Page 89 - Light Dragoons 2022 CREST

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
some tables and chairs. Now we know what you, the reader, are thinking: “Don’t you already have tables and chairs?”. Yes, we do, loads of them.
In 2022 the Mess has several events to look forward to: Cavalry Memorial Parade, and the Regimental weekend where former members of the 15th/19th, 13th/18th and Light Dragoons will celebrate 30 years since amalgamation. Hopefully there will
be loads of ex Light Dragoons to tell us how easy we have it now and how much money they earn blah blah blah.
At the time of writing this we are about to roll into yet another Ex Wessex Storm. All the Officers and Pricey are very excit- edly reading their doctrine and telling us “that’s not an act of war” four thousand times a day. But for the rest of us, we are looking forward to getting back, getting
rested, getting drunk....and getting billed by WO2 Fife.
All jokes aside, it is great to see all the mess members able to meet, eat, drink and laugh together again. Even if it is at the expense of C Sqn.
AC
The physical Cpl’s Mess was estab- lished in Gaza Barracks in 2019 and in the period since then it has been relatively quiet. Inside the mess building we now have a fully running sports bar including a pool table, wall mounted TV, and a fridge full of fosters. The NCO’s who opted into the mess now aspire to have access to central heating and Sky Sports. Cpl Pennington is on the lookout for a buckshee fire stick on his well known scrap runs around County Durham.
2022 saw a change in mess responsibili- ties with Cpl Atkinson taking over Cpl Differ as PMC, Cpl Webster replaced
Corporals’ Mess
Cpl Black as mess barman (for obvious reasons). Cpl Hill remains in charge of presentations but was last seen negotiat- ing some particularly arduous steps out- side of the NAAFI, with a list of orders longer than PEC Duke’s charge sheet.
In the summer of 2021, the Army Sergeant Major visited us and was impressed with the setup we had, com- menting that we had set the blueprint in the Army in terms of JNCO clubs. He then presented Cpl Atkinson with the ASM’s leadership coin after seeing his good work on B Sqn BCS training.
Balaklava day passed without too much embarrassment for the Officers and or Sgts Mess. Having been captured from the Officers Mess, Lt Riall eventually managed to escape the clutches of the Cpls Mess in one piece, if not with his dignity quite intact.
Post COVID we are hoping to organise more mess functions, with a games night in the pipeline and more unpaid and over-inflated mess bills.
MA
Cpls Mess
The new Cpls Mess bar
Lt Riall is captured by the Cpls Mess
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