Ordnance Insignia of the British Army

The Conductors Scroll

While the appointment of Conductor has always been held in high regard within the Corps, The appointment has not always been a special occasion, recorded by the presentation of a scroll of appointment as it is today. Indeed when I was told by retired Conductor Robert White, that all he got in 1976 was a letter of Congratulations from the then DOS Maj-General N.H. Speller, the reply from retired Conductor Dennis Bradley was 'You got a letter!' Thats more than I got in 1968! (Dennis was Senior Conductor when he retired in 1978)

Director of Ordnance Services, Congratulations Letter to WO1 (Conductor) R.J. White in 1976
(Note - All Conductors are appointed on the 1st of June of each year)

In 1987 when Conductor Mike Hobbins (later MBE) received his appointment whilst serving at HQ DGOS, Ord 1, it was he who questioned why something more special was not made of this most prestigious date in a soldiers' career. At his, and an equally enthusiastic SO2 Manning's instigation a parchment was designed, approved and taken into use in 1988.

The 1988 RAOC Conductors parchment (A4 in size)
(Transcript available here for both the RAOC & Modified RLC examples)

1993 modified RLC Conductors parchment (also A4 in size)
(Transcript is the same as the RAOC example above other than for the last paragraph)

Between 1988 and 2000 Conductors parchments were sent to the recipient's highest ranking officer for presentation in whichever way they thought fit. Apparently some were lavish occasions whilst others were merely handed over in their envelopes

Discovering this inequity prompted Conductor Mike Hobbins MBE (By now the Senior Conductor) and the then RLC Sgt Major Steve Yafi into introducing the formal group presentation which was first held as the Conductors Day and Parchment Ceremony in 2001. This coincided with the introduction of a new Millenium Parchment improving on the original RAOC then amended RLC document. Conductor Mike Hobbins was the first recipient of the new parchment and, incidentally, the last serving RAOC appointed Conductor to retire from the RLC in 2002.

The improved 2001 RLC Millenium parchment (A3 in Size)
(Transcript for the RLC Millenium parchment is available here)

2003 saw the introduction of a 'Past Conductors Parchment' for retired Conductors with both the RAOC & RLC badges.
(Picture & Transcript not yet available)

M Comerford - July 2003 - HTML Revision 1
With thanks to Conductors Dennis Bradley, Mike Coyle, Mike Hobbins & Bob White for information on the history of the scroll.