RAOC Gazette - page 216
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 |
leave although there are a few of us who see no prospect of lying on a sun bleached beach before Christmas! This month has seen the Adjutant's handover/takeover— we welcome Captain Pat Callan from Bicester and wish Major Tony Bridges the best of British for his year off at Manchester University. Captain Ken Mortimer, Lieutenant Sarah May, Staff Sergeant Gerry Dolan and Sergeant Dave Bee are all busy saving up the schillings and dreaming of copious Steins of Beer. They will soon be travelling to Austria, along with some soldiers from Admin Company, on Exercise Pilgrim's Progress where they will be high level hill walking, canoeing, windsurfing and rock climbing for a fortnight. Army Apprentices College Chepstow 9 HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE ysJkjV DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER visited tne fcjJ*sSf College to mark the sixtieth gfSggf anniversary of the founding of the unit . ELXTILX- Numbered among the many guests who 3j5n$xw5^ attended the occasion were the DGOS and Jr^JwL^^fr Mrs Whalley. We were very pleased to y '^•^ ^T welcome them to the department and took A ,^i^ f the opportunity to explain just what goes Her Rova ^S>11 I ^ H F V ' Highness saw all the trades ( i ^ j H » S J l taught in the college as well as various Gi£"^5«!£IKg^££J> displays and activities. The apprentice •"^ ammunition technicians of the second year, under the guidance of Staff Sergeant' Nobby ' Clark demon- strated their ability to dispose of stray ammunition, inert of course, and later in the day the versatile ' Nobby' provided some 'Snap, Crackle and Pop,' for the mock battle. Sadly the apprentices of the second year are about to depart for Mans Service. No doubt they are glad to be on their way at last. We wish Barnes, Curtis, Dudfield, Mills, Travers and M. A. Smith every success in their future careers. To Smith we offer the hope that he will soon be fit and well. We cannot imagine what he looks like without his crutches. It seems a lifetime since the assault course assaulted him. Unfortunately we must say farewell to some of the first year as well. It is to be hoped that they do not feel too badly about ammunition and that they will be taking some happy memories of Chepstow and the department with them. On the subject of departures we trust that all will go well with Sergeant Bob Little when he eventually sets off on his travels. He keeps muttering about the fact that he should have left Chepstow by now and that it will be novel to winter abroad this summer. Perhaps by the time he reads this he will be enjoy- ing a South Atlantic Summer rather than a wet Welsh Winter. Any second now Staff Sergeant Roy Whitford will depart for BAOR along with his family. It has not been all work and no play. The training system here is based on a work hard, play hard approach. All have worked hard and some have played very hard too. Although Travers Clarke is long past we wish to record our thanks to Magloire and Osbome who came back from Aldershot with more trophies for our collection. We are equally grateful to Staff Sergeant ' Nobby' Clark, (who seems to be getting his name in print an awful lot this time), for his efforts on the Small Bore Shooting front. He led a team of apprentices to success when they took the ' Baker Cup.' He has been very much involved in many other competitions and various leagues. In between shooting his own cards he has somehow found the time to coach the younger members of the club. Another shottist of repute is Apprentice Tradesman Humphries who came first in the RAOC Young Soldiers Competition. Sadly he is leaving us but we know that he will be an asset to any unit he may join in the future especially if they have a small bore shooting team. Finally we welcome Staff Sergeant Gary Craggs and family to the fold. SEND IT TO THE GAZETTE A short article about events—places—people is always interesting particularly when accompanied by a photo- graph. Send it to THE GAZETTE. Headquarters Northern Ireland _^___ _^s^- - A diverse multiplicity of occurrences have f** C3Jw'"" " I t t r r a v n s s P ' r e d since our last contribution, and av n I r-JSsf I ' S that with a mouthful of biscuits! I ^reS^^l I Starting at the top we are