ROYAL OLD COMRADES LINK UP NEWSLETTER #164 FEBRUARY 2021

NEW CONTACTS

LENG Former 24539363 Sergeant . Peter served with 164 Provost RMP(V) from 1984 to 1996. He is now resident in New Zealand and is currently serving with the New Zealand police.

YOUR CORRESPONDENCE

Jim McIntosh sent in the above photograph and said, “This picture was taken circa 1982 when Brigadier Jack was PM (Army) and I was OC SIB RMP UK North. It was taken at a cricket match at Catterick between the SIB and 150 Pro Coy, captained by the PM. I am to his right (in my batting gear) and I had just presented the PM with a cricket ball mounted on a plinth as a memento of the occasion. The gentleman in civilian clothes is the local North Yorkshire Police Divisional Chief Superintendent, who had attended to meet the PM in recognition of the fact that the military and civilian police were co-located at Catterick. Over his right shoulder is Steve Haskins I believe but I cannot recognise many others’. Ed: Colonel Green confirmed that the lady is in fact is Dorothea Thomas and possible Peter Brook is the one over Jack’s left shoulder?

-ooOoo-

Paul Price contacted me regarding Austin Champs and had the following confession to make, ‘I must admit I remember the old Austin Champ but not as a serving member but as a dependant. My Dad was a Drill Sergeant in 2nd Battalion, The Grenadiers stationed in Windsor Barracks. At that time we lived in a block of flats in the barracks alongside the square which adjoined a barrack green. Parked where the green met the square was a line of Champs. When out with my mates we started to play around the line of parked vehicles and yes being "brave" or I think today a "touch stupid" I climbed into one of the Champs and started messing about and being a curious type if kid pressed a red button if my memory serves me well on the dash and the engine started. Sadly the vehicle had been parked in gear and it shot back onto the green leaving a couple of deep tyre marks. Obviously we legged it but sadly we were seen. Did we get away with it, no, we were all known and our fathers were told and boy my old man at 6'5" was not best impressed and I couldn't sit for a week afterwards. That event has stayed with me and because of that I never park my car in gear.’ Ed: I believe it is known as the University of Life.

-ooOoo-

Peter Wallis sent in a photograph of Squad 497 which Passed Out of training in August 1955. Peter went on to complete his National Service with 197 Provost Company, Hamburg.

Ed: Sadly no names appear and on a similar photograph which I have the names are also missing.

-ooOoo-

Tony Hopkin also contacted me with and sent in a couple of photographs. He said, ‘I hope you find a couple of old black and white photos attached that you may like to add to the next newsletter. The motorbike training and the Depot passing out photos were taken in July 1963. I find it hard to believe that they were taken 58 years ago. Happy memories. Should anyone get in touch with you please feel free to pass over my email address.’ Ed: I removed the names as some had been over written with the details of postings. So here they are in a more legible form. Rear Row: N Kinselley, G Mitson, M Forwood, < Siddall and J Smith. 3rd Row: K McFadzean, J Lackie, A Luckett, A Oliphant, I Evans and I Brown.. 2nd Row: H Sams, A McGhee, R Fry, A Hopkin, A Mulvaney, R Smithies, P Nichols, J Walmsley and A Walsh. Front Row: E Hambleton, J Weir, JA Smith, Sgt D Trattles, Sgt J Allwood, W Wells, M Harries and D Poulton. A few names I recognise from that Squad.

On the reverse of the second photograph are the following names: Jack W. Martin F, Sandy McG, Geordie W, self (Tony Hopkin), Dick F, Instructor, George M and Instructor.

-ooOoo-

A couple of readers were quick to spot a letter written to the Daily Mail which posed the question, “What is the story of the Jeep-type vehicle known as a Champ, used during National Service in the 1950s?” The following reply was written by Andrew Wardle editor of Champ World, Consell, Staffs. I have added three photographs

