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Chow,
Danny Donavan (RIP) was my first Plt Sgt when I joined JS Coy in the Depot. What a sound guy. Size 6 Ammo Boots, but he could'nt half drive them into the parade square! Wages were £1.10 shillings a week. You are right you could by loads for that, however we were always skint 4 days later.
My first pay packet - age 15 - in Z Coy - IJLB Oswestry, was £1:14s:6d and the sixpence was a compulsory bingo ticket!
I don't remember if that had to last a fortnight or a week - surely a week - I was getting a quid a week on me paper round a few weeks before!
Not many RWF went through IJLB in my time there - Sullivan - Pat Dunne - Mike Carnell, Glen Nurse, Alan Ankers - struggling now.
Just like Chow & Paul Nash. Danny Donavan was my first pl sargent. & we use to get £2.00 a wk pay or was it a fortnight ???. Do you remember the training cpls saying 5 mins smoke break, I use to say I dont smoke cpl & they said run round the sq LOL. I learnt to keep my mouth shut LOL
danny donavan was my pln sgt and csm crocker was my sgt major in junior soldiers in 1974 had a great time zedder ex rrw.:smile:
It was 1976 one of the hottest summers on record when I went to the Depot . Frank Watkins , RSM Gill , Ginger the barber , POSB , the pig track , sugar loaf , that poxy fire cart and who remembers the 1 in 4 at the back of the camp ? What a hill . All my mates back home were sunning themselves in either Barry or Trecco . I was being bounced around Crickhowell with new boots , oversized combats , kf shirt , 58 pattern webbing and those tin helmets with the pin right in the centre of your head , great . "Get in the river and break those boots in you wa%$£rs" . Ozzy Lloyd and a guy called Mick Evans (D&D) were our section commanders . Affectionately known as Batterman and Robin . Mick would batter you into submission and Ozzy would rob you then share the proceeds with Mick . They used to collect our embassy and number 6 coupons for us on a daily basis so that we would not lose them !!! Every day in training was hard physical work and when we had the opportunity to pick a hobby for the evening it was great . I thought that archery sounded good . There cannot be much physical stuff involved with that . I was sorted , cushy number . We were told to meet at the Greenfields at 1800 . When we got there , all the kit was out and I thought this is great , shooting arrows in the sun on a lovely evening . All of a sudden Ozzy and Mick turned up on a lambretta or a vespa , something like that with a high back on it like the mods used to ride .
They lined us up and gave us perimeters that we were not allowed to stray outside of . For the next hour Mick chased us around the fields on the vespa with Ozzy on the back in the standing position shooting arrows at us . I was absolutely Bo&^%"ed . Great days , great memories . Not sure that they would get away with it these days but , it did us no harm . I changed my hobby the following week , I chose boxing with Derek Adams , another story for another day .
Hi Mac. Deltas had just got back from Cyprus that summer & it was hotter here than over there & we had to spend every afternoon at the swiming pool in tidworth LOL. & hide in the lockers when they came round the blocks looking for people to go out onto the plains to put the fires out
Like your write up Mac about Batterman and Robin, but i wonder what you and Johno were called when you were there in the the 80's.
Regards Pug "21E for Dog"
Carl
I dread to think !
Royal Welch that I served with in the Depot were ;
Ken Lloyd
Jacko Watkins
Mick Donnely
Yoko Davies (I always used to nick his bike when he was BOS)
Gary Blewitt
Lance Edmunds
Ned Huntley
Brian Dando
And there was a guy in the orderly room whose name escapes me .
As you can see there was a strong Royal Welch presence there at that time .
In the beginning , Major Tom Silverside was OC Training Company .
There are only two people in that list that I have seen since 1986 and they are Lance , about 1995 and Mick about 2001 .
Hi there, 2 Royal Welch Guys in Bn HQ at that time were, Wayne Beddis, and Garry Homersley. Cheers Braz.
What an incredible thread , when I joined june 77 (Malaya 7) they sent me home for 4 weeks on full pay as they did`nt have enough recruits to start the platoon, the only rwf at crickhowell I remember was pete leese? as Pti. and one in hq I think homesley. will definately visit crick`in septemberafter the sigs reumion.