sad to report I TiMffljwvsr I that ' the boss,' Lieutenant Colonel Stuart \ tt\ W*«f I R° w s e "> n a s decided to leave the Army at \ \ \ W M M I n e e n c ' °^ * n e v e a r - However, having had X. xXfcl J ' an offer he couldn't refuse ' to be ' Comd ^ k £j S Sup' Maidenhead District Council, (with a ^ W ^r bit of ' Comd Maint' thrown in) he just ^ ^ couldn't resist the challenge. Major lack Ewart, our S02 Materiel, while mourning the retirement of Mr Joe Henshaw as EO Materiel, has a new ' sorcerers apprentice' in Mrs Valerie Martin. Valerie has now almost finished reading Joe's handover notes—we'll give her a chance—she's only been here six weeks! The other two Merry Materiel Men, FTOWO WOl Alec Johnston and Mr Bill Watson, the CA Mat, have two things in common—both are Irish and both always seem to be somewhere else when you're looking for them (perhaps I shouldn't say that—they might come looking for me). Captain Colin Buckle and his ' right hand person' Mrs Angela Brayshaw continue to play ' Space Invaders' and ' Pac- M a n ' all day long with their new toy—the great Local Equip- ment Table Computer. One of these days they will get round to doing some work with it. Angela is shortly to depart and we bid her ' bon voyage' and say an advance welcome to her successor Mrs Stefania Melvin. In the vehicles world our two 'Avis Men ' Captain Simon Hall and Sergeant Taff Rees are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of their new clerk Private Ryan—with the jobs they're lining up for him we can only hope he brings a couple of friends to help him out! Finally we must mention our Chief Clerk—or we would if we knew who it was! Following the departure of Staff Sergeant Jim Gallagher to Rheindahlen we were pleased to have Private John Meredith as an able ' stop g a p ' on loan from G3 Branch— how he enjoyed answering the phone as ' Chief Clerk'! Our latest recruit to the fold is Corporal Liz Gordon who will fill the ' Chief Clerk g a p ' until the eventual arrival of a more permanent incumbent. Liz made the fatal mistake of dis- playing her typing skills on day one and has regretted it ever since! Providing welcome continuity and humour in the Chief Clerks empire is Mrs Margaret Burnside, and talking of Burnside I almost forgot to mention our FSOl Jim Armstrong and his ever smiling assistant FS02 Tony Marsh both of whom are still trying to work out how they talked themselves out of getting a brand new Fire Engine. Jim and Tony are about to bid farewell to their long suffering clerk Mrs Chris Howard to whom we wish ' Bon Voyage ' and a happy tour in Munster. Ordnance Depot Northern Ireland HEADQUARTERS took on VSD at six-a-side hockey recently. The game was hard fought and resulted in a two all draw. The CO has now declared that hockey sticks will replace SLRs as personal weapons for Ordnance Depot personnel. The cricket team has continued to improve (ie, they are losing so badly) and our stalwart volley ball players recently achieved their first victory over WRAC Lisburn. (They also won the Volley Ball!). The unit challenged NIRW (Northern Ireland Roule- ment Workshops) to a ' B F T Relay Race.' Teams consisted of ten men, each required to run one and a half miles. The end result was a win for NIRW, but it was close, with a difference of one minute twenty seconds between the two teams. Captain Ron Chisholm entered as an individual to prove he could beat Captain Roger Walls. He didn't. The 2IC, Major Terry Ewers continues to take part in all unit events which involve being away from the unit while the OC VSD, Captain Ron Chisholm is assumed to be suffering from amnesia because he cannot prove his identity. Captain Martin Thwaite, OC Sups SD, is recovering from an accident involving blank ammunition while he was playing ' Cowboys and Injuns ' at Ballykinler. Any requests for leave now fall on a deaf ear! Records have provisionally selected A/Lance Corporal Longman, Privates Mick Ward and Brummie Wootton for pro- motion. We congratulate them. Lance Corporal Pat Sheehan RPC (Postman Pat) recently returned from a Unit PTI Course which has resulted in hard disciplined PT Periods without the usual opportunities for malingerers. Those of us who malinger, congratulate him on his course pass but will never forgive him. 179 — |
| Book number | R0406 |