T H E C O V E N A N T E R
down again until after we’d left. became quite green over a period of time.
The too good news is through, six weeks The week’s holiday was over and it was
leave in the UK, a posting to Germany time to embark, as we walked along the
- Minden this time. The bad news is that dockside John’s head popped out of a port
we are returning on a Troop ship ‘The hole to greet us. He said how brown and
Devonshire’ This was because with the healthy we looked.
whole Bn, 800 men and 150 families, it was He took us down to the cabin which
cheaper than flying. would be our home from home for 28
I was not looking forward to it one little days.
bit.
We packed up and the families left for
Mombassa a week ahead of the Bn. We
A Camp Followers Tale - Part II
travelled again on the beautiful train and
Family Life With The Regiment
on waking looked out on the game park in
the morning mist. We reached Mombassa
1960 - 1964
after breakfast.
Next stop was a holiday camp on the
Minden
shore. It was situated in amongst tall trees,
wooden huts on stilts.
The time had come to move on, our travel
The children could hear rustling when
documents arrived, and for a change we
the lights were out. When you switched it
travelled together.
on again little lizards were darting for cover
Once again, we were at Harwich for a
all over the ceiling.
night crossing, to the Hook of Holland.
We walked to the dining room for our
We didn’t see any other members of the
meals. It was very pleasant among the trees,
Bn. But as they would be coming from
and the monkeys never stopped chattering
Scotland they would probably be on later
all the way.
sailings. We had a cabin again and landed
Mombassa was very hot, and one had to
early morning to entrain right away. All our
be careful not to get badly burnt. The first
boxes had gone straight to Germany from
day on the beach one mother left her fair
Southampton.
skinned children all day in swim suits. They
The train was still run by the Army
spent the rest of the week in casualty with
and we had breakfast, lunch and dinner
second degree burns.
- arriving in Minden after dark. We never
We went swimming in the early part of
seem to go into a quarter in daylight. It is
the day, but kept t-shirts on. If the tide was
a bit daunting to say the least, because the
out some of the pools were uncomfortably
next morning the Quarter Master Sergeant
hot. After I’d trod on a sea urchin, we wore
came to hand over the contents to you, so
sand shoes in the water, from 11am until
it’s a scramble to fold all the blankets and
2-30 we stayed inside amusing ourselves.
sheets and wash up the breakfast china. At
Resting, reading or playing games and
least this time a box of groceries awaited us
down again to the beach until dinner
which was very welcome.
time. We had a lovely week. In Nairobi we
The house was quite modern, and had
didn’t tan much, but we certainly did in
parquet floors downstairs which polished
Mombassa,
up brilliantly. The basement contained 3
Before we left Nairobi we gave the Shamba
rooms with steps and a door to the back
boy the German wide wheeled scooter, and
garden. One room for storing boxes etc, one
a blazer and a pair of slacks. We didn’t
for coal and the other for laundry purposes
realise that he needed a note from us to say
- what a laugh - two deep concrete sinks,
he’d been given them.
you could easily bathe in. They were so
He turned up at the house with the
deep, if you were hunting for socks you
Military Police who were convinced he had
used the wooden cooper stick to track them
stolen the items. We made out the note and
down.
he went on his way.
Then there was the cooper itself. Another
We did however pack the plastic
concrete edifice fired by coal. You heated the
swimming pool - the children had used
first lot of water for the coloured items, and
this almost daily - as they wanted to take it
transferred it with a huge metal scoop into
with us. We had to empty it every night or
the sink. Refill and put the whites in to boil.
the frogs and toads took up residence, as a
All the bedding was white, all the coloureds
consequence of which the surrounding area
had to be washed by hand and with a wash

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