter rivalry on the squash court Captain Andy Law, the ATO T although up to his knees in baton rounds, still finds time for the odd practical joke. He has just completed his indulgence forms for his holiday in Washington, USA, and when CATO asked to see the colour of his money before signing them, Captain Law handed over his cheque book! Maybe he should invest in a more competent telephone. WOI Dusty Stone, the SAT, successfully provided the stage effects for Harp Players latest production. ' C a t on the Fiddle.' His talent for organising has also enabled him to extract a few pounds from the Sergeants Mess for the Summer Ball, which he is organising. He has discovered that his ability as a putter is so good, he can play in the Garrison Putting League left-handed, and still win! Sergeant Spook Anderson, Supply Clerk, resting in the close-season from the rigours of football refereeing, has received a posting order to Hong Kong, but still can't believe it. He was recently seen entering a local Chinese Restaurant for the first time. Recently returned from the Corps Tennis Champion- ships without a trophy, he no longer wishes to be known as Bjorn. Anybody know the name of a famous Chinese tennis player? Lance Corporal Dave Sharp, driver, has also received a posting order to BAOR, and spends most of his spare time writing to unknown Germans, to find out what life is like in Germany. Congratulations are in order to Lance Corporal Sharp, who recently attended an EPC course, the results only just arrived. He passed all four subjects. Well done! He bought us all a strawberry king cone ice cream to celebrate, Finally, the biggest puzzle to appear in our office arrived three weeks ago. A security box with a combination lock. To this day, seventeen attempts to unlock the box, have failed. That's what I call Security. NO. 2 SECTION. Londonderry has once again lapsed into a trough of relative peace and quiet. The end of June saw a visit to the section by DLSA, Brigadier Smith. After meeting the members of the section and looking at the accommodation he was given a trip on the River Foyle in the Sapper Boat Sections new and very expensive jet propelled jolly boat. A few days later the section was again visited, this time by SATO and SATO designate. They were given a presentation on 1 Life in 2 Section ' by Private Don Somes and Signalman Billy Mill. These two again featured as lead players later on in the week at D 2 Somes farewell party and Billy Mill's twenty first birthday. Champagne was the order of the day and tankards were presented to them both. The Magherafelt element made a great start to the month by trying to park one transit van in the back of the other, Once back on the road, they were invited to Londonderry for a week of rest whilst Q Dave Moor took a spell in the wilds of South Deny. Meanwhile, the skipper, Captain Andy Williams was dragged screaming to the dentist, but now feels a lot better for it. How- ever, despite all the real work, we have found time for the more mundane tasks. We now have perhaps the prettiest explosives store in the province—following redecoration! The bar has been rebuilt, with the Royal Signals boys excelling themselves on the electrical side—only managing to cut off the lights to half the REME Block. This was remedied three days later when the other half of the REME block caught fire;—causing light, heat and a fair degree of panic! We say farewell this week to Captain Andy Williams and welcome in his place Captain Paul Williamson. Corporal Steve Hawkeswell has also arrived and is settling in—the remainder of the section meanwhile continue to count the days! OMAGH DETACHMENT. Greetings to the outside world from the lost outpost. Is it true that handover periods are being extended to permit a Five Day return to normality course. Day One is designed to overcome the withdrawal symptoms experienced when uniform is taken off. Day Two involves a slide show of * Normal' activities, walk- ing upright talking to people in civilian clothes. 133 — |
| Book number | R0250 |