BALLS. Towards the end (whimper) we had a very prolonged detachment of RAAF Mirages from Butterworth in 1969, as their runway was being resurfaced. To be more precise, Nos 3 and 75 Sqns RAAF moved in en masse, and operated their Mirage IIIs from Tengah for a couple of months or so. This event had a dramatic effect on Mess funds! So much so, in fact, that at a Mess Meeting it was considered that the under-used Mess tennis courts could be excavated and replaced by an Officers Mess Swimming Pool. This was generally regarded as a ‘Good Idea’, as it would save having to travel to the other side of the Stn to use the community pool.
And then Politics intervened, with the “Withdrawal from East of Suez”. Tengah’s days were numbered, the Pool became a bad idea. A further Mess Meeting was convened to determine what to do with the accumulated largesse kindly provided by our RAAF mates’ drinking habits. “Decision: It was agreed that a Ball would be held, at no cost to Mess Members and Guests attending.” It was a belter!! Bands of various types here there and everywhere, including the Gurkha Signals Pipe Band. Food and drink in profusion, enhanced by half a dozen Makan Stalls imported from downtown to provide constant nourishment inbetween the main dining offering (they were installed on the croquet pitch). The RAAF flew in by Mirage, with wives/squeezes/etc coming by RAAF Dakotas.
It was an amazing night of festivity and comradeship, helping slightly to overcome the fact that we were approaching the end of an era.
When the Ghurka Pipers had finished their performance I went across and asked, through their officer, how they ended up as Pipers. I was told by one Piper, “They came along the line and said ... Signaller, Driver, Piper, Signaller ... I became a Piper, Sir!” With the officer’s permission, I swapped a Mess Kit button with ‘my’ Piper. I’m not sure who was most pleased (although I was told he was thrilled to have an RAF Officer’s button) but that Gurkha button still lives on my Mess Kit link to this day.