Great British-Canadian Exchange Posting !

I can still remember living in Birgelen back in the 70's, the great times and the wonderful people (friends we played with). Back then, my father was the only Canadian on a Brit-Cdn exchange posting to 13 Signal Regiment. My parents still talk about the good, long-time friends they made.

Great memories...


BigBird

BigBird wrote:

I can still remember living in Birgelen back in the 70's, the great times and the wonderful people (friends we played with). Back then, my father was the only Canadian on a Brit-Cdn exchange posting to 13 Signal Regiment. My parents still talk about the good, long-time friends they made.

Great memories...


BigBird

Shhhh! Not supposed to talk about that place! Would probably have known my brother then, he was there on and off for 30 plus years.

BigBird....I am always interested in folks kicking around Germany in the early 70's as that was my time there too. And if, like you, they were around during the Brit/Cdn cross over, even better.

As I mention elsewhere on this site, my father -- WO Victor G. Lock -- was one of 3 Canadian military personnel who remained behind in the Old Brigade area of Hemer/Iserlohn-Soest-Werl to complete the close-out following the Great Move to Lahr by the Canadians.

We lived in Soest 1970-71 then, during the above period, moved to Iserlohn with dad working out of Wetter and I attended Cornwall School in Dortmund (now Europa Schule). As far as I knew, I was the only Canadian kid still "up north."

Now, I am not sure where Birgelen is....I googled it and it appears it's in around Berlin. Is that correct? If so, then obviously there'd be no connection between him and anyone in around our old Brigade Area.

No, Birgelen is on the Dutch border. Small village. Nearest town (ish) is Wassenberg. Just down the road from Wildenrath.

[quote="Stephen Lock"]BigBird....I am always interested in folks kicking around Germany in the early 70's as that was my time there too. And if, like you, they were around during the Brit/Cdn cross over, even better.

As I mention elsewhere on this site, my father -- WO Victor G. Lock -- was one of 3 Canadian military personnel who remained behind in the Old Brigade area of Hemer/Iserlohn-Soest-Werl to complete the close-out following the Great Move to Lahr by the Canadians.

We lived in Soest 1970-71 then, during the above period, moved to Iserlohn with dad working out of Wetter and I attended Cornwall School in Dortmund (now Europa Schule). As far as I knew, I was the only Canadian kid still "up north."

Stephen,

My eldest son used to go to Cornwall school, from Hemer, in the mid-70s. He hated it so much that he went to boarding school instead.

I remember that you said that you socialised with the Irish Rangers around that time.

This would be around the time that the two RIR Battalions did their routine changeover.

A number of stories popped up when the the new mob came to Hemer. One of them said that a bloke had knocked holes in the walls of his quarter to allow his train set to run through.

Did you hear that one ?

We had a Gunner in our regiment who was the son of a Hemer Canadian. His name was Walker, I believe he's still in the Dortmund area.

A number of stories popped up when the the new mob came to Hemer. One of them said that a bloke had knocked holes in the walls of his quarter to allow his train set to run through.



[/quote]




I had heard that story as well, Brum.

Shelldrake wrote:

A number of stories popped up when the the new mob came to Hemer. One of them said that a bloke had knocked holes in the walls of his quarter to allow his train set to run through.

I had heard that story as well, Brum.[/quote]

Aha !

There must be a grain of truth in it then !

(Did you also hear the one about the misunderstanding with Eurocheques ?)

brum wrote:

Shelldrake wrote:

A number of stories popped up when the the new mob came to Hemer. One of them said that a bloke had knocked holes in the walls of his quarter to allow his train set to run through.

I had heard that story as well, Brum.

Aha !

There must be a grain of truth in it then !

(Did you also hear the one about the misunderstanding with Eurocheques ?)

[/quote]

A mate of mine lived in Summern - he told me the same story.



Would that be the one about the guy who still had a load of Cheques left therefore he must still have money in his account?

(Did you also hear the one about the misunderstanding with Eurocheques ?)

[/quote]

A mate of mine lived in Summern - he told me the same story.



