Page 314 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
5. Intruder incident – attack and defence of the handler (Kim).
6. March on and salute to the front by the whole team demonstrating drill with the lead. Apart from the salute, all movements were done with the dogs off the lead.
At Birmingham and Liverpool our part in the programme was reduced, by the producers, to eight minutes. This entailed the cutting of basic obedience and the quickening up of the remaining items.
Each of the engagements had its own particular feature but all shared one which will last in our memories – wet and cold weather. At York, the team travelled without reserves. A dog fight at the final rehearsal reduced the arena team to nine. However, nothing daunted, the reduced team put on a good performance – Sgt Vi Glass adding an unrehearsed nosedive when she doubled into the arena to light the hoop. At Countersthorp we met opposition in the form of three ‘less-than-gen- tlemen’ who attempted to bait the team’s dogs with a non-descript terrier. The performance, which ended disastrously, was fortunately confined to a RAVC and WRAC audience who averted the terrier’s suicide. His handler escaped less lightly.
In Northern Ireland we were able to see a little of the country and appreciate the warm friendliness of its people. However, for the majority it was the first acquaintance with muddy arenas and their effect on the WRAC footwear. We also met “Shaun” the Irish Wolfhound mascot of the Irish Guards. Despite his rug he withdrew from the performance when the rains came. The sneers of the Alsatians had no effect on his “Brigade” aloofness. In addition to the performance given at the ‘Meet Your Army’ display held in the Balmoral Arena, Belfast, the team also gave performances at Coleraine, Limavady and Lurgan. Each one entailed journeys late at night in 3-tonners. However, our hosts at HQ Northern Ireland Command, Lisburn, did their best to provide a meal on our return to supplement the fish and chips consumed en route.
On our return from Northern Ireland, we moved directly from Liverpool Docks to Composite Ordnance Depot (COD) Donnington which was to be our base for the Birmingham Tattoo; WO2 Bert Fulcher, Cpl Sid Platts and Pte Weston were on the dockside to meet us. I believe we all considered Birmingham the most difficult of our engagements. Perhaps it was the long distance we had to travel from the arena at Handsworth Park back to Donnington after the finale of the second of our two performances that evening. The weather was against us, our programme was shuffled and the commentary, on occasions, inaccurate. Bad weather caused the cancel- lation of some of the performances or depleted the arena programme of some of its more colourful events. Major
13 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 37 No 1 Spring 1966.
Don Harris and Sgt Toole, supported by SSgt John Carter in his jungle kit, kept the RAVC flag flying in their static display tent.
The team left Donnington on 12th September 1965 and spent three nights at the Depot before proceeding to Saighton Camp, Chester, and our base for the Liverpool Commonwealth Tattoo. Here again, we suffered from extremely wet and cold weather. We did, however, have the great advantage of coach transport to and from Wavertree Park, Liverpool. Liverpool Tattoo had the tremendous asset of an excellent producer in Brigadier Sanderson, who had been second in command to Brigadier MacLean, the producer of the Edinburgh Tattoo. We, as well as other teams, immediately benefited from his vast knowledge and experience. Despite the weather the show went on and gave audiences their money’s worth.
This story would not be complete without a very special thank you to those of the Dog School staff who remained behind to keep the School running when we were away. Credit must go to WO2 Bert Fulcher who not only had charge of the day-to-day affairs but even put on a display at Old Dalby with a ‘Second Eleven’.
To our hosts in their various camps in which we lodged we would like to say thank you, these including three WRAC officers, Captains Gough (Lisburn), Holloway (Chester) and Ineson (Donnington). We must not miss out, SSgt Jim Rogers who had done a lot on our behalf prior to our arrival in Belfast. We were most grateful for the encouragement given by Captain Howard Carter and Sgt Stacey who came to support our early perfor- mances. It was a pity that they were unable to see the team towards the end of the tour after it had acquired the final polish of experience.
It is difficult to single out any particular item of note, each one of us has his or her own memories. We made friends among the fellow performers, acquired good know-how as far as Tattoos are concerned and learned to face adverse conditions. We appreciated the cheerful friendliness of the Fijians, took pride in the Gurkhas, and envied the established teams the splendour of their uniforms, transport and equipment. We even learned the words of the song ‘If I Ruled the World’ which was sung twice nightly at Liverpool by Bandsman Burrows. But perhaps, most of all, we learned how dependent we were on each other for the success of our performance.
The audience gave us their applause and, on our return to the Depot, the Commandant added his appre- ciation to those that sent in letters from the various organising bodies. As the non-playing member of the team, my part in all this was exceedingly small. It is with Sgt Ron Padley and each of those who entered the arena the credit lies. Congratulations to each one.13
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