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RAOC Gazette - page 217

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Transcription previous week he had signed a programme for the Commandants
Shoot Dinner which read " Commandant Shoots Dinner Guests"
If after this note I am still able. I hope to bring you up to date
with the winners of all the competitions next month.
Army School of Ammunition
THE Station ARU and Inspection was conducted by Brigadier
Cubiss and our photograph shows the Brigadier discussing EOD
equipment with the Commandant Colonel Higgins, Commanding
Officer of the Army School of Ammunition Lieutenant Colonel
Hendy and OIC EOD Branch Major Hawkins.
The school has now joined the computer age with the
arrival of the long awaited micro computer. Captain Ritchie is
now proceeding to confuse all the staff by trying to educate
them, into this new world of 'de-bugging/ floppy discs and
' bootstrapping.' It is hoped that the computer will ease the
burden on the school start with regard to the vast amounts of
statistical and analytical work which at present is produced
manually.
A cheque for £ 1 , 3 being presented by t h e Commandant to
Mr Charles W h i t t l e .
Mrs Laura W i l l i a m s an instigator of the
collection is shown next to Colonel Higgjns.
Whittle the Midlands organiser visited Kineton with his own
dog ' S a m ' to collect a cheque for £1,030 which was presented
by the Commandant. The organisers would like to thank the
Sergeants Mess for their donation of £200 towards the total
raised.
Our Station Fire Officer, Mr Norman Turner, is in the
Army Fire Service team which intends to walk from John
O'Groats to Lands End and they hope to complete the walk
within six days. Not to be outdone though is a team consisting
of three soldiers and three WRAC from " B ' Company under
the managership of Captain Tom Armstrong who intend to run
from John O'Groats, to Lands End starting in June, Monies
collected will be divided between the Great Ormond Street
Childrens Hospital and local charities. Please note sponsors
are urgently required.
The news from 'A 1 Company is that they are under pressure
to get their stand for the Aldershot Army Display ready and of
course they are handicapped in the sense that their SAT whilst
demonstrating trick cycling to 72 Company (V) had a mishap,
he is trying to supervise though with his leg in plaster, he was
heard to say L ' It saves carrying a millboard."
We say farewell to Corporals MacKillop, Norris and Clarke.
' B ' Company has said farewell to Lieutenant Colonel David
Attwood who moved sideways to OIC C and A and welcome to
Major Gerry Page. Districts 3 and 4 have now amalgamated
to ease the manpower problem and it now remains to keep the
MHE rolling in order to keep up with the workload. Con-
gratulations to WOI Tony Woodley on his promotion and
wish him good luck in his new post in Brunei, congratulations
are also in order for Lance Corporal Keith Edwards and Julie
on the birth of their daughter.
The badminton team, as forecast, ended the season as
Champions of Division 4 mixed, nearest rivals having lost two
games to our one. Success was due to the great support given
to the team by our ladies, Betty Gulliver, Julie Glynn, Sarah
Berresford and Clare Thomas. We are now busy building our
team for next year and it is hoped that with the inter company
badminton competition new talent will come to light to replace
John Nairn and Mark Megat who have returned to Malaysia,
The hockey team played in the Army Quarter Finals and lost
four nil to the School of Artillery, the score does not depict
the true game because it was a very close match. The league is
still in turmoil due to the many cancellations but it is hoped that
by this time next month true league placings will be known.
All hopes now centre on the Bari Cup which will be played
for at Blackdown. There appears to be lots of activities taking
place in the evenings with darts competitions in the Junior
Ranks Club, Inter Company Volley Ball, seven-a-side rugby,
six-a-side football and the Unit Inter Company Shoot which
takes place this week and to cap it all certain individuals want
to run from John O'Groats to Lands End, it makes you think,
it must be the Kineton air.
Talking about Kineton air the Commandant Colonel Harry
Higgins had great pleasure in showing your scribe a letter that
the Chief Planning Officer had written stating that the Paymaster
Captain Alan Woodcock, had a hobby—Gun Dog Shooting. I
didn't have the nerve to point out to the Commandant that the
A look at EOD e q u i p m e n t during the A R U .
On the sporting scene we offer our congratulations to
Sergeant Travers on winning an Army Cap for rugby when he
represented the Army against the Royal Navy at Twickenham.
We also offer our congratulations to Major Yearling upon
being selected for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel (OEO). Well
done Fred.
Central Ammunition Depot Longtown
THE Depot has settled back into the routine after a certain
amount of difficulty created by the rail dispute. Difficulties
provide us with challenges; we met and surmounted all the
challenges and now issues are back to normal.
The Sergeants Mess held a Cheese and Wine Nite which was
made the venue for the First National Hunt of CAD Long-
town, It was a meeting of four races; was very successful
and a good night was had by all Meanwhile, in the Officers
Mess a Ladies Dinner Night was held at which Mr and Mrs
Bill Thompson and Mr and Mrs David Johnston were dined out.
It is always sad to see stalwarts leaving a unit and Bill Thorny
son, our OIC Eastriggs, and Mr David Johnston, the Depot
Resources Controller, have a total MOD service of some
seventy two years between them. Mr David Johnston joined
Longtown in 1946 after leaving the King's Own Scottish
Borderers and has served in various departments before filling
the appointment of Resources Controller. Mr Bill Thompson
began his Corps service in 1939 as an Ammunition Storeman;
he was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Hong Kong and was
a member of the infamous Shamshepo Camp and thereby became
one of the original labourers to begin to build the now famous
runway out into the bay in Hong Kong harbour. After the war he
served at Didcot and Bicester and then finally for seventeen
years at CAD Longtown as the SOG ' B ' in charge of Eastriggs.
We wish them both a long, healthy and happy retirement.
The trend of changing vehicle shapes from the maker's
specification has been carried out when the SAT's car was
4S7 —
Book number R0250a