RAOC Gazette - page 141
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1980 |
| Late date | 1980 |
| Transcription |
"IS BIGGER BETTER . . . ? " THE OPENING OF THE SECOND GREAT DONNINGTON STOREHOUSE BY THE QUARTER-MASTER-GENERAL BIGGER is not necessarily better. Lieutenant Colonel Newby and Lance Corporal Macdonald, both of this Unit, believe firmly that ' small is beautiful '; this last belief, rightly held because their wives have recently produced their latest family heirs. However, Donnington is getting bigger and, most of us believe better. The great blood transfusion has begun. For a long time now the slower moving part of the Mechanised Transport range has been flowing from Chilwell to Donnington at a rate of three hundred items per day; well over thirty five thousand item headings already transferred. From 1st February this rate has increased as stores were first accepted into Building Bl, our name for the second great Donnington Storehouse fitted out with Adjustable Pallet Racking or APR. Now— building Bl is beautiful: It's re-born, it's renovated, it's clean, it's shiny, it looks good and, to steal and misuse an old Bernard Miles line—" and by golly, to see it, does you good." In the Corps we tend not to blow our own trumpets—when we do it's done with restraint. On Friday 29th February the Corps Band helped us sound a fanfare with style and polish that was heard by leading members of the trade press, by heads of companies concerned, by senior officers of the Service and by an invited audience of local dignatories, and representa- tives of our management, and employees: a fine opening for a fine building. At 11.20 Major General Callan had met with the GOC, the MP for the Wrekin, the Chairman of the Council, the Chair- man or Managing Directors of Cleco Industries, Dexion Comino, Crown, Malthouse Hunter; household names in the business these days, and, at 11.30 am sharp, the Quarter-Master-General arrived—too close on the heels I might add of the Chairman of the Council, whose limousine now blocked the entrance, in- evitably, giving rise to an observation by Quarter-Master-General about " the late Councillor Bloggins." The opening ceremony a leap forward in a Leap Year. General Sir Richard Worsley walked to his place to the strains of his Regimental March, that of the Blues and Royals, and then sat to listen to a welcome delivered in fine style, from an elevated platform on a Crown Order Picker, by Lieutenant Colonel Ian Gane. The audience numbered over two hundred and were quite stilled when the Quarter-Master-General walked to the microphone to declare the building open. He began in sombre mood. " Flashpoints invariably are a threat to peace, but provided we in the United Kingdom, together with our allies in Nato continue to show that we have strength and confidence to give W i t h clear intention the Q M C made for the Sprog Scooter a good account of ourselves should the need arise, then certainly this is the best way to preserve peace." Events in Afghanistan and Iran had heightened inter- national tension. " It is my job to take a hard look to ensure that we have at all times an efficient, well-manned, well-equipped and well-supplied fighting Army. Your job is essential in holding and forwarding the stores which keep our Army efficient." He then went on to wish all staff enjoyment and satisfaction in operation of what he recognised and welcomed as the most modern system of its kind in the Armed Services today. Open- ing a curtain the Quarter-Master-General revealed a plaque that i commemorated the ceremony on this unique day: 29th Februaryj 1980; a leap forward in a Leap Year. | As the Quarter-Master-General took his seat a demonstration began of all the equipment to be used in the building. In the style of a fashion commentator Lieutenant Colonel Gane drew approval and laughter as he described the fetching garb ' delicate strips of yellow and black' of some leviathan of the storehouse. From the Sprog Scooter, dashingly ridden by one of our young and beautiful, to the massed advance of the Cleco Bisons, the parade was a tremendous success. Now it was time for the audience to walk about, see the equipment at work and meet its operators. With clear inten- tion the Quarter-Master-General made for the Sprog Scooter: for a guy who had commanded an Armoured Regiment, an Armoured Division and 1st British Corps, driving this thing was childs play. In no time at all the place was like a fair- ground: people having rides on this, that and the other, all to the strains of The Corps Band and warmed and fortified by pre lunch sherry. The Regimental Cooks and Staff excelled. A hot buffet served to all and the party was well launched. The Quarter-Master-General went home at about 2 pm. General Callan and others stayed on for a Corps soccer fixture. But it was a day of congratulatons: on our second building of APR to come on stream, of targets met and performance im- proved, of something new and better in these days of reduction and restraint. In Donnington, in February 1980, we all agreed that bigger is better. R. W. T. — 342 — (Photographs by courtesy of The Shropshire Star). |
| Book number | R0403a |