266 (GVA) O.P. Bty R.A. (V)
1982

In 1971, 266 (Gloucestershire Volunteer Artillery) Observation Post Battery was formed as an independent Observation Post unit as a reinforcement unit for the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) supplying observation post teams. The battery had a four gun troop of 25pdr field guns. In time of war the battery would provide 18 Observation Post Parties, later updated to 22 OP parties, to regular army units.

King George V Cup OP Competition

266 GVA OP Battery commaded by Major David Bray R.A. won the O.P. Competition 1982 held at SPTA. The KGV Cup was presented to the Battery at the Guildhall London, along with a monetary prize of £100 for the Battery.

Derek Driscoll remembers that "We went afterwards to the tower of London, the Yeoman of the guard seeing us queuing, opened the gate for us to enter and we did not have to pay, at the Jewel House it was the same, the uniform opened many doors for us that day. Some months later the Battery had to have the cup valued for insurance purposes, it was valued at about £1,000, if my memory is correct."

We believe that the silver cup was lost by the next winners 307 (South Notts Hussars) Bty R.A. (V).

Ray Thomas

I enlisted in 266 (Gloucestershire Volunteer Artillery) Observation Post Battery on 31 August 1982. That was the date I was offically enlisted because Basic Training at Woolwich Arsenal had to be completed first. I did not join out of a burning desire to Defend the Realm, but it may have played a part as when I joined the Falklands War was being fought. I joined because it seemed an interesting thing to do and because it would pay me.

I was 24 at the time, so no boy soldier, and I found Basic Training both physically and mentally challenging. Before I left, a 266 Bty officer told me that it wouldn't last forever and just keep smiling my way through it. The experience is now 43 years ago (in 2025) but there are still some things I remember about it.

I remember being tired all the time. Each day started with a run and sitting in the warm classrooms it was sometimes a struggle to stay awake. One day someone fell asleep sat on the ground leaning against one of the buildings. One of the instructors kicked the bottom of his feet so hard I thought the guy's spine was going to come out the top of his head.

There were lots of bed and locker inspections. Most of us found it easier to make the bed blocks with a wrapper of cardboard inside the outer wrapper of a blanket and then sleep on the floor. One day, an instructor found a "whee" in someone's bed. He just picked the poor guy's bed block up and chucked it out of a window - Wheeeee. Another day I forgot to lock my locker and came back to find everything covered with shaving foam. That meant everything in it had to be washed and cleaned - it took hours.

The Dell was an area by Woolwich with a lake. We spent hours running through or around the lake. Even going over it on a single rope bridge. The instructors didn't seem to mind if our uniforms were still wet later in the day after going through The Dell, but they had to be clean.

We polished everything in sight. Boots, floors, the litter bins, everything. One of the weirdest was polishing cans of Brasso. The idea was that we put tape over the RA of BRASSO and scrape the ink off and polish the rest of the can. Someone was really upset when he found someone else had moved his tape and when he took it off found ASS proudly standing out on his nicely polished metal can.

Basic Training was hard, but it was only two weeks and I completed it successfully. One thing I found difficult was drill. I just could not get the hang of it, I was either doing the movements too early or too late and I spent ages running around Woolwich parade ground holding my 9.4lb FN FAL rifle above my head as punishment.

Some people could not meet the demands of the training and were RTU'd (returned to unit) before passing out of the course. One or two of the recruits were said to have suffered some sort of mental breakdown.

Sources and Resources

Derek Driscoll's original pages

The National Artillery Association Observation Post Competition

Other Resources