RAOC Gazette - page 31
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1978 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1978 |
| Late date | 1978 |
| Transcription |
North East District ITS always very difficult when writing a newsletter to know in which order to present it. A chronological system can lead to a real mixture of unrelated items but even lumping them together under their subject heading has its own problems. Like the editor of The Daily Telegraph, one is never sure whether 'Births* should precede 'Marriages/ Enough preamble. In that keystone of the Empire, the Kremlin of the North, York to you, we have just lost two of our stalwarts. W 2 I>jrek Gill is leaving for civilian life to run an old folks home, Unkindly, he suggested to the CRAOC that it would be little different from being Chief Clerk^though probably less demand- ing and better paid. We wish him well! Recently departed is Mr Eddie Dear, our DFA, to London. The Army Fire Service is held in high regard in the District and this is in no little part a reflection on the hard work of Mr Dear. Unfortunately Mr Davidson, the new DFA, has been ill at home since his appointment. We bid him welcome and hope for a speedy recovery. As stand-in for Mr Davidson, FS02 Alan Simms put in a brief appearance from Ashchurch before he too was taken to hospital. We are now keeping an anxious eye on the health by FS02 Sid Orrey who is the new relief on temporary detachment from Longtown. A warm wel- come to our new Chief Clerk, W02 Shaw, from Andover. Finally, we should not, indeed, in view of his new moustache cannot, miss taking note of the return to our ranks of Major Ashcroft from a long weekend in Chile. Going up North to Catterick, congratulations to Captain Bill Stapleton on his promotion to Major It's good for the collective soul to have our successes. Across the road, Major Mike Wilks has timed his forthcoming departure to South East District for the week after the OSU's technical inspection. He assures us that all is coincidence. Even further into the wastelands, 50 Ordnance Support Battalion(V) held an excellent Dinner Night in late March to dine out Major Don Mockford (to civilian life) and Captain Cliff Scott (to Belize). We would also like to extend a welcome to the new Middlesbrough PSAO, Major John Harmer, late RCT. Old friends of Major Ken Higton (Retd), now in the Chapel Ailerton Hospital, will be glad to know that we are keeping an eye on him. WOl Marsden and Staff Sergeant Smith were the most recent visitors and report that his spirits are high. Headquarters Scotland (Army) ORDNANCE BRANCH IT is quite some time since last we con- tributed to the Station News so it would be of interest to mention the present staff in Ordnance Branch. The newly arrived CRAOC is Lieutenant Colonel M. J. H. Connolly supported by the three DADOS Major Brian Burgess, Reg Frisby and Joe Roynon-Jones, with the DOWO Hugh Hainey and ROWO Ken Marchant; the Chief Clerk Mick Woolley. Our retired officers include Gordon Brownlee, Ronnie Bateson, Bob Howie and last but not for- gotten our DFA Frank Booth. We were all delighted to learn that Frank Booth has been selected for promotion to Senior Fire Service Officer, now all that remains to be seen is who is the lucky Headquarters to which he will be posted. W 2 Ken Marchant must have known that we in Scotland were going to have a late spring this year because he some- how arranged to get himself a four months tour out to the sunshine of Belize. At the moment our Rations Clerical Officer Mr Eddie Aitchison is taking a brief respite in hospital, our best wishes go to him and we all wish him a speedy recovery, Now that the ski season is over we can look forward to haying the undivided attention of our DADOS (Org) Major Frisby, not that our Chief Clerk will ever forget his first experience on skis—his Stem Christie was a thing of grace and beauty to behold! mmmmmggmsm. CORPS SATO RA RANGE HEBRIDES WE all being good straight men and true, the order for us to slip into our rubberwear, transformed legs to jelly (there are limits to even a soldiers adaptability). But it was, of course, a practice for the Lance render safe procedure, pending the arrival of the firing quota for this year, early in April. At present the Hebrides range is involved in its