Page 298 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
contracts; some staff did remain on Civil Service payroll. However, the Civil Service ceased to support the DAC and the GFM Site Manger was responsible to the Commandant for the support that REALM (DAC) Ltd was contracted to provide. Under the terms of the Contract PFI, REALM was permitted to maximise the benefit of use of the DAC facilities and they declared plans to extend the activities of the Centre into the private sector. Melton was expected to increasingly attract business related to the fundamental canine, equine and veterinary activities generated by the military need. Consequently, conferences, courses and training output was actively promoted by GFM. This was actively pursued to the extent that the planned gymnasium and sports centre was earmarked for opening to private membership or to the local community. There was also a plan to open up the veterinary operating facilities and equitation training areas as long as there was no possibility of a clash with the primary military need, so that it could be exploited to ensure maximum utilisation and the cost effectiveness of the DAC.
The DAC PFI was a trailblazing Army project; therefore its fortunes were to be followed with much interest by both the MOD and the private sector, and with much trepidation within the Armed Forces.
The development of the 14 Acre Field (the field lying between the Vet Hospital and the Remount Stable Lines) was accomplished with a sympathetic eye to the history of the site. Imaginative archi- tectural design also came into play in the plans for the buildings that were to provide the office space, messing facilities, accommodation and a recreational centre. Roof lines reflected those on the Equitation Stable yard which dated back over a century. In other respects, the office block looked much like the local supermarket and the personnel accommodation blocks compared to many on-trend travel facilities of the late 1990s.
In every way, the administration and accommo- dation buildings are a far cry from the wooden huts that were previously occupied and still standing solid until the moment of demolition. Within those older buildings there was some excellent and well matured wood. Indeed, the main frame structures remained as sound as in 1938, they were just no longer desirable as accom- modation for the modern RAVC.
For Lt Col Peter A Roffey, writing in Chiron Calling in Summer 1998, the demise of the old to
embrace the new, was an evocative experience:
“I first entered the Top Camp from Elmhurst Avenue in July 1956. I thought it attractive and inviting then, and forty-two years later, so I never viewed the hutted guardroom, offices and stores as odd. To my mind they looked well with the role of the RAVC. A horse tied to a veranda hitching rail would never have looked out of place. In those days, of course, when the School of Farriery was located at Top Camp, we were treated to the daily delights of horses being ridden or led through the Top Camp with the Commandant and 2IC frequently doing the rounds on a horse. The GS wagon conveying the pig swill from the kitchens to the pig farm before taking the NAAFI to the sections. Who had heard of Environmental Heath in those distant times before the EEC regulations put paid to both the pigs and the swill? I expect many other readers will have wonderful memories of those halcyon days when everything stopped for a week while our energies were devoted to hay making, using horse-drawn equipment. Days of course when National Service meant man power was not a problem. Such times have gone forever – in the modern account sheet dominated workplace.
There is now a different quality of life on the agenda. At the time of writing, just at the dawning of the new millennium, we will it seems come naturally to the end of an era at Melton Mowbray. The move into new, purpose-built accommodation with all the modern convenience readily to hand is an attraction that cannot be ignored. It focussed attention, very positively, upon the challenges and opportunities the PFI arrangement offer in the 21st century. It is set to meet the aspirations and expectations of a new generation of service personnel who will accept no less. But, for us old ‘uns, there will be sorrow at the demise of the Top Camp.”28
Sadly, the confident picture that Colonel Peter Roffey painted in that 1998 article, that the sod would be shortly turned and the splendid, purpose-built accommodation would appear to replace “The Top Camp” by the dawn of the millennium – was frustrated. This came as no surprise to many, who through much of their Service, had lived in perpetual expectation of the Melton rebuild. The PFI was very new to the MOD and teething problems were expected. Col Roffey captured the situation well when he said: “The spade was kept in its wrapper for the present lest it should rust.”29
As the DAC ceased to be an independent government agency and became part of the Army Training and Recruitment Agency (ATRA), another organisational change affected the RAVC.
28 Chiron Calling Summer 1998 Extract taken from article by Lieutenant Colonel Peter A Roffey RAVC. 29 Chiron Calling Winter 1998/1999 ‘Editorial’ by Lieutenant Colonel Peter A Roffey RAVC.
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