Potteries & District R.E.M.E. Association. (October 2022 Newsletter

Potteries & District Branch

Scribe: Maurice Hope

We seem to be a Branch that is becoming one of professional mourners, having responded on last month he won a large box of Maltesers and this time he chose the “After Eight” mints. Our little “in house” raffle raised £56 which is a Monday 26th of September to RHQ’s request welcome addition to our branch Christmas to put in an appearance at the funeral of Col Dinner fund. Dennis Wheatcroft at Haughton near Stafford, The Branch had a fairly large number of and responded again two weeks later to members attending our fifth funeral in as many RHQ’s request to attend the funeral of ex weeks, with the funeral of Major Bob Harris RCT REME Para Tom Thacker. In between those (TA) taking place at Carmountside Cemetery on two we very sadly had to attend the funeral of Tuesday 25th of October. Carole Wright, the Wife of branch member Bob did over thirty years in the Territorial John Wright, which was made all the harder Army, most of it served at the local Bucknall TA in that it was only sixteen months since the Centre of 237 Sqn RCT, being a Platoon Lt when passing of their only child, Karen, aged only our late Branch President Major Gordon Beddew 51. (TA) was the OC REME Workshop. The

Craftsman Thomas ‘Tom” Richard Thacker congregation was swelled by the attendance of who was brought up with his two Brothers many ex 237 Sqn Veterans. Three Standards and Sister in Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent, was were paraded, two RASC/RCT and our own resident in Leek in the Staffordshire Branch Standard paraded by Branch Standard Moorlands, and after serving in Afghanistan Bearer Gil Mould. with 2 Para he struggled with PTSD, and The evening of the 25th, following the above tragically his “demons” overcame his wish to funeral, was our monthly Branch meeting, where live on Thursday 15th of September, aged just after our normal business was completed, we 34. His funeral service took place in the enjoyed a very good presentation from ex RAF Crematorium Chapel at Carmountside in Tom Thacker Flt Officer Mr Robbie Cormie (RAF Medical Stoke-on-Trent at 0930hrs, on Monday 10th of Services) who had served two tours of Iraq (2003 October led by a civil celebrant. Our Branch President Maurice Hope and 2008), being part of the Medical Emergency Rescue Team. and Branch Secretary Brian Billings represented the Branch and the He first introduced himself and then warned if anyone was tickle Corps Welfare Officer WO2 Kelvin Redshaw came up from Lyneham stomached they should close their eyes or leave, as some of his OHP to represent the Corps. slides where a little on the gory side showing injuries received to,

Tom must have been a very popular and likable young man if the hands, arms and legs blown off and a bullet embedded in a poor high numbers of mourners were anything to go by, the congregation patient’s skull. A really excellent presentation that highlighted how was swelled by the presence of about 20 REME Para Veterans with sparse the conditions were for treating the wounded in 2003, their maroon berets on parade, the Chapel could never have been as compared with absolutely everything a modern day hospital could full with mourners. Three Standards were present, two from the local possibly need in 2008 ... which confirmed that if you were lucky RASC/RCT branch and our own Standard carried by Mr John Wain. enough to reach the hospital for treatment, then 95% of patients

On a lighter note, the Branch held its monthly lunch event at The survived some very complex surgery, before being on a “medevac” Ship Inn near Tean, on Wednesday 12th, with seventeen people in flight back to the UK waking up from sedation in a clean hospital bed attendance; the largest number we have had for many a while. in Birmingham. Initially “chaos reigned supreme” as we had only expected a dozen to The Corps Museum recently celebrated our 80th birthday with a attend. Once again, our newest Branch member Lt Col John Edwards publicity photo of two of our older Veterans. To put names to faces ended up winning in our mini raffle. Obviously, he has a sweet tooth, and places, the photo was taken at our 75th birthday event at Lyneham, when branch members from the Potteries accompanied George Pratt, one of our Corps founder members, who alongside the youngest member of the Corps both made the first cut in the Corps birthday cake. Both branch members in the photo had been in Aden in 1967 at the same time, and had attended the Harry Secombe CSE show at Khormaksar airfield. On the left is branch Secretary Mr Brian Billings who was with the Army Air Corps in Aden and branch President Maurice Hope on the right who had served in 1 Infantry Workshop in Falaise Camp before moving down to 52 Station Workshop towards drawdown from Aden. We must go down as two of the oldest pin The pin up boys! up boys in history!

