9th-12th-Lancers - Year 1985 - Page 0108
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 1985 |
| Transcription |
THE 9TH/l2TH ROYAL LANCERS REGIMENTAL JOURNAL And is There Honey still for Tea in Hasenwinkel Strasse, Wolfenbuttel? This article was destined to be written in the year 1987 when it could just as easily have been entitled “30 years on“ t . . , BUT because Anno Domini is already showing signs of winning the running battle I wage with itI I think its got to be written NOW or it may never be written at all! So, what has changed in ‘the patch‘ since 1957'! l have a feeling that, the 9th/12th being the close knit family it is. if one walks down the street and names the occupants a few familiar names might well merge . , in my day, the Quarters were brand new, We had all been sitting around in unpronounceable named streets such as Kassenwrecken and Umtgummerstrasse (or at least that’s what they sounded likel) plugging holes in the walls of our old 'requisitioned' houses and taking daily trips to see how the builders were getting on with the new Quarters — German efficiency was putting them up pretty quickly but, there were complicated ‘hold-ups’ caused by the inevitable ‘Service Specifications' demanding more of the Contractor than he could easily fulfil. For instance, it was decreed that in the case of the semi detached comparatively ‘junior’ officers Quarters on the right hand side coming up from the main road. there should be only one cellar between two houses — this resulted in the Contractor excavating one cellar per house and then solemnly (and quite laboriously) filling half of it in again! There was almost a strike when we heard rumours that there would also be half an attic and authority hastily bowed to the threatened wrath of militant wives. The Contractor beamed with relief when he found he was not ging to have to fill in half an attic per Quarter (and so did we). Moving day came and, starting at the bottom right hand side (from the main road) the Richardsons, the Kennards, the Arkwrights and the Lewis’ were installed . . , There must have been others but memory refuses to disgorge any further names. Then the LEFT or (should any of our Navy friends for some wild and inexplicable reason be reading this) the PORT side; there were the Gilks, the Guest House, The Brockbanks. the Hooks and at the top in what I believe is now the Commanding Officer's house, there was the second»in-command — John Wormald and family. The Moncktons, for some reason I can‘t rememberI continued to prop up the holes in their original requisitioned house, but Monckton presence on the patch was maintained by Rosemary and Christopher walking round each morning to Monica Hook‘s kindergarten school. Great excitement and a certain amount of illicit titillation was obtained when it was discovered that the frosted glass on the windows of the Port side bathroom/lavatory windows had been put in the wrong way round and for several days Starboard was able to watch in intimate detail the domestic habits of Port side i . t the novelty wore off and finally some public~ spirited soul told all; the windows were hastily reversed, Behind the Quarters there was (and for all I know still is) a copse where the young ‘children of the Regiment' loved to visit to play Cowboys and lndians. I well remember a night when the irate wife of an SQMS was to be seen dashing through the trees, brandishing a hefty oak stick and chasing her brood of six children who had failed to return in time for bed . . . it was somewhat like a rehearsal of the ride of the Valkyries and Wagner would have totally approved of the screams and rumbles which accompanied her search and ‘round up'. Especially because, as she passed every one of our Quarters. she sang out ‘Dreadfully sorry for intruding‘. Great excitement occurred when we heard that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were likely to visit the Regiment. If so. would be put up in the Guest House on our patch? Sadly, the visit never transpired so i think the spectators at Hannover Races finally had the full frontal view of any expensive headgear which had been purchased in anticipation. As I write I realise that this heretical description of ‘The Patch‘ is helping me to recall memories of wonderfully happy times . . . visits to the Harz Mountains for fishing and bilberrying; ballet and opera in Brunswick and a famous Wives Club theatrical event- which culminated in a horrified RSM (who happened to be mounting the guard at the time) looking up to see several Regimental wives converging on to the square dressed as Wolf Cubs! There was nothing he could say even if he had objected because, they were closely followed by his own wife dressed as a very provocative Girl Guide . . . This last reminiscence makes me realise that nostalgia is taking me down a dangerous road — dignity MUST be maintained . . . 1 only hope, however, that the present occupants of Hasenwinkel Strasse will ultimately collect as many happy memories as we have of “having honey for tea". BL |
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