During the aftermath of a dinner night in the late 1970s a certain young officer decided for some reason that it would be a good idea to remove all the contents of a certain absent QFI’s bedroom and rebuild it on the grass lawn in front of the Mess.
Duly done. Then it was suggested that his bed looked quite empty. One of the cannons was lifted off its wooden plinth and placed in bed and covered up. Unfortunately it was so heavy that it collapsed the bed springs into the soft earth. It subsequently proved impossible to retrieve the cannon by hand. An “Iron Fairy” crane had to be brought in the following day to lift it out. Duly paid for by contributions from those in attendance, of course.
An added complication was that the wooden plinth had fallen apart. The rumour went around that the guilty were also to be held responsible for the considerable replacement costs of that. Thankfully it was later decreed that it’s demise was natural causes due to fungal rot and charges were waived.