RAOC Gazette - page 172
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 |
€ht tatton J5eto£ &t Some Headquarters Director General of Ordnance Services SECRETARIAT I am delighted to open this month's letter with congratulations to Con- ductor Ken Thorn (late of the Secretariat), SSM Malcolm Lowe (Ord 3) and SSM John Dawson (Ord 4), all of whom were recently presented with their well ea.rned Long Service and Good Conduct Medals by Major General Callan at a very pleasant and well attended ceremony in the LE(A) Sergeants Mess. These were the first medals to be presented under the revised Time Scale Regulations but as the DC-OS said in his presentation speech, " Fifteen years is still a very long time/' (Photographs will appear in next month's GAZETTE). On the sports field our cricketers have concluded a success- ful first season and the newly formed soccer team, strengthened by the arrival of SQMS Mick Gallagher, won their first full game by beating DME Depot Ludgershall by five goals to four. Our golfers too are in the news; the * Unit * team com- prising Major Henry Lucas, Captain Trafford Davies, SQMS Roy Flannagan and Staff Sergeant Bill Tonkins, having qualified LO represent South West District in the finals of the UKLF Challenge Cup Competition. ORD 2 BEING the first Headquarters DGOS branch to move from High Holborn to the green fields and open spaces of the lovely Andover countryside, Ord 2 has now completed its first full year within the LE(A) complex; and a very hectic twelve months it has proved to be, particularly for the Ord 2c staff who together with their Single Service Managers, RAF Depart- ment (DDSM 6) have been responsible for improvements in bo:h single and married quarters accommodation stores and services. In addition* much progress has been made in the re- write of Materiel Regulations; the new Fuel, Light and Water Pamphlet is now in the final printing stage and Volume 1, pamphlet six which is to replace the old, and so well-known, ST and B Regulations should be with the printers very soon. Farewells have already been said to Major Bob Fitzsimmons who left us for Headquarters 1 (BR) Corps and whilst awaiting the arrival of Major Arthur Neve, our Senior Accommodation Services Officer, Major Reg Williams will be wearing two hats. ORD 4 WE have said goodbye to Mr Mick Collet (EO) who has decided to call it a day and we all wish him a long and happy retire- ment. Other departures include Mrs Serita Chambers our S 2 Org and Methods to Office Services in London and Major Derek Griffiths, S 2 Work Study Projects, to COD Bicester; we wish them both well in their new appointments. Captain Colin Fuller has arrived from Headquarters CVD Ashchurch to take over the duties of S02 Work Study Projects and finally, our congratulations to SSM Les Porter on his acting promotion, Training Centre HEADQUARTERS AUGUST being the month when all the instructors of the Train- mg Centre take their block leave everything is very quiet. The Commander has set sail for France and will be cruising along the Normandy coast. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he gets good weather. The SOI, Superintendent Clerk and Chief Clerk G have ' u $' returned and the GS02 and Chief Clerk AQ have just started their leave. The Training Centre football team are now getting knocked 'nto shape by Captain Douglas RAPC and have high hopes *°r next season. TRAINING BATTALION AND DEPOT CONGRATULATIONS to: Our Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe on being selected for promotion to Colonel in 1978/79. RSM Wheeler on Commissioning. CSM Penrose on selection for promotion to RSM and Lance Corporal Free and Lance Corporal Duff WRAC on promotion to Corporal. Welcome to Lieutenants Jukes, Medcalf, Shilston and Law on posting in and farewell to Captain Brown on his move to LE(A), Lieutenant Cartwright to the Hebrides and Sergeant Fellowes to Hong Kong. Training Company made their annual pilgrimage to Pen- hale Camp to follow a variety of Adventure Training pursuits, Pony trekking appears to have taken its toll judging from the numbers of bow-legged cowboys/girls who were reluctant to sit down afterwards. It was rumoured that Sergeant Treveil intentionally fell down a * Dartmoor H o l e ' in order to gain sympathy from the WRAC personnel, he failed in his aim but he will long remember the piggy-back rescue mission mounted by Major Collins and Sergeant Finch. The Paymaster—Captain Douglas visited Training Com- pany with adequate supplies of cash, but unfortunately was one day late in returning to base because somebody moved Truro Railway Station without his permission. A marching team of fifty eight NCOs and men led by Lieutenant Thompson, RSM Joll, W 2 Davies and CSM Penrose won the Regular Army Award at the Chichester International Marches. They were presented with the award by the Mayor of Chichester—after favourable comments on the marching and turnout of our contingent. Headquarters RAOC Sergeants Mess held their Summer Ball in the Gymnasium and the event was acknowledged an out- standing success mainly due to the efforts of W 2 Mallett and his hardworking committee. The other Mess function of note was the dining-out of Captain Browne and Lieutenant Wheeler, the food was excel- lent, the wine flowed freely and two very popular Unit members went on their way after declining the assistance of guide dogs. CENTRAL VOLUNTEER HEADQUARTERS JUNE saw the RAOC TAVR Sponsored Units Summer Camp taking place at Fremington Camp, near Barnstaple, North Devon. Only two things marred what was otherwise a most enjoyable camp. The first was the weather. Approximately five days sunshine in June was hardly a recommendation for an English summer, especially in the West Country. The second was that our Technical Clerk PSI, Staff Sergeant Arthur Pitts, while trying to avoid would-be captors on a night exercise, fell in a pit on the assault course and broke a leg. He has been hobbling around on crutches ever since. A fund has been established to buy a parrot for his shoulder. At one stage the staff of the North Devon Infirmary thought he had died, however, this was due to the fact that his fellow PSIs, while visiting, had made some slight alterations to his progress chart (temperature one hundred and ninety degrees, pulse nil). On the same exercise Sergeant Jim McGee, who was posted here from the NATO Patrol School in Germany, attempted to show Captain Chris Burrows some of the niceties of night infiltration and escape and evasion. For his troubles he ended up with a bulbous red nose, having dived head first into a bed of nettles. It is said that the glow from it lit up the sky for miles around and aircraft pilots in the vicinity took it for a collision beacon. Staff Sergeants Arthur Pitts and Frank Herron carried out casualty simulation on Staff Sergeant John Dadd, and using locally available materials (Brown Bread, Chalk, Tomato Sauce, a local ' Lady's * tights and broken plastic spoon handles) pro- duced a most effective compound fracture of the lower leg. Staff Sergeant Dadd was then laid half out of a (notional) crashed Land Rover to see what the effect on our volunteers would be. Regrettably, one budding Doctor Kildare decided that the only treatment for a broken leg was artificial resuscitation. Had the volunteer been of the opposite sex perhaps Staff Dadd would not have protested so much. In the meantime, some- one, thinking the damage was for real, had called the camp ambulance. On arrival at the medical centre our dashing first aiders were almost called upon to resuscitate the Nursing 141 |
| Book number | R0247 |