T H E C O V E N A N T E R
The last issue of The Covenater had an me, both first-timers, it was enormous fun.
article by Ed Boyle who wrote vividly and It was the only Exercise that I was sent on
amusingly of his experience (a recruit at for two weeks and for which I volunteered
Lanark then posted to Minden) which to stay on four more.
had taken place just a few weeks before That was not quite the last time I saw the
us. (Incidentally I can help him with Sultan. During his State Visit to Britain in
the original name of the place we knew the early ’80’s I was fortunate to be invited
as Elizabeth Barracks, it was Gneisenau to the State Banquet given for him by the
Kaserne, named after the Prussian field City of London in Guildhall. (Colonel
marshal who fought along side the British
Reggie Kettles, who commanded the 1st
against Napoleon.)
Battalion in Minden, was invited to the
In Minden we met up again with (by
State Banquet at Buckingham Palace the
now) 2nd Lieutenant Bin Said complete, as
previous evening.) It was a spectacular
we were of course, in Cameronian uniform.
occasion.
I was posted to A Company (Major - later
Intake 29 held a reunion as Sandhurst
Lt Col - Dick Walton) and he joined Mike
in early August 2002 to mark the 40th
Sixsmith in B Company (Major Sandy
anniversary of our commissioning. (It
Lindsay). When I began writing this item
was organised, incidentally, by the Chef
I spoke to Mike Sixsmith. He said, ‘But I
de Protocol RMAS, that redoubtable old
thought he was in A Company! Just shows
Cameronian, Major Ian Park-Weir. I was
he managed what we never did - the
pleased to be able to offer him a glass of
subaltern’s dream - everyone thought he
champagne.) About 80 of us tottered round
was in someone else’s Company!’ Then, as
(including Mike Sixsmith and me). Some
at Sandhurst, he received no special favours
months earlier I had put out feelers to see if
or treatment, whichever company he was
the Sultan might have been able to attend,
in.
but sadly he was not to be in the country.
Soon we were all thrown into the thick
Ah, well: perhaps in 10 years for our 50th.
of the exercise season the high-light of
PRG
which was a Corps exercise called Autumn
Double. It was the height (depth?) of the Thomas Graham of Balgowan
Cold War and we were practising orderly
As I was writing the above article I came
fighting withdrawal over the river lines of
across and was able to buy a copy of the
the north German Plain.
History of the United Service Club by Maj Gen
I think it must have been that year
Sir Louis Jackson and published by the Club
that I received from him the unusual but
in 1937. Readers may not know that this,
welcome greeting of a Christmas card. I still
the oldest (and grandest) of the military
have it.
clubs of its kind was started by Thomas
The last I recall of our service together
Graham. I quote [and comment]:
in 1 Cameronians was on Exercise Snow
“On the afternoon of the 31st May, 1815,
Queen in early 1963. It was ostensibly about
while Wellington at Brussels was awaiting
winter warfare training but was actually an
the onset of Napoleon, eighty senior officers
opportunity to get everyone (and especially
of the Army assembled at the Thatched House
the Jocks) out of the barracks and to teach
Tavern in St James’s Street. They had come at
them the rudiments of skiing. It would be
the request of Lord Lyndoch (recently raised to
fair to say that 2nd Lieutenant Bin Said was
the peerage, but better known as Lieutenant-
not a natural.
General Sir Thomas Graham, victor of
The ‘training’ was based at Walkensee
Barrosa); and he, being called to the chair, read
near Murnau in Bavaria. Much of the basic
the following memorandum:-
instruction took place in the nearby resorts
“The want of a General Military Club,
of Garmish-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald and
permanently established in London, and
Oberammergau (of Passion Play fame). The
possessed of a suitable house, appropriated
winter of 1962/63 was a fierce one and it
solely for its use, has been generally felt by
was bitterly cold. We had record amounts
officers of all ranks of the army; (etc).
of snow and low temperatures but some
“Lord Lyndoch, who was the actual originator
fine weather too. It is a spectacularly
of the Club, was a remarkable man. A country
lovely part of the world and even if not
gentleman, sportsman and traveller of
everyone appreciated the compulsory
cultivated tastes, it was not till middle life that
skiing the scenery was there for all to enjoy.
he entered the Army through the medium of
There were those of us who enjoyed it all
a volunteer regiment which he raised largely
immensely. For Michael Sixsmith and for
at his own expense. In the twenty years that
37
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