Page 127 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
From the 28th June to 30th June 2019 Lancers past and pre- sent gathered in a field in front of Morten village Hall in Dorset. Little did we know that it would be a scorcher of a week-
end in both the weather and the great company.
It all started the day before the campsite was open to the main attendees of which we had 110. Robert Milligan and his team started the set up with signage, bunting, flag poles and flags from all Lancer Regiments as well as the REME. There was also a very impressive private collection of uniforms and memorabilia set up, which included not only all Lancer Regiments but a display of old RAC Regimental headdress and the Junior Leader Regi- ment. The Squadron Bar was set up and tested to great success before the main event, and from Friday 28th June at 0900hrs they started to arrive with various size tents, campervans, mobile homes and caravans, we even had our own fitter section, sadly this was no comfort to Paddy Turner who sadly broke down dur- ing a 230 mile motorbike ride to get to the Smoker with only 100 miles to do. We hope to see you next year, Paddy.
Lancers and attached had come from far and wide including northern Scotland and Germany to be together on this weekend, which happen to coincide with Tank Fest, and it was a real ”pull up a sand bag” moment on Saturday morning waking up to the unmistakable sound of Tanks moving, thankfully none of us had stagged on the night before, officially anyway.
At 0800hrs on Saturday morning 19 old Lancers with Peter Loveland and Sarah Cashmore the children of WO1 Loveland (ex 17/21L – QRL) and set off on a 50 mile ride across Dorset taking in the spectacular Jurassic Coast scenery and other land- marks, as well as a visit to an ice-cream shop in Weymouth for some refreshment. This was all organised by Graham Wall and raising money for the Army Benevolent Fund. Map of the route below. The riders left Moreton Village Hall at 0800hrs prompt and headed north towards Clouds Hill before heading south towards the Tank Museum, arriving at Stanley Barracks for a quick photo-call around the Challenger at the entrance. The rid- ers made their way towards the Purbecks via Wool and Bindon lane, temperatures at this stage reached around 23˚c at 0900hrs. The group started to stretch out at this point before heading up to Whiteways car park via Creech Hill; this was the most serious climb and everybody taking part managed to get to the top with
Some discreet signage
All Attendees at the 2019 Lancer Smoker at Morton Village hall 28th – 30th June
Keith Jones coming up first - he thinks he’s the resident moun- tain lion at the age of 69 (well done Keith). Only one rider fell out at this stage with 16 miles completed, obviously due to lack of altitude training prior to this event. Special mention to Sarah Cashmore, daughter of the late WO1 A Loveland, who climbed the hill and arrived in about 5th place. The ride then moved off after being fed and watered by Heather Wall and Cathy Jones, heading towards Lulworth now and up over Durdle Door the temperature at this point was around 25˚c and rising, this re- sulted in a slowdown of the riders but they all cleared Durdle Door and then headed towards Winfrith before turning towards Weymouth and the second stop. Thankfully with a bit of pre- planning they met up with Alan Collins and Richard Robinson both ex-17/21L who served everyone delicious ice-creams. Once refreshed the riders then made their way back to Moreton Vil- lage hall with the temperature at this stage at around 28˚c.
Then at around 1100hrs stands were up and Andy Carberry lead a motorbike ride out for around three hours, taking in the Isle of Purbeck including Bovington, Lulworth, Corfe Castle and
Southern Smoker
Lancer Riders outside Stanley Barracks, Bovington
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