Page 6 - RADC Bulletin 2021

CENTENARY
RADC Centenary Year 2021
Lt Col L Valler
The RADC Centenary year began in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the impact the pandemic had on the delivery
of dentistry it is clear that the Corps ends these 100 years in historically challenging times. Serving members of the Corps undertook a variety of roles in support of Op RESCRIPT, Op BROADSHARE and the Vaccination Taskforce, as well as delivering dental care to the armed forces, as we have always done over the last 100 years, no matter what challenge is presented to us.
Like anyone who made plans to see friends and family in this period and needed to make last minute changes, the RADC100 committee had many discussions on postponements or amendments to the original plans. January 2021 began with the third national lockdown and the disappointing, yet unavoidable, requirement to cancel the Centenary Church Service in Aldershot on 11th January 2021. This being 100 years from the date of Winston Churchill’s Special Army Order No4 which formalised the formation of the Army Dental Corps.
Fortunately, some of our plans were COVID-proof (or at least COVID-adaptable) and were able to proceed.
The BDJ themed military edition, as edited by Col (Ret’d) Quentin Anderson L/ RADC, was released on 9th April 2021. It featured 15 articles written by serving and retired members of the Corps featuring academic research as well as historical and contemporary articles showing activities
of the Corps over the last 100 years.
Many thanks to all those who contributed considerable time and effort to produce this important piece of work that was widely acknowledged within the wider dental profession.
www.nature.com/bdj/volumes/230/issues/7
After a lot of planning it was wonderful to see the Unveiling of the Centenary stone and the All-Ranks Function both proceed in September at the National Memorial Arboretum.
Likewise, Maj (Ret’d) Nick Gibbs’ ‘Paying our Respects’ project proved to be an excellent socially-distanced activity to undertake as the lockdown restrictions eased meaning that many members of the Corps have been able to participate.
The RADC Museum Exhibition has been displayed in a number of sites and will continue into 2022 for those yet to see it.
These events are covered in separate articles within this bulletin.
Some of our events, however, have been moved to 2022:
RADC Warrant Officers’ and Sgts’ Mess Past & Present Centenary Event will now be held Sat 2nd July 2022 at the Holiday Inn, Farnborough. There are still tickets available for this event, please contact SSgt Grace Morton for further details. (Grace. Morton952@mod.gov.uk)
Similarly, RADC Officers Mess Ball will now be held on Sat 9th July 2022 at the Honourable Artillery Club, London. All tickets have now been sold for this event.
Ex NORTHERN PYRENEES DRAGON, an arduous Level 3 Adventure Training exercise held in the PYRENEES, is now scheduled to occur 3-13 Jun 2022.
The selection of
RADC Centenary
items are available
to purchase from the Museum of Military Medicine online shop: https://museumofmilitarymedicine.org. uk/product-category/royal-army-dental- corps-100
4 RADC BULLETIN 2021
For latest details, dates, locations and
updates see http://www.radc-association.
co.uk/ and the Royal Army Dental
Corps Facebook site: https://m.facebook.
com/groups/2545156595 royal-army-dental-centenary-centenary
The Corps’ commissioned ‘First Day Cover’ is a limited edition piece and is almost sold out: https://bfps.org.uk/product/cc91-to-ss28a-