Page Six
The Beacon Lighter

A replica of the silver model of an Elizabethan beacon Lighter presented to Her Majesty the Queen to mark the occasion of the Silver Jublilee of her Accession. It was sculpted by Scott Sutherland.

172. During the years since 1968 the sectors had become increasingly important and in 1979 they were linked by emergency circuits which were converted into private wires early in 1980 so that telegraph equipment could be used. During the same period, group commandants and wholetime officers were given operational tasks which developed and increased considerably.

173. Other developments were foreseen by the purchase of Headquarters United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) of their first micro-computer for trials at Oxford to see whether programmes could be devised which would help in the operational tasks of the ROC and warning teams

174. In April 1980 Air Commodore J F G Howe CBE AFC relinquished his appointment and was succeeded by Air Commodore R J Offord AFC MBIM.

175. 1981 saw the first results of a Home Defence Review which had recognised the need to improve and update the communications and equipment in use in the UKWMO and the Emergency Control Network (ECN). Many of these improvements had a direct effect on the Corps and its procedures.

 176. The Warning system was given first priority and by November of that year almost all attack warning circuits, including those to carrier control points had been converted from emergency circuits to private wires. Sector and group controls had been completely re-equipped with modern push button keyboards and the installation of new loudspeaker telephones at posts, also operating over private wires instead of emergency circuits, had began. This involved considerable re-clustering of posts within the groups and some transfer of posts from one group to another in order to obtain the most efficient and economical layout. New radio equipment had been installed in posts in the Maidstone group within the intention that other installations should follow in groups to westward and then northward until the whole UK was covered. Plans were also made for improving and completing radio links between groups.

177. Also in 1981 a working party was set up to improve the monitoring post environment especially in regard to heating, lighting, ventilation and feeding.

178. On the occasion of the wedding of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer on 29 July 1981 the Corps presented a Caithness glass centrepiece rosebowl bearing on one side the full arms of HRH the Prince of Wales and the coat of arms of Lady Diana Spencer and on the other the ROC badge with the inscription "Presented by the Royal Observer Corps 29 July 1981".

179. Since the first post-war re-organisation in 1953, some redundant group operations rooms had been retained as secondary operations rooms, later called secondary training bases. The number of these had dwindled as contemporary manning policy precluded observers from travelling long distances in the event of the Corps being activated. On 31 October 1981, the last secondary training base at Derby closed. It had survived since 1 November 1953 when No 6 Group, Derby became redundant.