Page 53 - 1RHA 2023

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
Officers’ Mess
Capt Kupa Pounsford RHA B Bty
Lines Book Entry 198: An unnamed GPO whilst on Exercise in Germany ‘I wasn’t lost, I was just surprised when I got there!’
1RHA Officers’ Mess has never been known as a quiet Mess and I can inform that this still holds true. A plethora of Mess events have kept the Officers of 1 RHA entertained and well-
watered. There have been numerous formal functions including the dependable Winter and Summer Balls, wine tasting, games night and of course Black-Tie Tuesdays with Livers Out joining the LIMs. Lt Bates has excelled as a Liver Out by making the pilgrimage every Tuesday without failure, maybe a sign of things to come. This all whilst we start our CABRIT rotation, a sorrowful ‘au revoir’ to E Bty who were the first to go and sorely missed for 6 months and now on their return B Bty leave for 9 months.
First the 1 RHA Officers’ Mess should acknowledge a farewell to Lt Col Taylor who has passed the baton of Commanding Officer on to Lt Col Luck. Lt Col Taylor’s hard work was not just within the warfighting capability of 1 RHA but also with the heart of the Officers’ Mess, making sure that the traditions of 1 RHA Officers’ Mess carry through to the next generation. The Dine-Out went off without a hitch thanks to the superb staff and the diligent plan- ning of the PMC. Even though the Officers of 1 RHA had been spread far and wide, all those who could return did just that and made such noise you would have thought the Mess in its entirety was there to give Lt Col Taylor the send-off he well and truly deserved.
This was, naturally, followed by the Dining In of Lt Col Luck but with the added delight of the new Honorary Col, Major General Bennett. This Dine In took a slight deviation from the usual affair where Lt Col Luck was required to also Dine Out a few 1 RHA Officers, eight total in fact. Yet, despite been thrown into the deep end without a paddle, he came pre-armed with tales of those leaving, which I am sure they would have rather hoped had been forgotten. Thankfully for us they are very much cemented in time now. They are however, not for this publication, so a drink in the Mess is the only way to be recanted of these memories.
This year saw 1 RHA return to the Rundle Cup with its own mar- quee. With ardent excitement the young subbies set to work, competition in the arena of panache was stiff with the KRH next door but with careful application of silver, a dash of chesterfields, a lovely painting or two and strong flow of bubbles victory was clearly ours. The event saw superb food and good conversa- tion, naturally the Army defeated the Navy and joyful celebration followed. Yet, this must be seen as the trial run with next year expected to be a true standout event where we hope to see more members past and present and offer you a glass of giggles.
Sadly, there is too much more to discuss regarding the Officers’ Mess, as is often the case a very busy FOE has kept the Subbies out of too much trouble (for the most part), or it has been too incriminating, and my time here is not over so shall keep those secrets a little longer. Know that the Officers’ Mess, has and is, the home of 1st Royal Horse Artillery Officers and there is no sign that this will decline, but strengthen in its fervent jolliness and tradition.
Ex CYPHER BLIZZARD
LBdr Parker O (HQ) Bty
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery conducted a Ski Foundation 1 Course for 14 members from across the Regiment across 7 days in Val Thorens at Easter 2023.
This was a great experience learning how to ski, as most of us on the exercise had never been on skis before.
On the first day, we were split in to 2 groups, beginner, for those who did and didn’t know how to ski and advanced for those that had either been on ski as a civilian or those that needed a refresher. The ski instructor of the beginner’s group began with teaching the basics, which consisted of positioning and how to stop, in order to allow us to develop our confidence for when we moved onto the slopes. We started on the small slopes getting used to the skis and different techniques, like stopping before cones at the bot- tom of the slope and slaloming in and out of cones. We got more and more comfortable with this by the end of day 1 and although deceptively tiring we enjoyed a meal as a team before preparing for the next day.
The following 2 days consisted pretty much of the same, but as a form of breaking up the day we had theory lessons such as the key signs of an avalanches, weather conditions and how to treat a casualty on the slope, whilst alerting skier’s that someone has been injured. After that everyone was growing in confidence and it showed out on the slopes. On the fourth day the instructor felt that we could progress onto the blue routes, which were slightly more advanced. Whilst on the blue routes with the instructor we were intro- duced to more difficult techniques such as setting a line for the group to follow whilst skiing slightly off piste, as a group we became more experienced and confident, and we eventually advanced onto the red route. Whilst getting used to the progressive difficulty of skiing we spent a good portion of the day going down longer and steeper slopes.
On our final full day of skiing the instructor threw in a prac- tical lesson where we would show what we had learnt. We were to demonstrate how we dealt with a casualty, this meant that once we could safely navigate down the red route, we would pass our Ski Foundation 1 course and would be able to progress to the next level. Throughout our time in Val Thorens, there was plenty of time for the 2 groups to get to know each other and enjoy the local cul- ture, going out for meals and exploring different part of the village where we were able to meet new people from all over the world.
Overall, it was a very good enjoyable experience, learn- ing new skills throughout and increasing my level of con- fidence, especially for those of us that had never skied before, I have seen a difference in tall of us in terms of con- fidence. I would recommend to anyone that hasn’t tried or experienced any sort of skiing to do this course, it has been a great opportunity and I have made a new hobby for life.
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