RAOC Gazette - page 152
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1983 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
but despite this advice has maintained his left below right grip not only at golf but also at hockey. Nigel is a regular member of the BAOR and RAOC (BAOR) golf teams and when not playing competitively, he is practicing hard on the Sennelager Golf Course. RETIREMENT OF M R JOE HENSHAW DURING farewell speeches one often hears that the person leaving is irreplaceable. Never has it been truer than in the case of the departure of the EO Materiel Supply Branch Head- quarters Northern Ireland, Mr Joe Henshaw. We have lost count of the number of replacements nominated for Joe, having taken one look at his copious hand- over notes, all of them have 'headed for the hills!' Finally however a replacement has been found so we must bid a sad farewell to Mr Henshaw who has held his appointment for three years. Many GAZETTE readers at Bicester, Donnington and Plioto Albert Evaris, R & A Photofeatures Ltd. The warriors of the centre court. Mr Henshaw receives his farewell present. Chilwell will know Joe's dulcet tones immediately, from his many calls on a variety of materiel matters. At last they can see his handsome visage in our photograph which shows Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Rowsell, presenting Joe with a ship's chronometer in anticipation of his retirement, which Joe tells us will be spent largely at sea. We will certainly be ' at sea' without him, and all here wish him a happy retirement. Among those watching this presentation was Captain Bernie Brace. Those who know Bernie will be amazed that he has grown at least three feet since they last saw him! To put their mind at rest Bernie is not in training for the Corps basketball team—he's standing on a chair! ANYONE FOR TENNIS ? WIMBLEDON Detachment Royal Army Ordnance Corps opened on Centre Court on the 20th June 1983. The brave warriors of the Detachment, who had to fight not only the local Wombles but also a mass of reinforcements, fought every battle in the heat of the day and only when the night sky appeared did the enemy disappear—but only until the morning. Our heroes also had to solve problems such as: where is the men's loo or Obomaya? or Ou est la toillette? or Dondel el gentilhombre atavio, gracias? or Wo ist die toilette bitte sehr? (AH meaning you know what). Our picture opposite shows our men standing in front of what could be a new style of a Unit Sign Board—these electrical ones could save a lot of money! Holding the Corps place in the ' hot seat' at Headquarters was WOl (Conductor) John Hanton, who has sat in this seat for many years—modesty prevents him from admitting the exact number. Time and work prevented him from appearing in the photo-call. He protects the warriors of the Centre Court from the mass of paper work and all the nitty gritty, thus allowing them to fight in the front line without too many distractions. In the front line of this year's battle were: Staff Sergeant Aggy Browne,, who is now very much wiser and well experienced since being in the company of so many Staff Clerks. When the Staff Clerks were unable to watch over him it was arranged for him to have two bodyguards—a WREN and a WRAF—they were both beauties (some have all the luck); — 1 W02 Ian Lennox, who hinted many times that he has been on the telly more times than David Frost and Terry Wogan put together and been closer to the net than the umpire—the latter we were unable to prove since he hid the tape measure; Sergeant Ian Sylvester, whose position was a bird's eye view of the battle was able to inform on the trouble spots. Staff Sergeant Derrick Head, who at one stage when he received a May Day call to find someone called Maggie a seat, and by luck he just happened to have one, could see himself being knighted, but alas, it turned out to be for the other battling Maggie (Creme de la Creme) Smith. Whilst holding his position he was able to run a gents dressing room and a creche at the same time all at battlestation (staircase) fourteen—not to mention the interview he gave to Soldier News—but these are stories that would take too long to tell; W02 Jim Robertson, found it a problem knowing which dress to appear in daily—however, by the last day of battle he had overcome the problem. The last member of the photocal! is W02 Ernie Barrable whose extra-mural duties included testing the strawberries and cream, twice a day. He has been asked to run a section in the journal called, ' Do you remember' since his first few days were spent greeting old friends. Staff Sergeants Terry Houghton and Tom McCallion were too shy to come forward, since their duties involved guarding the Royal Box— or so they told us. F O R K LIFT T R U C K DRIVER OF THE YEAR ON a more serious note the Fork Lift Truck Driver of The Year Competition was held at the Materials Handling Trials Unit; this was the first time it had been held since 1979. The aim of this competition is to stimulate interest in Fork Lift Truck Driving and to raise the standard of operating within the Corps. The aim is very relevant as the RAOC is far and away the largest operator of Fork Lift Trucks in the Services. Therefore the skill of the operator is becoming increasingly more important as a factor towards economy and efficiency. There were two classes in the competition. Class A was for operators of the four thousand pound Reach and Tier Fork Lift Truck and Class B was for operators of the four thousand pound Diesel Counter balanced Truck. The Classes were open to all fork lift truck operators working in Base Ordnance Depots, thus entries were received from RAOC, RPC and WRAC and civilian operators both male and female. The competition consisted of four tests. The first was a written paper covering safety and operation of fork lift trucks. The other three tests were a series of driving and stacking courses with varying weights which had been set by the training staff of MHTU. On the practical tests penalty points were given for failure to operate equipments safely or efficiently and addi- tional penalty points were awarded if competitors exceeded a standard time for each course. The organisation of the event was undertaken by MHTU under the direction of Captain Triggs. Virtually the entire staff of the unit were pressed into service as judges, marshalls, and timekeepers with a touch of glamour being added by the office |
| Book number | R0406 |