RAOC Gazette - page 257
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 |
precast rainbows!). On this course we had the Royal Navy : ,\ :; ;n in the presence of CPO Peter Dawson who crewed excel- w.'.';Y w * tn Second LieHtenanl Joan Sawyer, Peter would lean •fr: : boat further and further over until Joan was made to Again the L 'or.; ess mat she thought the Navy was marvellous. weather quickly brought the course to the point where they were ready for a trip across the Rhodes to St Mawes, They had an extra training treat in store—a period where there was n o wind gave them practical experience in being towed! Colin Norton brought his Dart Catamaran down on this course, and converted all the Instructors to twin hull sailing, reaching speeds of fourteen knots in a force three {—fourteen miles per hour in windows of about ten to fifteen miles per hour) and Sam, our Fiji Commando, constantly amused us with cries of " Ready about—Heave h o P We stayed with the Navy throughout and learned to call floors l ' decks,' rooms ' cabins/ beds ' bunks/ and yes,— loos heads/ Some of us came to know tots as * thirds/ The Royal Navy and the Royal Marines helped us enormously and as well as learning the fun of sailing safely, we made a lot of new friends. The Corps Regatta next year should certainly see a lot of new eager faces. D COMPANY WRAC. D Company has been extremely active in the Sports and Adventurous Training field. With the advent or" a timed run, many members of the Company have been seen puffing, panting and groaning their way around the peri- meter of 16 Battalion. Several girls took part in the Annual Camp at Penhale both as permanent staff and Adventurous Training Students. Most of the girls opted for walking across Bodmin Moor, in spite of having to carry packs and the great distance involved. Those with an affinity for water opted for canoeing, much to the de- light of the Newquay tourists, who got a free show in the harbour daily between 9 am and 5 pm. The extremely intrepid risked life and limb rock climbing and abseiling on beach irsks at the back of camp. Physical training daily at 6.15 am was a bit of a struggle but soon became part of the normal routine. There was still sufficient energy at the end of the day to challenge the men to games of volleyball, netball and 'American * rounders (with baseball bats!), All returned fitter, browner and probably a few pounds heavier (thanks to the excellent food in large quantities). Corporal Terry Roper, Lance Corporals Joyce Part and Pauline Halsall, Privates Maggie Carter, Ann Chetwynd and Sue Afford went to the Bicester Swimming Pool to take part in the David Wiikie swimming appeal. They swam a total of ninety three lengths in one hour ten minutes and all had their photos taken with David Wiikie \ Sadly D Company will shortly be losing Staff Sergeant Sadie White to the WRAC Centre, Guildford. She and her husband, the Armourer and tame car mechanic, will be a sad loss. W02 Cullen has taken over as the Company Sergeant Major of Headquarters Company. W02 Mason is now Com- pany Sergeant Major of B Company pending the arrival of WQ2 Taylor. The end of the exercise saw us back in Salamanca Barracks where the terrifying task of restoring our PUE to its pallets for return to Antwerp was to start This was achieved in good time and enabled the BAOR element to return to the bosoms of their families and the Bicester element to spend three days ferrying vehicles and PUEs to Ord Depot Antwerp, This only left time for a shopping trip and a football match against the Ord Company who won eleven nil—well played Ord Company—before meeting up at Hanover Airport with those who had been training with the Combat Supplies Battalion, They had set up a partial Replenishment Park. This was a great success and 1 understand carried out in some degree of comfort due to well selected locations. Meanwhile back in Bicester the remaining handful of military staff along with the civilian staff have fought a well planned rear guard battle with the Issue and Receipt Vouchers to ensure that ' we never close/ Central Ordnance Depot Donnington OUR great achievement in the sporting world this month was the winning of the Corps swimming championship by our Unit team, a first ever win by Donnington. Captain Robin Sider and W02 Gordon Lumsden must take a lot of the credit for this splendid achievement; they set a rigid training programme and their coaching of the team was nothing but professional Whilst it is difficult to single anyone out of the team for special praise, as they all did so well, Private Jacko Jackson is to be con- gratulated on winning both the one hundred yards and two hundred yards freestyle in record times. He then crowned his day by finishing as runner-up in the butterfly, again in record time. The oldest member of the team was Major Norman Pendlebury at forty eight, Captain Brian Roberts was not far behind at forty, or so, followed by our RSM Nobby Clarke, somewhere in the thirties. The team broke four records. In celebration of their victory they promptly threw the OIC Swim- ming and W02 Lumsden into the pool. COD DONNINGTON S W I M M 1 N C TEAM 2 SUB-DEPOT. The climax of a years training finally arrived in that the military members of 2 Sub-Depot went to BAOR to form either the 3rd Armoured Divisional Dump Company or to re-inforce 49 Replenishment Park. After much detail preparation work they travelled by Hercules from Lyneham, destination Munster-Greven. How- ever, on arrival in the theatre, to the horror of the OC, Major Ian Sharp, it was discovered that we had landed at Wunsdorf some one hundred and fifty miles, or should T say two hundred z:\& forty kilometres away from where the coach and baggage vehicle was waiting! On arrival after unpacking our PUE and carrying out recces the day of reckoning finally arrived and into the woods we went, just south of Bad Dringenburg, to those who are familiar with those parts. Having set up camp it started to rain and continued on and off for the next six days, transforming the area into a scene resembling Ypres only with the trees still standing. Nevertheless, after some training during this period, we were able to inload and outload in time scale as directed by the Staff. This superb effort much appreciated by Headquarters RAOC, was achieved by this 'ad hoc* Unit working well to- gether as a team and with very high morale. It would be wrong to mention any names for effort as all would have to be included. 1978 Front row left to right: W 2 Lumsden (Trainer), Captain Roberts, Private Coatchcr, RSM Clarke, Brigadier Short, Private Jackson* Major Pincher (OC Troops), Major Pendlebury, Captain Sider (Trainer). Middle row: Private Wade* Private Fletcher, Private Onufryk, Private Morgan, Private Bennett, Private Davis, Corporal Fallon. Back row: Lance Corporal Edwards, Corporal Hall, Private Reynolds, Staff Sergeant Slade and Private Barstow. Absent: Corporal Mullen, Lance Corporal Foster, Privates Hay* Fielding and Dudgeon. We were pleased to receive a visit from the C-in-C UKLF, General Sir John Archer accompanied by the DGOS. The sua shone, and thanks to our Depot Services chaps, under Ron Hinsley, the Depot area was looking its best* C-in-C com- menced his visit by inspecting an impeccable Quarter Guard. This was followed by a Depot Brief, and a visit to Stores build- ings where he took great interest in all our new projects. He operated the Guideomatic equipment, tried l out one of the scooters, used by staff to get from * A ' to B ' at a rate of knots and was lifted in a safety pallet with a member of the Stock Maintenance Team to see what goes on up there at thirty feet. Congratulations to Major Sid Pincher on his winning the Shropshire Small Bore (Target Rifle) championship. He is now |
| Book number | R0247 |