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Well - where better than here to post
a report on the atrocities which took place at the 2003 Arborfield Reunion.
It was rumoured that this could be the
last at Arborfield in its present form!
To mark the
occasion on behalf of 49B and thank the Band of Brothers which the
Ex-Boy fraternity has become, Gordon Bonner stood up at the AOBA AGM and
gave a heart felt speech and 'thank you' to the strength of the
brotherhood which had given him much support during the darkest days of his
cancer recovery. He presented to the AOBA Chairman/REME MUSEUM on behalf of
the '49ers' website, the official Fire Bell he recovered in true
'Bonner' style from the Guard Room of a UK Northern Barracks just before its
demolition. Needless to add this was very well received by all those
present and in particular by the Chairman Lt Col D.A.McAvoy
REME.
The Army
Technical Foundation
College is about to be swallowed
up in the reorganization of All Service Foundation Technical training
and nobody knows what the final form will be, or how long the changes will
take - there is strong possibilities that Harrogate could be one of the various
training centres, now at the planning stage. Lt Col McAvoy
(ex-Boy) has just finished his stint as Commandant and the new CO is from
the R.E.s. No doubt it has gone to the R.E.s so the charges for demolition can be well
placed! There was much talk of gun cotton at the Saturday night Dinner
among the ex-R.E.s present, Dick Wright and Pete
Henry being the most vocal, but they both appeared to be well beyond doing
anything intelligent or useful.
49B attendees were Gordon Bonner, Dick
Wright, Pete Henry, Frank Weller and yours truly and at the Dinner we
toasted to absent friends as often as possible, with excellent Australian
wine kindly donated by Gordon Bonner. This was attributed to his
recent liver and brain washing and revival by the FEOF Association ‘Down
Under’, and his gesture was much appreciated.
Cliff Charlesworth
47B (alias ‘rightmarker’) another member
of this discussion board, attended his first reunion and was seen
enjoying his visit. Hope he found his car keys and got back home safely.
49B has found another of its original
members in the shape and form of Frank Weller (VM) ‘A’ Coy. Very active and
very much alive ex-copper from Thames Valley Police who appears to
follow many vocational activities, from restoration of a Morris Minor
Traveller and Steam engines to running the Halton Choral Society at Wendover Bucks. He is not into computers and has no
intention of getting one so anybody who remembers him will have to
chase him by snail-mail. Hopefully we can extract his 'story' for the
'49ers' and I will chase this one up.
Gordon and I will add more photos
somewhere on the 49ers.
Regards,
Max
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