‘The Champ replaced the Jeep used by the Allies in WW2. The first prototype, the Gutty, was made in 1947 by Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors, but it didn't do well. This was followed by the Wolseley Mudlark, of which they made 12. It was more successful. At the time, Rolls Royce was finalising the development of its B-series engines to power a range of post-war vehicles. The Mudlark was the first vehicle powered by the four-cylinder

version, the B40. The Ministry of Supply awarded the contract to manufacture the Army's new vehicle, called the Champ, to Austin. Land Rover had also tendered but could not meet the tight specification. From 1952 to 1956, the Champ was assembled at Austin's Longbridge plant, and its Fisher and Ludlow division made the bodies at Castle Bromwich. Austin also took on production of the engine under contract because Rolls Royce could not keep up with demand. The Champ was a capable vehicle with four wheel drive and torsion bar suspension, as well as the ability to wade through 6ft of water and achieve 55mph in reverse. But it was incredibly over specified and therefore too expensive. It was twice the price of a Land Rover so its days were numbered when the Army downgraded it from combat truck to service, a runabout role. The Ministry of Supply cut short the contract and Austin delivered only 12,000 of the original order for 15,000. The Army sold Champs at surplus sales in the 1960s, for around £50 if they had good tyres. At that time, a Land Rover would fetch up to £150. A civilian version of the Champ was produced by Austin in an attempt to rival the Land Rover. It used the Austin A90 engine and had 12volt rather than 24volt electrics, but it was too complicated and expensive. Fewer than 1,000 were produced, most of which were exported. There are still 500 Champs left around the world, the owners club is going strong and interest in this fascinating vehicle remains.

-ooOoo-

164 PROVOST COMPANY RMP (VOLUNTEERS)

My sincere thanks to Paul McAllister who provided the following pocket history of the Company.

