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RAOC Gazette - page 295

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Material type Journals
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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1983
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Colour Yes
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Early date 1983
Late date 1983
Transcription His successor is Captain Roger Swift, who comes to us from
Headquarters, The Light Division. During his first year he will
take the Band to Northern Ireland and Hong Kong in March
1984 where they will be assured of a warm welcome from the
Gurkhas!
WALKABOUT
CYPRUS
THE Cyprus Walkabout attracted a full complement of eighty
teams from BAOR, UK and Gibraltar as well as local Cyprus
based Units. The event, now the premier long distance event
in the Services Sporting Calendar, starts at sea level in Episkopi
and ends on the first day at Troodos. In between, five check
points are negotiated and over thirty two miles of often hostile
terrain is covered.
After an overnight stay, the competitors complete the dis-
tance in reverse order, in all about sixty five miles.
This year hopes were high for the RAOC Cyprus team
which had trained hard in an attempt to emulate the now defunct
Para Heavy Drop Team which won in 1974. However, victory
still eluded our team, although against stiff opposition to finish
fourth for the second consecutive year, was splendid. The 'B'
team also ran and walked tremendously to finish in fourteenth
place. General Whalley, visiting Cyprus, must have been de-
lighted to hear the Village Blacksmith played by the 1 Argyll
and Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Band when the team
of W02 Long, Staff Sergeants Stanton and Curtis collected
their awards. Although there were no awards, our second team
consisting of W02 Leach, Sergeant Keogh and Lance Corporal
Devlin can be proud of their placing in this most arduous of
events.
Photo D. Glapa.
Mrs Olga Clapa.
Olga travels with Mr Wojtulewicz, a local haulier who owns
a transit van, and raises money to pay for petrol with raffles.
The clothes, food and medical supplies are donated by local
schools or charities. Her trips are made during her annual
leave and receive full support from her husband Joseph, who was
brought up as an orphan and so feels deeply for the plight of
Polish children.
The photograph shows Olga at work as a Storekeeper on
Issues Packaging in the Central Processing Building. She has
been employed in the Depot since 1960 and has earned consider-
able respect from everyone for her charitable work.
ROUND
THE
HORN ?
FOR over one hundred and thirty years the record time of eighty
nine days, twenty one hours for sailing a ship under canvas from
New York to San Francisco, round Cape Horn, has not
been beaten—or equalled. It was set up on 1851 by the 'Flying
Cloud,' the fastest Clipper ship ever built in America, built by
the famous Scots builder Donald MacKay in his New York yard.
An important element in the record breaking run was the
crew, needing obviously to give of their best but not for any
reason of pride of seamanship or threat of harsh punishment;
simply because they had all caught that awful- malady—gold
fever. 1851 was the height of the San Francisco Gold Rush so
the faster the crew could sail the ' Flying Cloud' the quicker
they could desert at journey's end, find a pick and shovel and
join the frantic mobs at the gold fields!
The well known yachtsman Chay Blyth is, as you probably
Photo Captain C. W. P. Emmett.
IHEADQUARTERS
lETROLEUM-CENTRE
Staff Sergeant Curtis leads W 2 Long and Staff Sergeant Stanton
into fourth place at the end of the Cyprus Walkabout 1 9 8 3 .
For the record, 1 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
captured first and second places and last year's winners from
BAOR, 7 RHA finished third.
lOYAL ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS
MERCY MISSION
D O N N I N G T O N TO POLAND
MRS OLGA GLAPA came to England from her native Poland
in 1948. She now lives at 15 Wheatley Crescent, Hadley, near
COD Donnington, with her husband Joseph, and son Jan aged
fifteen. Olga has now completed four trips to Poland, a round
four thousand mile journey, with clothes, shoes and medical
supplies. She was so shocked by the lack of basic essentials on
her initial visit in October 1982 that she returned at Christmas
1982/83, April and June 1983. On each occasion her visa
permitted a six-day stay which allowed time to visit a children's
orphanage for one to five year olds at Kalisz and a convent
in Krakow.
Photo G. K. Gillberry.
Staff Sergeant Eric Blunn who was to have taken part with Chay
Blyth on the San Francisco record attempt.
244

Book number R0406