13th & 14th Intakes JTR ACC - The Reunion!

[Ian E Scott]

The 13th & 14th Intake Junior Tradesmens Regiment Army Catering Corps
50th Anniversary of Enlistment Reunion

On Friday 29th June 2012, eight of us met up at Warners Holme Lacy House in Hereford for a reunion weekend to celebrate our 50th year since joining the finest Corps the British Army had to offer...........before it was sold down the river in the 1993 Options for Change Defence Review, which has had troops calling for our re-instatement ever since that fateful decision.

Some of us had not met up since leaving St Omer in 1964 to head off into the unknown world of “Mans Service” and all the challenges it had to offer.  It could have been yesterday!

So much was the wish to meet up and celebrate this event that sleep, (both ours and the bar staff), was put on the back burner.  The venue and the company was first class and we never stopped laughing all weekend.

If you were not there and your ears were burning, it’s simply because we were missing you and were reminiscing over the JTR days and beyond.

Holme Lacy as a venue had a lot to offer, only six miles from historic Hereford and the beautiful Wye valley................we only saw that on the way in and out!  Although four of us ventured into Hereford for a bit of light refreshment on the Saturday afternoon; we even encountered a Morris Dance troop outside one pub, very interesting too.  That was our culture for the weekend.

We par-took in the archery, shooting, putting green, (ACC Golf Society need not worry about being outplayed); Connect 4, chess and Malcky Millbank’s table “planking”.  As to the latter it’s better to not ask!!!

The bar was reasonably priced, until Malcky Millbank took a shine to a bottle of malt on the top shelf.......2 doubles and 2 pints set him back £31.59p.  The top shelf was soon left alone.......until the following night.

At dinner on the Sunday night we had 3 toasts, The Corps, Absent Friends and The Queen.  After the latter the whole restaurant stood up and started singing the National Anthem, absolutely stunning.

I emailed the General Manager on my return home and she informed me that the staff will certainly remember us!

If you couldn’t make it this time, please, please try and do it in 2014, (we may even meet up in Spain in 2013), because we missed you.

The following attended:
Ian Bredonchelle – J/LCpl Room NCO to the 13th Intake on enlistment in Cassino Platoon
13th Intake – Graham Smith, Allan Robertson & Ian E Scott
14th Intake – Dave Bradshaw, Frank Goldsmith, Terry John & Malcky Millbank