THE COVENANTER
would, alas, fall to me to stay behind at Bn the middle of the first week. This, which
H.Q. to organise the Bn transport convoy, was to be our last, was ‘a good camp’.
which would appear by mid afternoon, to Mindful of the need to celebrate it suitably
convey the doubtlessly grubby and we sat in the shade and fell with relish to
exhausted, but exhilarated troops back to eating this memorable lunch.
camp after this landmark in our history. Suddenly, immediately to our front, nine
I looked at the shady trees round the o’clock from ruined farmhouse, there
farmhouse and the dragonflies dive- appeared a cavalcade - well two Land
bombing the surface of the little pond, Rovers, bearing it was obvious, the Brigadier
compared all of that with the prospect of a and staff, What to do?
trek across the heath, some hours of The Thetford ranges and miles of
prodding paras out of the undergrowth, training area were awash with game. Rabbit,
then the sweaty march back to Bn HQ and hare, wood pigeon and, of course, pheasant
hid my disappointment as best I could as we were all there in abundance but the
assembled the men and watched as A.B. and shooting was all heavily syndicated, so
C. companies, at full strength, moved off in much so that for those without a syndicate
the late morning sunshine. licence it was forbidden even to speak
The three companies were at full sharply to a pheasant much less shoot it if it
strength because D company had been split crossed your path. Added to which in July,
up for the day and redistributed to make up although almost in their prime, pheasant
the numbers in the other three companies. were out of season!
For the purposes of wireless traffic there was The Brigadier alighted, strolled over and,
a D company,but it consisted of only one with the formalities and niceties observed,
officer, one sergeant major, one radio and was offered some lunch. Now was the
one Land Rover. moment! Would he like some champagne?
The battalion having set out on its lndeed he would. A little pheasant perhaps?
offensive meant that things were fairly He paused, smiled and took the proferred
quiet at Bn HQ and the few staff left behind with a quizzical look, As he ate it with
were setting about the preparation of a mid- evident enjoyment the thought which
day meal when all of D Company appeared troubled him, and all of us, made him ask,
and parked under a shady tree by the ‘I trust, Sergeant Major, that none of your
duckpond. lan Young - for it was he, came people have been shooting the game?’
across and, seeing our preparations, asked CSM Ferguson was equal to the moment,
me if I would care to join him and his his hoarseness adding to the solemnity off
sergeant major, Niall Ferguson, for lunch. his reply ‘No sir, of course not, these poor
Thinking of our need to share our compo birds died as the result of a road accident’.
rations I asked ‘what are you planning to Stumped for a reply and with the
have?’ ‘Oh said he we thought some cold champagne bubbles tickling his nose as he
roast pheasant and champagne would be choked back the laughter the Brigadier
nice’ without any question I replied ‘but? finished his lunch, chatted for a few
‘we’ve put some bottles in the duck pond to moments, returned our farewell salutes and
cool them and we’ve got a hamper for the was gone.
pheasant and so forth’ - and so they had! This one small short incident has
CSM Ferguson came over and chatted, remained with me all these years because it
before we ate, in a hoarse whisper, which contains so many of the attributes which
denoted a very good summer camp. Many made, and make, services life even in the
of you may remember why. T.A. so fulfilling and memorable - initiative,
In the days of the T.A., when we were resourcefulness, understatement, deference,
spare-time soldiers rather than part-time and mutual respect all cemented together
civilians, as the TAVR would have us with the odd moment of high hilarity -
become, summer camp was a fortnight happy days indeed!
away from civilian life when men who George Ferguson
never even ran for a bus at home found the
energy for so much more. For senior ranks The Malayan Emergency
summer camp called for feats of stamina
In June 1998, Chin Peng, the Secretary-
and endurance, many of them performed
General of the Malayan Communist Party
not far from the Sergeants Mess bar. CSM
(MCP) gave interviews to the Observer,
Ferguson told me that he usually found he
BBC2, Radio 4 and the BBC World Service to
was having a good camp if he was hoarse by
explain the MCP reaction to the
54
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