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RAOC Gazette - page 139

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Corps RAOC
Material type Journals
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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1978
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Early date 1978
Late date 1978
Transcription Wbt
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Headquarters Director Genera! of Ordnance Services
SECRETARIAT.
Although only a
few months have elapsed since we
arrived in Andover our sportsmen are
already well represented in LE(A)
teams. Colonel G- B. Berragan, Lieu-
tenant Colonel A. J. Paviour and
SQMS R. Kay have been busy on
the tennis courts whilst the willow
has been wielded with good effect by Lieutenant Colonel D. R E.
Betting, Majors S. H. Portman and J. J. Brown, Captains B, J.
Brother and T. Fearn, SSMs J. Dawson and G. A. Wood. Look-
in- to the future our local Brian Clough, Sergeant D. Flinn is
working enthusiastically to form a reasonable size soccer squad
with which he hopes to take on all-comers during the coming
season. The Army Cup has never been won by a Head-
quarters DGOS(DOS) team but miracles have been known to
happen!!
. . .
J-
*
We are very pleased to report that after spending tour
months in traction, to mend a broken femur which she suffered
in a road traffic accident; Mary, the wife of Captain Trafford
Diwies is now beginning to champ on the bit in anticipation
of getting back onto the Wrekin Golf Course. TrarTord can
now*. we hope, hand in his apron and concentrate once more on
his own golf handicap.
It is with reluctance we have recently said farewell to
Brigadier W. L, Whalley who, after only eleven months as
DDGOS, has returned to BAOR, this time to be DDOS
1 (BR) Corps. Also on the list of those departed are the Deputy
Inspector Lieutenant Colonel R. Ellis and Superintending Clerk
Conductor K. P. Thorn, whom we congratulate on his elevation
to Conductor. In replacement we have welcomed Brigadier
B. R. Biggs, Lieutenant Colonel J. F. Elliott and SSM G. A.
W-jod, who is also congratulated on his promotion to WOl.
ORD 1. Congratulations appear to be the order of the day!
To Majors A. C. R Smith and E. B. Miles on being selected
for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel next year and Captain
R, F. Hall on his promotion to Major and appointment to
Command of the Vehicle Depot Ludgershall; his replacement
in Ord le is Captain Tony Brown whom we welcome from
Blackdown.
We have also said farewell to Mr ' Dave' Davey who has
retired after many years of loyal service with both the RAF
an j the Corps. At a short ceremony in the Branch he was
presented with a clock by his colleagues, with which to while
away the hours of what we hope will be a long and happy retire-
ment.
ORD 2. Nothing of interest has happened during the past
month so we restrict our notes to saying farewell to Major J.
R. Owen, who will be sadly missed by the ' Superstars ' of the
Ord 2 Fitness Training Programme, and we welcome Major
J. M. F. S. Norris.
Captain I. R. J. Dexter, also from BAOR, who is posted in to
fill a new post in S Man la(4), a burgeoning branch now six
strong-
Captain A. W. Lyons has returned from adventurous train-
ing in Morocco. Despite rumours that he and Major T. A. B.
Mitford spent the entire adventurous training grant in Casa-
blanca bars—" Play it again, Sam "—we are prepared to believe
his story that he spent three weeks trekking two hundred miles
across the High Atlas, although this does strain our credulity.
Finally, W02 R. J. McKee has received a posting order
which takes him from Andover to Episkopi.
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENTS
DIVISION
FATE has at last caught up with your scribe of the past twelve
months. It seems rather sad, however, that gratitude for
writing a letter every month should be expressed in the form
of a detachment order to Belize for six months. However,
your correspondent does not intend to be silenced so easily and
he hopes to be able to carry on his writings from tropical
climes.
Sickness continues to strike at Communications Branch,
and we hope that Mick Earthey and Lance Corporal Gypo
Walters will have recovered by the date that these notes are
read.
We are all very sad to be losing Lieutenant Colonel John
and Rose Marie KostofT who have been recalled to USA before
their tour has run its course. Both of them have been respected
and very much liked by all who have come into contact with
them; many of us have been pleasantly surprised to near the
kind things they have had to say about our islands and their
peoples, perhaps we shall be more proud of our heritage as a
consequence. Colonel John is returning to the States to take
command of a supply and transport battalion at Fort Hood,
Texas, and we, together with all of the antique dealers in Shrop-
shire, wish him. Rose Marie and their children and six tons of
MFO and surplus Army furniture (antiques?) bon voyage,
We welcome Lieutenant Colonel Clinton and Julie Hodder
of the US Army and wish them a long and happy stay in
Donnington. We note Colonel Clinton's current inability to
take a full part in our morning runs because of a pained right
shoulder, and suggest that he considers carrying his wallet in
the left hip pocket.
On 28th June Mrs Alice Collyer retired from the Civil
Service having completed over thirty years employment in Don-
nington. We hope that she has a long and happy retirement.
Our fitness training continues unabated and, much to Major
Graham Brownings delight, swimming tests have been the order
of the day. The tests came as a surprise to some but Captain
Peter Veal managed to make mind triumph over body reflexes
and, in spite of his almost fanatical affection for firm dry land,
managed to persuade the examiners that he did in fact jump
into the deep end and swim fifty yards. Captain Colin Buckle
was so relieved to get out of the water that he tripped on a
duck-board in his headlong rush to the changing room and
broke his toe.
Mr Harold Banbury, who served in RAOC and retired as
a Conductor, has now left Communications Branch on final
retirement after working for sixteen years in the Civil Service.
We congratulate Misses Judy Campbell and Sharon Webber on
their betrothals.
Headquarters of
The Directorate of Supply Management
Directorate of Land Service Ammunition
S MAN 1. Leave activity has been quiet of late, it might have
something to do with the weather, which seems to be the same
ail over England, or it could be that an imminent Inspectorate
°f Establishments visit is causing branch members to 'look
to their posts.*
This month we say farewell to Major M, J. Rose, who
leaves S Man lb for civilian life. As these notes were written
iusi after one of his farewell parties this paragraph is in danger
of turning into a panegyric! However, the temptation will be
avoided
and we merely wish both him and his family the
v
ery best of fortune in civilian life. In his place we welcome
Major D. H, Langdon from ICP BAOR. Another arrival is
IT has been quiet since the last entry, mainly because DLSA
military staff have been away a lot: Brigadier Denzil Cowdry
to St Tropez on holiday, Colonel John Styles to Gibraltar * in-
specting,' Major John Ross to the Azores (remember the
Oriana?) and many others. This may explain why you cannot
raise a DLSA Officer on the telephone. In fact I'm convinced
that our clerks are issued with cards saying " I'm sorry sir but
he's away at a meeting/on leave/playing tennis/in
(insert foreign country)/deep sea dumping /picking fruit at Har-
well, etc.'* from which they select a suitable reply,
Proof Branch tend to disappear en masse. We think they
are campaigning secretly for real ale; they certainly depart
109 —
Book number R0247