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9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2013 - Page 0048

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Regiment 9th/12th Lancers
Year 2013
Transcription 46 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12'rH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S)
Rear Operations Group — Unit Welfare
Office (13 Septemer 2012 To Date)
September continued as a busy period whilst we made good
use of the DAC process. The ongoing task of information
gathering at each of the DACs from those deploying on OP H19
gathered pace and took up a considerable amount of time for the
small Welfare Department present at each. This did enable us to
have up to date contact details at hand for all of those deployed,
including both the married soldiers whose families would re-
main in Germany and the parents/ partners back in the UK.
The Welfare Department also had a hand in the smooth running
of the Haigstock weekend, ensuring that the OCA were issued
Visitors’ passes and had a place to sleep off the large amounts of
alcohol which had been consumed. The OCA had a great time
and gave thanks for a wonderful weekend.
October saw the last soldiers deploy and this was our cue to step
up the amount of day trips and events for the families. The first of
these was a trip to the Hamelschenburg Castel in Hameln, organ-
ised in no small part by Mrs Julie Tilney, the wife of OC A Sqn.
The wives were given the opportunity to attend a guided tour of
the castle and then finish the day with some retail therapy. A
few days later we held a SSAFA big brew event in the Lancers’
Retreat. The café was decorated from top to bottom in posters,
balloons and bunting. Donna Rathbone and the girls would like
to thank all that attended as they were rushed off their feet all
morning. October saw the Welfare team organise and run a total
of 8 events which included trips to the famous Hanoverian horses’
breeding centre in Celle, a shopping/ guided tour of Luneburg,
and the Heide park Halloween night to name but a few. Hallow-
een was completed by the Welfare team hosting a children’s Hal-
loween party which included entertainment and games, eyeball
soup, spider spaghetti and many other creepy crawlies.
The fun and games continued into November with a tour of
Lubbecke town centre, the marzipan factory and a number of
Sunday lunches at the Glynn Hughes cookhouse, accompanied
by a face painter and a balloon artist. The Sunday lunches have
become a great hit with the families and these will continue
throughout Op HERRICK 19. There was even the opportunity
for wives to learn some Italian cooking under the expertise of
a professional Italian chef, Signora Motemurro. All those de-
ployed can now expect lasagne for dinner on their return.
As the year has progressed, the weather has turned bad and
the dark nights draw closer as we moved into December. With
Christmas being everybody’s next target, a visit to the festive
markets in Braunschweig was arranged. The families were able
to visit the fun fair, buy some traditional German presents and
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