CONDUCTORS DAY AND PARCHMENT CEREMONY 2005


This year's events took place at the usual venue of the RLC HQ Sgts' Mess, Deepcut, on 30th May and 1st June and in keeping with recent tradition the new Director RLC, Brigadier J. J. Little, OBE, ADC, MBE, FICDDS, kindly gave permission for the hospitality of the RLC to be extended to former RAOC Conductors.

The main event on day one was the Regimental Dinner held in the Mess. For this year's dinner the dress was formal and it great to see serving members in their Mess Kit (one retired Ordnance Lt. Col also wore his Mess Kit and it was nice to see the RAOC on show again - nice one Steve ! ). Other non-serving male attendees wore DJ and the ladies looked delightful. Successive years have seen a steady increase in the numbers of attendees from around 20 in 2001 to nearly 80 this year which once again highlights the continuing popularity in which this event is held with initial contact, mainly, via the Gazette. A number of former RAOC Conductors return year after year. 39 parchments have been issued personally with many more being despatched to the recipients by post.

After dinner the Guest of Honour, Colonel M. Russell, RLC, COS HQ DRLC , presented parchments to the following former RAOC Conductors

Day two saw the formal parchment presentations by the Director RLC to new RLC Conductors, namely

After an excellent 'al-fresco' lunch provided under field conditions by phase 2 Trainee Chefs from St Omer Barracks we were bussed to Windsor Castle where time was spent looking around the various attractions. Following this we had a very relaxing cruise along the river Thames before returning to Deepcut for dinner and a very nice social evening,

Sadly this is the last Conductors Day and Parchment Ceremony which senior Conductor RLC David Patterson will organise as he will have left the service by the time of the 2006 event. It was David who introduced the dual parchment in 2003 and from all of us who have had the pleasure of attending one of these extravaganzas we thank him for his untiring efforts to promote the awareness of the appointment of Conductor and wish him and his lovely wife, Steph', all the very best for the future.

NEWS UPDATE!

Since the publication of this article we are delighted to report the great news that Cdr David Patterson will not now be leaving the army as reported above but will be with us for some considerable time.

2005 Conductors Day Group Photo

Courtesy of Tempest Photography, telephone orders to 01276 691550 Quote the Conductors Website

DB (Photo's also from DB)

Senior Conductor WO1(Cdr) David Patterson
with his wife Stephanie and Dennis Bradley

Mike Coyle, Dennis Bradley, Roy Munce, Bob White, Brian Townsend, John Nichols

And a happy time was had by all!