| Members Memories |
The Holding Camp at OSWESTRY near CHESTER in 1951
written by Matthew. P. Rooney
 I arrived here with a batch of us who had been down graded by The Royal Scots as we would'nt sign on as REGULAR, this was confirmed by one of the Royal Scot Instructors, who I later met in Hongkong prior to them being Posted to KOREA. The Camp was a wee bit daunting if you did'nt know the ropes, so the thing then to get was a 'CHITTY' that put you with the IN CROWD so to speak, I was fortunate in that there was still some NATIONAL SERVICEMEN from the previous Royal Scots Batch, they had'nt been found a suitable Posting by the time we got there,so I was let into the local dodges which meant we got issued with a Chitty, or in some cases Excused Duties, I remember one lad { who was as the saying goes WORKING HIS TICKET} we were told by the N.C.O. to blanco all our Kit which the lad did, including his lapels on his great coat, needless to say he was Discharged, and after he had the Proof that he was now a Civilian, declared that he had been told what to do by his friend who had done something similiar the previous year. There was lads from all of the services I think there were some Sailors there as well,Scottish Regimental badges were forever on display and at that time we were still wearing the Uniforms that we had been issued with all the Regalia that went with them, so there were lads going on Parade in Kilts, Trews, and other outfits just to confuse the N.C.O.'s and the Officers. I won a bet when I was there, of course it all started out as a wee joke at the NAAFI,where somebody said that getting out the Main Gate was really hard if you did'nt have the proper Pass, so a few BEERS later I said I bet you I can get through, not only that I will wear different parts of my friends uniforms,so we waited until the Saturday when we knew would be off duty and I got myself ready for the Bet. I wore a Glengarry from The Argyles and I had H.L.I. stockings a Royal Signal's Jacket that fitted me and a Royal Artillery lanyard oh aye a Royal greenjackets belt, being SOBER I was a bit worried that I might not pull oit off, but at the time I never thought of the circumstances. With my friends tailing behind me I duly marched down to the Main Gate, there I was asked for my PASS I then noticed that the Regimental Policeman had a button undone and gave him a right dressing because of it,now that the attention had been taken away from the subject of the Pass, nothing more was said and I went into CHESTER for the day, in order for me to win the bet I was to walk up and down the Main street and see if anybody Challenged me, I was still being Shadowed by two of the lads to make sure I kept to my Deal. Eventually I returned back to Camp still unchallenged where I was given my Ten Shillings which I duly SPENT in the NAAFI on something to eat and later on I bought the first round of DRINKS. By Monday it was back to normal though I thought that someone would have twigged about the STRANGE looking Lance Jack that had passed by the Main Gate, needless to say I never tried it again.We eventually were POSTED to various Units, I went to KIMMEL PARK near RHYLL in North Wales having been transferred into the ROYAL ARTILLERY. |
click here to email Matthew. P. Rooney about this Campaign/Arena
Members Memories List | Members Memories homepage
|
|
| Latest Military Discounts |
25% Off Breakdown Cover
There is nothing worse than breaking down. But if you do, the RAC have more than 1,500 patrols ready to rescue you, whether you are at the shops or on the motorway. They will always try to fix your vehicle at the roadside, but if they cant they will make getting it repaired as painless as possible.
Click Here For More >> |
|