The first reference I find to a 164 Pro Coy is back in the latter stages of World War Two, when as a Company of the Corps of Military Police, 164 was a Home Command unit “somewhere in England.” As the Army contracted back to its peacetime size after the war, then 164 disappeared from the order of battle. To trace the history of what became 164 Pro Coy RMP (V), we must go back to 1950 and the reformation of the Supplementary Reserve, soon to be renamed as the Army Emergency Reserve (AER). For the younger readers, perhaps unfamiliar with this organisation, the AER was created along the lines of the Territorial Army. It provided a pool of trained men to reinforce the Regular Army in time of war. The training commitment for the AER was just one fourteen day camp each year. This could be achieved because its ranks were drawn from those with previous Regular or Territorial Service, or whose civilian occupation meant that they required little in the way of specialist training. In this way, the AER drew heavily from the ranks of the Civil Police Forces, and included ex-Regular and National Service RMP personnel, many at that time with wartime experience in the Corps. So it was that in 1950 the Headquarters AER RMP was opened at Warburg Barracks Aldershot to administer the proposed RMP (AER) units and the RMP (AER) Pool of RMP Officers, Warrant Officers and NCOs. By the mid-1950s there were eleven different RMP (AER) units under its Command; each would assemble at their Home Station once a year for training. In 1957 there was an extensive reorganisation of the TA and AER and four new RMP units emerged. These were known as Port Task Force Provost Companies. The Port Task Forces were a descendent of the formed for the invasion of Normandy. Each Group had comprised Infantry, Engineers, Signals, Medical units, RASC and REME units as well as specially trained CMP units. Their job was to execute amphibious landings and then secure a beachhead from which to operate. The four Companies were 1st and 3rd Port Task Force Provost Company, RMP (AER) at Aldershot, and 2nd and 4th PTF Pro Coy RMP (TA) at Wolverhampton and Glasgow respectively. In 1961 further reorganisation saw 1st and 3rd PTF Pro Coys amalgamated to form 1st Port Task Force Provost Company, RMP (AER) and this moved to Home Station to Glasgow, where it was attached to the 4 PTF Pro Coy RMP (TA) for its annual training. April 1967 saw the largest reorganisation of the Reserve Forces since before the First World War. The Army Emergency Reserve and the Territorial Army were swept away and replaced by a new Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR). This had four categories of units with different mobilisation requirements and conditions of service. As far as RMP were concerned, the old HQ AER was renamed as Central Volunteer Headquarters (CVHQ) RMP and was re-established at Roussillon Barracks. CVHQ was now responsible for the administration of three “sponsored” units, an 83 Section SIB (recruited mainly from Civil Police CID and ex-Regular SIB), 163 Pro Coy (recruited mainly from the AA) and a new 1st Port Task Force Provost Company, RMP (V). The term sponsored denoting that these units came under a CVHQ, which was classed as a Regular unit comprising a Cadre of Regular Permanent Staff Instructors. Over the years CVHQ would be a posting for many famous names in the Corps, amongst them Jumbo Wood, Tex Pemberton, Robbie Calder and John Lynes. The new 1 PTF Pro Coy was a successor to the old AER Companies but drew its initial resources from many disbanded RMP TA and AER units; amongst them the old 1 PTF Pro Coy. Its ranks were recruited from across the length of breadth of the UK, with a minimum training commitment set at 27 days per year – equating to two weekends and a fifteen day camp, later changed to a single 4 day long weekend plus annual camp. The Company would assemble at the Depot for these three times a year to carry out this training, under the direction of OC CVHQ and his PSIs. The Company had a role to reinforce NATO in time of war and therefore would complete annual camps abroad roughly every other year, with deployments to , Holland, Belgium and Denmark amongst others. In 1973 the Company completed Annual camp on Salisbury Plain attached to 3 (Airportable) Div Pro Coy RMP and this camp marked a change in role, as the Port Task Force role was relinquished, and the Company was now redesignated as 164 Rear Area Provost Unit RMP (V). It retained its NATO role and in September the following year took part in exercise Boldguard. This deployment, a large scale NATO exercise, was marred by tragedy, when 6 TA paratroopers from 44 Para Bde drowned in a parachuting accident. NCOs of 164 assisted in the recovery of the casualties and were commended for their actions. At that time, the ranks of 164 PTF Pro Coy were drawn from a wide spectrum of civilian employments. Gradually however the numbers of Civil Policemen in the unit began to increase and it became the norm for any Police wishing to join RMP TAVR to be posted to 164, which by 1977 had changed title yet again, to 164 Provost Company RMP (V). A policy developed under the direction of the then OC CVHQ Captain Tex Pemberton, that would see the Company become almost exclusively recruited from the Civil Police Forces and it remained this way for the remainder of the Company’s active life. It is fair to say that pretty much every Police Force in England and Wales was represented amongst the ranks; many specialisms were represented including CID, Special Branch, Firearms and Traffic, with Officers from to Chief Superintendent swopping their police blue for Army DPM twice a year, or more, to fulfil their role as RMP. This gave the Company a unique ability to draw on civil Police experience and techniques and earned it many plaudits from Higher Command. The annual cycle of training continued with camps carried out in BAOR, Belgium, Italy and Denmark. 164 was involved in the policing of high profile events such as the Rhine Army Summer Show, the Aldershot Military Shows and Military tattoos. Individual Officers and NCOs also carried out attachments to Regular units in the UK and overseas, including operational deployments in Bosnia and much later in Iraq. Sadly, in the summer of 1998 there were ominous rumblings of a reorganisation and cutbacks to the TA. The Company completed its last annual camp as a unit at Warcop training area in September that year and then awaited the outcome of the TA review. It was with considerable shock that news was received early in 1999 that the Company was to be disbanded as part of a 50% reduction in RMP TA units. A final disbandment parade was held at CVHQ RMP Worthy Down on May 22nd 1999. Many of its ranks were to leave the TA at that time, though some are still soldiering to this day in other TA units and a number went on to form the (V) Company and the ARRC MP Battalion HQ. 164 Pro Coy has an active Facebook page which brings together former members of the Company and its associated PSIs. Plans are also being formulated to hopefully hold a reunion, which have sadly been put on hold due to the COVID pandemic. However we are keen to hear from former members of 1 PTF/164 as well as former PSIs from CVHQ, please do get in touch with Paul McAllister at [email protected] for further information.

DEATHS

BARRETT It was reported on Face Book that Steve “Stickman” Barrett passed away on or about the 4th February 2021. At the time of writing I do not have any other information.

FAIRLEY Former 23677858 LCpl William Fairley. Served with 5 Dog Coy RMP, Singapore and 247 (Berlin) Pro Coy RMP between 1958 and 1964. He passed away on the 6th February 2021 as a result of a massive heart attack.

GLOSS Seen on RMP GBNF site. William Ronald Stephen Gloss passed away on the 20th February 2021. At the time of writing I do not have any other information.

GOOCH Former 22707849 William Gooch, seen on the right, passed away on the 15th February 2021. William completed his National Service from 1952 - 1954 with 2 Infantry Division Provost Company at Hilden and Iserlohn. He was a member of the West Yorkshire branch

HUDSON Former 22384081 Lance-Corporal John Stanley Hudson passed away in Aintree Hospital aged 91 years on the 1st December 2020. Stan completed his National Service 1950 - 1952 starting as a Probationer in 174 Squad before going on to serve in 11th Armoured Division Provost Company.

