Page 77 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
The Messes Officers’ Mess
It has been a disrupted year for the Officers’ Mess. Time spent on Salisbury Plain, Poland, Oman and Galloway Forest, has restricted the full range of mess activ- ity to an extent, though this has not stopped all the fun. This being our first full year following the end of the Pandemic, we were able to finally resume a number of events that had not happened for quite some time. The first of these of these was the trustees’ dinner and it was pleasure to host them in June and show our apprecia- tion for their continued support. We also sadly but immensely proudly hosted Maj Gen Stuart Watson CBE for the last time in the mess. Always a privilege to spend time with a true Light Dragoon legend and lis- ten to his amazing experiences, we will all miss his presence in the mess.
When C Sqn returned from Poland, atten- tion then turned to the main event of the year, the summer ball. The first one since the pandemic and the pressure was on to deliver one of the all time great nights. Step up Capt Turner, who had the momen- tous task of corralling all the junior officers together behind a single vision of bringing Rio Carnival to Catterick. Cue evenings painting, sawing, paper maché-ing and building favelas, ‘Christ the Redeemer’, a carnival float, and of course the obliga- tory water feature, this time in the form of Copacabana Beach. In all, a great event that has re-set the bar very high for all summer balls to come, indeed to quote the CO ‘the best summer ball he has experi- enced’. High praise indeed!
The ball truly was a great success, not least the contingency planning that saw us change the feeding plan in the week pre- ceding as we faced our biggest battle of the year - with the Gaza Barracks rats, which resulted in the kitchen closing. The local vermin decided they rather liked the main
‘Cav Mem’
mess building as somewhere to reside. Particularly attractive rat holiday destina- tions appeared to be in the mess kitchen, dining room, TV room, and Lt Erskine’s bedroom. This, along with the strain on chef resources as a result of Op Interflex, resulted in the mess kitchen being shut for approximately 6 months through the year. The main mess building then became out of bounds for all for approximately 3 months so that pest control could remove the illegal squatters, which took a frus- trating amount of time. Some consensus suggested that Lt’s Riall and McDonald should have used their local hunting con- tacts to call in the terrier men and the job would have been done in a weekend, but QM said no and so process played out.
With the Regiment being so busy, the times when the whole mess is together can be few and far between but when they were there was always a ‘classic’ Tuesday night to be had, and a number of other memora- ble nights. None more so than an evening in Durham, where the subalterns along- side the Royal Lancers took to the town to play an adapted game of ‘Où es le Poulet’, whatever that is?! A momentous night and the only major casualties were two goldfish and Lt Riall’s pride after being firmly one- upped by new 2Lt ‘Disco Dave’ Emmanuel whilst dressed as a lobster!
Following this, the Adjt thought it best if normal service resume and swiftly booked in a Mess debate night into the FoE. With C Sqn away, it was to be a straight up head
Colonels and RSMs
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