Major (Ret’d) David Colin Wotherspoon (Spoon) 1936 – 2022

Scribe: Nick Wotherspoon

Spoon left school at 15 to take up a motor engineering apprenticeship, followed by a position as a Technical Staff Trainee with the Central Electricity Generating Board and later he joined the Blue Star Shipping Company as a 4th Engineer; regularly sailing to South America, including Argentina and Brazil. In the evenings he studied hard, gaining qualifications in Motor, Aeronautical and Marine Engineering. When at the end of 1959, it was time for his National Service, he decided on another change of career and joined the Army, going into officer training at the Mons Officer Cadet Training Unit in Aldershot, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in May 1960 and by August was posted to Singapore as a Platoon Commander for No. 10 Infantry Workshop REME at Johore Bahru. For the next three years he saw almost continuous active service in Singapore, Borneo and Brunei and was promoted to the temporary rank of Captain, commanding an Airlanding Light Aid Detachment, REME. He returned to the UK in June 1963 to attend the Regular Army Commission Board, relinquishing his temporary rank of Captain and gaining a regular commission as Lieutenant. Initially posted to the Parachute Brigade, he unfortunately failed a medical half way through training, where his eyesight was found to have deteriorated. This proved only a minor setback and in August 1963 he took command of another LAD, this time with the 3rd Carabiniers with British Army Of the Rhine (BAOR) in Detmold.

Here Spoon’s life took another major turn when he met a school Teacher from Lancashire, Brenda, who was working in Germany teaching British Army family’s children and they married in 1964. They remained in Germany, where their two children, Nicholas and Elisabeth were born and his career in the Army continued with REME, with a move in October 1965 to 4th (Armoured) Division HQ & Signal Regiment at Herford, as Adjutant CREME and now with the rank of Captain, until October 1967 when he moved to take up a position as Second-in-Command of No.11 Field Workshop, REME at Minden. In March 1968 he moved to the 4th Guards Brigade at Munster and was appointed as Brigade Electrical and Mechanical Engineer in the rank of Acting Major. By the end of 1969 he returned to the UK, now with the rank of Major to take up a post at the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (SEME) at Bordon. But in April 1970 he moved again to take command of a newly created REME unit - No. 9 Field Force Workshop REME at Bordon in Hampshire and somewhat

Spoon (on the motorbike) Singapore, circa 1960 Just after arriving in Singapore, 1960

prophetically he bought a large semi-derelict redundant vicarage in the nearby village of Liss to renovate. By early 1972 he moved roles again this time to the REME Officers school at Arborfield and then in April 1974 to 3 Division HQ and Signal Regiment at Bulford to take up an appointment as Second-in-Command of CREME for UK Land Forces.

However, in 1976 Spoon’s life changed direction again, in a quite unexpected way, when his faith led him to take a complete change of direction in his career. Initially he took a posting to become Training Major for the Northumbrian University Officers’ Training Corps at Newcastle upon Tyne, before resigning and taking up full-time study of Theology at Durham University. He was ordained a Deacon at Blackburn Cathedral in 1978, opening a new chapter in his life, as he became curate at St Gabriel’s Church Blackburn and in 1980 he was appointed Vicar of St. Mark’s Church Witton, Blackburn. Spoon applied his usual drive and enthusiasm to this new career and was soon taking on additional responsibilities, including; Deanery youth Chaplain, Chairman of Blackburn Council of Churches, Chairman of school Governors, Churches representative on the Police liaison committee, Mayor’s Chaplain and many others. But still he felt he had more to give and sought further challenges and in 1990 he was appointed Chaplain of St Ursula’s Church in Bern, Switzerland and Chaplain to the British Embassy there. Here his congregation ranged from the wealthy and even famous, to those who had fallen on hard times and refugees and he characteristically welcomed and always tried to help them all. He also