JONES Seen on RMP GBNF site and posted on the 24th February. Steve Jones had recently passed away as a result of Covid 19 (date not specified). It would appear that Steve served in Osnabruck 1988 - 1989. At the time of writing no other information is known.

McINTOSH The following was received from the Regimental Secretary. ‘It is my sad duty to inform you that Captain Allan Charles McIntosh died on the 15th January, aged 89. Allan served with the from 1956 to 1981 and had postings to Kenya, on active service, Hong Kong, throughout West Germany with the of the Rhine and in the , including operational tours in . After his military service, he ran a security company for the Royal Merchant Navy School Foundation followed by several senior security advisor appointments and the chairmanship of the Southern Home Counties Region International Professional Security Association.’

PEARCE Seen on RMP GBNF and posted on the 14th February. Former Corporal Gordon Pearce, seen on the right, passed away on the 11th February 2021. The only information given was that he was serving in Werl in 1974 and later served in the Gloucestershire Police.

SALISBURY Former W0405356 Warrant Officer Class 2 Diane Salisbury died on the 7th December 2020 aged 80. She was among the first ream of Royal Military Policewomen to move to the Far East at the end of 1959. Some of the companies she is known to have served in are 28 Commonwealth Brigade Provost, 140 Provost Company WRAC, 181 Provost Company and Northern Ireland. She was also involved with provost training at Richmond Park. She also served in BAOR, Aldershot and Bovington.

SMITH Former 23996345 Warrant Officer Class 1 Brian Smith passed away on the 29th January 2021. Brian enlisted into the Corps in 1964 and trained in Squad 41A. He went on to serve with 11 Infantry Brigade, 170 Provost Company, UNFICYP Nicosia, 200 Provost Company, Rheindahlen Provost Company, ITW RMPTC, 112 Provost Company and 156 Provost Company. He completed his service in 1986.

STEVENSON Former Warrant Office Class1 Betty Stevenson WRAC Provost passed away in September 2020. The following notification appeared in “The Lioness” journal. Sadly Betty Stevenson passed away on Sept 1st 2020, she was 87 years old and had lived in a Care Home for the last four years. Betty had served a full career in the WRAC. Betty had been in the Hertfordshire Police Force prior to her enlistment, so opted to serve with the RMP. After several years policing troops in Germany and Cyprus, she decided to revert to administrative duties. Her next tour was to the WRAC Centre as CSM of 2 Training Coy. She was promoted during this tour and became RSM at the Centre. On completing her duties at Guildford, she was then posted as RSM to the WRAC College at Camberley. Betty loved the pomp of parades and especially the Commissioning Ceremony. Betty always ensured that everything ran like clockwork. After a short tour in Northern Ireland, Betty was then posted as RSM to 10 Company in Aldershot. Her final tour was with the newly formed Welfare Assistants. Betty enjoyed her service life, she always maintained the high standards expected of an RSM; she was fair but firm in all disciplinary matters and was respected by all ranks. Provided the Martini’s were served chilled, she enjoyed the social aspects of Mess life.’

VERNON Former 23027162 Corporal Maxwell Vernon passed away on the 13th February 2021. Max trained at Inkerman Barracks in Squad 436 in May 1954 and went on to complete his National Service at SHAPE where he became NCO IC MT. After leaving Corps, Max re-joined the Met Police (he was a Cadet prior to being called-up) and retired after 30 years’ service with the rank of Chief Superintendent. In 1980 as a Detective Inspector he was the chief negotiator at the Iranian Embassy Siege in London.

VIVIAN Former 22755751 Staff Sergeant Bryan Vivian passed away on the 21st January 2021 as a result of Covid19. He enlisted in 1955 and is known to have served in the FARELF, East Africa, 1 (Br) Corps, 17 Gurkha Div (Penang Detachment), Bulford, Berlin and Northern Ireland. Following his discharge in 1976 he joined the FCO in 1978 and was stationed in a number of locations including Singapore, Zimbabwe and Cape Town.

Compiled by Bob Eggelton 02392 265645 07913 997233 [email protected]