Would that be the one about the guy who still had a load of Cheques left therefore he must still have money in his account? [/quote]

When the story got to us it was the whole battalion that did it. So the truth must lie between the two somewhere ! It was said that all the eurocheques were withdrawn, (you think the pay bloke would've explained it to them, wouldn't you ?)

Did the story of the blood leaking from an MFO box come your way ?

Haven't heard that one, Brum. I served in Belize with the Irish Rangers and the Lolly Sahib there didn't impress me much, although the guys were fantastic.

[quote="brum"]

Stephen Lock wrote:

BigBird....I am always interested in folks kicking around Germany in the early 70's as that was my time there too. And if, like you, they were around during the Brit/Cdn cross over, even better.

As I mention elsewhere on this site, my father -- WO Victor G. Lock -- was one of 3 Canadian military personnel who remained behind in the Old Brigade area of Hemer/Iserlohn-Soest-Werl to complete the close-out following the Great Move to Lahr by the Canadians.

We lived in Soest 1970-71 then, during the above period, moved to Iserlohn with dad working out of Wetter and I attended Cornwall School in Dortmund (now Europa Schule). As far as I knew, I was the only Canadian kid still "up north."

Stephen,

My eldest son used to go to Cornwall school, from Hemer, in the mid-70s. He hated it so much that he went to boarding school instead.

I remember that you said that you socialised with the Irish Rangers around that time.

This would be around the time that the two RIR Battalions did their routine changeover.

A number of stories popped up when the the new mob came to Hemer. One of them said that a bloke had knocked holes in the walls of his quarter to allow his train set to run through.

Did you hear that one ?

We had a Gunner in our regiment who was the son of a Hemer Canadian. His name was Walker, I believe he's still in the Dortmund area.

mid-70s....a bit after my time at Cornwall (1971-ish for me), but I can quite understand your son's loathing of it (I know, sounds terribly disloyal for, I suppose, an "old boy" to disparage his Alma Mater). My time there wasn't out and out horrible or anything, just not great.

I remember being up in the library located in the Central Teaching Block and looking down onto the quad below. I was struck by the colourlessness of it all. Now, keep in mind, Canadian schools did not go in for school uniforms and we could pretty much wear what we wanted to classes. This particular day was a grey, overcast, winter day, very drab, and all I could see down in the quad were 5th formers in grey sweaters and grey pants (some long some short) and the black and blue striped school ties, the odd 6th Former in a navy blue blazer and grey trousers and not a spot of real colour anywhere...."Gawd," I thought to myself "What am I doing here??"

I rebelled somewhat by insisting on wearing "civvies" on Fridays....but even at that, I did give in a bit by making sure it was a nice sports jacket (camel corduroy, as I recall), a tie, and nice brown dress pants and well-polished shoes. Nothing much was ever said to me about that.

As a Prefect I suppose I was allowed a certain degree of latitude...or as a "Colonial"

Yes, it was about the time the 2 Irish Ranger battalions did a cross over.....I think the bunch I hung out with were 2nd Battalion, pretty sure, but don't quote me.

Actually, yes, I did hear about the holes in the wall for the train set story but can't remember now if it was Irish Ranger-related or dated from the Canadian era....I suspect it is an urban legend. I vaguely recall my dad, who was Ordinance Corp, mentioning something but as I was 16 and 17 years old and far more interested in my life than his, I didn't pay much attention!

Re Gunner Walker.....I didn't know him but there was a family named Walker my parents where chummy with in the CE (Canadian Era), but of course it's not like "Walker" is an unusual or rare name! Interesting, though, that the son of a Canadian soldier ended up in the British Army rather than the Canadian Army.

Teabag wrote:

No, Birgelen is on the Dutch border. Small village. Nearest town (ish) is Wassenberg. Just down the road from Wildenrath.

Ahhhh....well, there must be at least two "Birgelens" then because the only "hit" I got for it on Google was the one near, or part of, Berlin....

But then, there are also two "Soests" as well....Soest in Westphalia and Soest (pronounced Soost) in the Netherlands. Visited it and far preferred "my" Soest.