Newsletter – February 2001

Present: M.Dennison. C.Wheeler. P.Wheeler. R.Francis. G.Cloke. G.Mclaughlin.

Matters Arising.

1. Combe Gibbet – Paul to remind Dave about the Gibbets, Marking the course – Geoff and Martin will cycle the route and Eric and Pete to help with marking at this end. Helen looking into supply of water bottles and communication system.
2. Southern League- Track hire will cost £145, need to approach Winchester re- splitting the cost.
3. Consistency League- Problem with the entry to Team Solent race, decided to leave out this year.

Treasurers Report.

Income: £400.74

Expenditure: £1275.34

Current: £141.90

Reserve: £1947.53

Secretary Report.

1. Leisure Database- has submitted all our club details for an update. These to include our web page and secretaries e-mail address.

A.O.B.

1. Coombe Gibbet- Coaches are booked.
2. Laverstoke Park Race- Need to mark course. Date of race April 21^st.
3. Track Training- Need to decide when it will start and where.
4. Letter received from Richard Gibbens re X.C race, thoroughly enjoyed the day. Hope to see us next year.
5. Trophies need to be returned to Gwyneth, ready for presentation dinner. Poster put onto club notice board.
6. 100 Club- Nicky Clark has taken this on.
7. Dates for the AGM and Dinner – These have been decided as

AGM: Thursday April 26^th.

Dinner: Friday April 27^th.

Meeting closed at 9.21p.m.

Date of next meeting 12/3/01

TRAINING WEEKEND. From Franny

With any luck the e-mail technology to Geoff would have worked once again and this article will find its way into the Club Newsletter. Many thanks, Geoff for sending me the last one over the ‘net’, it was good to be able to forget Kosovo for a while and catch up on the Club’s news. It might seem somewhat obvious to say it, but the one thing that does not stand still in Kosovo is time. We have all been extremely busy over the past few weeks and that certainly makes our time here pass very quickly indeed.

Since the beginning of February my Battalion has been operating the 320km long line of communication (LOC) from Pristina (Kosovo’s capital) south to Thessaloniki in Greece via Macedonia. By the end of this month we would have moved some 600 or so vehicles and pieces of equipment in/out of Kosovo, as well as some 300 people. Units leaving Kosovo will drive their own vehicles south, load them onto shipping chartered by the Ministry of Defence and then fly home from Greece. The incoming units do the route in reverse. Believe me it is quite a sight to see a relatively small area of the port absolutely crammed solid with military equipment and people; to an outsider it would appear to be utter chaos, but fortunately, like Baldrick, we always have a cunning plan which has worked so far! In Thessaloniki we have the temporary use of part of an existing Greek army camp which accommodates the small number of my soldiers needed to operate the port and a ‘home’ for the other soldiers in transit (usually 24-36 hours). We have only five military chefs ‘in residence’ there; the other evening I witnessed these hard working guys and girls feeding 500 hungry mouths within one hour!

In my last article, I gave you a ‘flavour’ of my initial impressions of Kosovo society and the ‘feel’ of the place. The ethnic tension between the Kosovar Albanians and Kosovar Serbs is evident wherever you travel in the country. Since the end of the war and arrival of NATO in June 1999, the Serbs have been in the minority as most of the previous Serbian population relocated to Serbia proper. A number of Serb communities ranging in size from small enclaves within Kosovar-Albanian dominated areas to exclusively Serb villages and towns are dotted around this small country. The level of fear and intimidation is such that a network of new roads has been constructed which links these Serb areas so that they can have freedom of movement without having to ‘run the gauntlet’ of transiting areas inhabited by Kosovar-Albanians. Serb vehicles are easily distinguishable as, if their owners wish to travel to Serbia, they must have a Serbia registration plate which is different from a Kosovo number plate; the authorities in Serbia will not allow the latter to enter their territory. Therefore, Kosovar-Serbs risk their vehicles being stoned or worse when they travel through Kosovar-Albanian areas.

Although the majority of British Army units spend only 4-6 months in Kosovo, it is my view that we should take every opportunity to ‘add value’ in some way to the long term development of the various communities, irrespective of their ethnic composition. We have embarked on a project to provide a ‘facelift’ to the medical facilities within isolated Serb communities. The medical staff are invariably very competent, but the conditions in which they work are, to say the least, quite basic and very poorly maintained. During our tenure, we will hopefully turn a particularly run down building into a better facility which has electricity and running water (the latter does not exist at all at present), as well as a waterproof roof, furniture and better all weather access. If we can get this building finished and make a start on a second one, then our successors will be able to take on an existing project and keep the ‘bandwagon’ rolling for the longer term.

One of the saddest incidents to occur during our tour so far, was the senseless bombing (Friday 16^th February) of a bus from Serbia full of Serb men, women and children either returning to their homes in Kosovo or visiting relatives in the country. This vehicle was the first in a convoy of four and a bomb placed in a culvert under the road was detonated as the bus drove over it. Some of my soldiers were the first medics to arrive at the scene and the carnage which confronted them was indescribable. A pre-planned major incident operation swung into action and both my hospital facility and that operated by the US Army provided the essential life saving surgery for the seriously injured as well as treatment for those with minor injuries. Sadly, as I write this article the day after the tragedy, the death toll stands at seven and, by the very nature of some of the injuries sustained by those listed as critical, is likely to increase. Although of no comfort to the families who have lost loved ones, the bomb detonated at the front of the bus directly underneath the engine block which absorbed a degree of the blast. Had it been activated further down the chassis, many more deaths would have occurred. The sight that confronted me yesterday afternoon in our hospital complex is certainly one that will remain with me for a long time.

BIONIC

Keith Clark, who I am sure will carry this background through to the forthcoming track season, with good result.