Radschool Association Newsletter

Radschool Association Newsletter - Vol 9

Next reunion - 27 April 2003

20 Jan 2002

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Graeme Benthien, who travelled over from Perth for the reunion, with the restored Boston Bomber at the Amberley museum

Of course, a trip to Amberley would not be complete without a beer in the Sgt’s Mess, and after our eye-opening tour of the base, Alan Goulding shepherded us all into the Snake Pit for a "coupla" and a bit of a sing-song with John Broughton on the piano. Then, after buying the obligatory bottle of Sgt’s Mess port as a memento (and we bet most are still unopened), it was back onto our little pink bus and back to Brisbane for the evening’s get together which once again was held at the Qld Book-makers Club.

(L-R) Joe Ross (now Mayor of Redlands Shire, Qld), Mick Nicholls, Geoff Renshaw and W/Off Alan Goulding in front of Cloe in the Sgts Mess, Amberley.

The venue and service were excellent, with an open area for those that wanted a "breather". More than 100 had a great night, with plenty of food and drink, though, unfortunately, the "freebies" ran out a bit early.

We see that Kev Carroll, one time OIC queer trades at 38 Sqn has left the cockroach camp and moved to the maroon state. Smart move Kev, we reckon the Sunshine Coast sure beats anything south of the Tweed, as does Col Price, now a mister after more than 35 years with the senior service and who started at radschool back in 1966. Seems Col couldn't hack it at radschool, so they made him a Sir. We hear he's also looking to move from dull old Canberra (g'day Spacky) up to the more livable area of Australia.

We’ll look at that for next time. The recent reunion included a buffet dinner instead of the "nibblies" we included the previous year-we think the dinner won hands down, so that will be a fixture.

Unfortunately we have to inform you of the sad passing of Geoff Chapman who was killed in a tragic aircraft accident near Cairns a few days after the reunion back in March 2001. Geoff was on 19 Appy, and was at the recent reunion in Brisbane. He worked for Telstra and left the Sunday morning "sick parade" early as he had to catch a plane back to FNQ to get back to work. Geoff Mayhew was kind enough to pass this info on to us so that we could let you all know. Geoff says he stood next to Geoff Chapman at the RAAF Anniversary ceremony on the Sunday (1 April) and in only a couple of days poor Geoff had been killed.

Our sincerest condolences to his family.

Once again, John Broughton did one helluva job officiating and kept the night rolling along. We’ve booked him for 2003, and with a bit of luck, we can make him a fixture too.

Some of the crew that made the Saturday night get-together at the Bookies Club such an enjoyable evening.

We hope, now that the dust has finally settled, we can get back to regular editions of the newsletter-but we need your help. If you’ve got any photos, news items etc, please send them in.

A happy Bill Langton at the Reunion's Saturday night "do" after winning one of the much sought-after prizes.

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