RAMC Reunited

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Article appearing in the Corps magazine for Coventry 2008

The weekend of 8th - 10th of February witnessed the fourth biennial reunion of RAMC Reunited at The Royal Court Hotel, just outside Coventry. An event which always happens to coincide with the 6 Nations Rugby Championships. Not that this coincidence detracts from the weekend, in fact just the opposite, it adds banter, laughter, excitement and an excuse to be in the bar on a Saturday afternoon! Full marks once again to Mick and Gloria McCran and the other stalwarts of the committee for organising the whole weekend and for finding a hotel that seemed to have a permanent and very welcome "happy hour" on offer.

It would seem that the quality of the hotels improve every time we get together, this years was exceptionally comfortable and the staff very helpful and obliging. The facilities were first class and the free use of the leisure club a real bonus. It also occurs to me that every hotel we use for our weekends has memorable features; Blackpool had the super efficient heating system with guests in the public rooms subjected to tropical temperatures, whilst full thermal gear and a parka were needed for the bedrooms. Liverpool was noteworthy for the incredibly slow lift, in which Dolly Dawkins spent more time than he did attempting to get a round in at the bar, but the best yet for real fun was the revolving door at Coventry! It was discovered very early on the Friday afternoon that if, when entering the revolving door, one was to give it "a bit of a push", the other person(s) already in the door were whizzed around and ejected into the car park or the reception area like a human bullet. How we laughed! The looks of sheer astonishment on the faces of the Japanese tourists, who were sat in a coach in the car park, as one middle aged, Corps blazer wearing guest after another hurtled out the door towards them was absolutely priceless.

This biennial event is growing ever more popular as news of RAMC Reunited website spreads, and the formal dinner on Saturday evening saw 263 diners attending, with guests travelling from all over the British Isles and also from as far away as Cyprus and Spain. This year attracted some new and really young members for the first time - couples in their 30's and 40's! They were soon at home with the rest of us "Wrinklies" though and had a great time doing what comes naturally at these events: drinking, dancing, chatting to friends old and new and above all grinning like Cheshire Cats throughout the whole weekend!

The official weekend's entertainment was once again, arranged by "Nobby Garbutt" who is without doubt depriving some working man's club in Leeds of a Concert Secretary. Where he finds these "fifty bob turns" from is a complete mystery! A surprising and very welcome addition to the scheduled entertainment was Andy Sumpner who provided some excellent fun by way of a "Race Night" on the Friday (raising £200 for the RAMC Association) and supplementing the main act on the Sunday night with his Neil Diamond tribute show. He's come a long way from First Aid training at Keogh Barracks!

"Scandal" the Duo that provided the official entertainment was both ultra professional, and it was gratifying to see the dance floor full at every opportunity. Another entertaining event, although not scheduled by "Nobby" was the Para Roll exhibition by a certain Scotsman dressed in full ceremonial attire, he was ably assisted only by Johnnie Walker, a white horse and 100 pipers. Whilst the former occurrence was highly amusing, the sight of Des Welch buying Jock Thom 2 drinks was truly astounding. This act, whilst unlikely to ever happen again, was luckily witnessed and photographed as proof that it did occur.

On the Sunday evening, a superb and very thoughtful gift was presented to Mick and Gloria McCran. As a token of their thanks and appreciation, Brian and Liz Wilson had been surreptitiously taking photographs of guests and occurrences throughout the weekend, and had mounted them into an album to commemorate the occasion.

Once again the weekend flashed by and then all too soon it was time to get out the address books, amending names, addresses and telephone numbers whilst hugging, kissing and promising to try harder to keep in touch more frequently. Will we achieve it? Who knows, but even if we don't it won't matter too much. When one has friends such as these, close contact, whilst being very nice, is not necessary, as once we are reunited again, we slip back into each others company like a foot into a well worn slipper.

Speaking of comfortable things, can I please ask: How does David Lowe manage to get preferential treatment at these weekends? Without fail he is upgraded to a suite and more often than not he gets extra and special - non exercise pillows!

I look forward to being with my playmates again in 2010, same venue as this last one, but a week later so we can get all romantic on Saint Valentines Day!

Bugsy Cuthbertson