busiest year so far, and SATO, in the form of Major Scourfieid-Evans, spends many lonely hours between Hashes devising ways to acquire more graft from his small but willing crew. He is helped to this end by SAT Arthur Burns who has yet again proved himself to be a man of metal by convincing Sergeant Keith Burton that it is Scotland and not Britain who are in the World Cup Finals this year, Sergeant Burton is now out of intensive care and should be back with us shortly. Staff Sergeant John Wiggell has finally stopped chasing sheep around the ammunition area, although we must say in the same breath that he only did it to protect the vegetable garden situated within the compound. Lance Corporal Paul Cope, soon to depart to Bicester, denies leaving the gates open on purpose on all but a few occasions. Sergeant ' Ben' Bienkowski seems to spend most of his time covering Rapier firings along with his sidekick Corporal Dave Stewart, who recently arrived from a place called Kineton (which we believe is situated somewhere on the mainland, south of Edinburgh). In fact it is anonymously reported to us that the address given on Ben's last dozen leave passes (not bad in six months) was Rapier Launch Area Three. To end on a more serious note, all VIPs wishing to visit us for the trout season should travel straight along the road from Didcot and turn sharp left at John. OGroats—and please ensure that you book early. We have, since our last report, said a fond farewell t o : Major de Wolfe, W02 Hollick, Sergeant Crow, Corporal Dean and Staff Sergeant Gordon-Baker. Central Ordnance Depot Chiiwell RECENTLY a party of our military and civilian officers, headed by Colonel Aubrey Whent, visited Dexion Ltd at Hemel Hempstead. It was the type of visit, with goodies on display, which al-,. ways results in the wistful comment "if only our budget etc." We were .m « « „ equally envious of a budget of a different tt. \u/ // kind which provided a magnificently ^ A ~ 3 ^ A ^ lavish and diet-defeating buffet lunch at ^^s*»*^^ a high-class hostelry not unknown to ^**"^ Egon Ronay. The humble "Ploughmens" at the local will never seem the same again. It is with regret that we report the death of one of our stalwart honorary Officers Mess members, Lieutenant Colonel J. A. (Jock) Hume (Retd). To his widow and his family we extend our deepest sympathy. He will be sorely missed, parti- cularly on ' Burns Night * and ' Hogmanay.' Preparations are now well in hand for a new style Chil- well Garrison Fete for 1978. This year it is to consist of Brigadier (Retd) John Smith's National Pipe Band Contest and our Fete (renamed * Gala *) to be held jointly on our sports field on Saturday, 8th July. Provided the weather is fine this event should prove a big attraction and any Corps personnel, serving or retired, who are prepared to make the journey will be assured of a warm welcome. Our soccer team met 16 Battalion in the second round of the Richards Cup. At the half-way stage 16 Battalion were leading by the single goal but the turning point came mid-way through the second half when the referee awarded us a penalty. Sergeant Ian Irvine was spot-on with the penalty kick that gave us the vital first goal. We dominated the game in extra time. Ian Irvine scored two more to give him a well deserved hat trick. Peter Wells, not to be outdone, also scored a hat trick to give us a victory of six goals to one. In the semi-final we met 6 Field Force Ordnance Company. This game was played at Chiiwell and we came out of it with a splendid win six nil. Peter Wells again scored three goals, Ian Nicholls scored two and Nick Marshall one. We play CAD Kineton in the final at COD Donnington. We were known, in the footballing world, as the team of semi-finalists having reached that stage in no less than four major competitions, including the Eastern District six-a-side com- petition. In the semi-final of that competition we met 47 Field Regiment who eventually won by five goals to three after extra time; they went on to win the competition. We met GNCS Dairy in the semi-final of the Bull Cup competition. Cheered on by the best crowd all season, Jim Stubbs led his men to a magnificent four goals to one victory. Nick Marshall scored another two, and Peter Wells and Larry Emberley each put one |
| Book number | R0247 |