1976 Campaign To Keep The Royal Marines In Deal

A Memory of Deal.

This is a treasured memory, and a plea for help. I need to trace a recording of a Southern Television documentary called "Marching Orders", a film which preserves the memories and could share them with future generations

In 1976 I was a rookie Programme Director with Southern Television based in their tiny studio in Dover. One of my first documentary efforts was a 25-minute film in the Southern Report series about the vigorous campaign by residents of Deal to persuade the Ministry of Defence to shelve its plans to close the Royal Marine base in the town. The film was entitled "Marching Orders" and it enabled viewers to see what a vast contribution the Royal Marines made to community life in this seaside town. Musicians from the School of Music provided the orchestra for the Deal Choral Society. Commando PT Instructors trained school children and worked with disabled youngsters. We met "Painless Jeff", Deal's only tattooist at the time, and we joined an audience of locals at the annual Royal Marine Pantomime as a chorus line of commandos in wigs, tutus and army boots did their high kicks. And of course we saw the Royal Marine Band in all its splendour. The affection and pride that the people of Deal felt for their illustrious military neighbours was palpable.

As we were editing the film, the Ministry of Defence announced that it had indeed decided to shelve its plans to close the Deal base. The campaign had been successful, perhaps helped in some small measure by our reporter and researcher nagging the Ministry of Defence for interviews. I do hope so because our entire production crew had become passionately supportive of the cause.

Recently, the Canterbury Rotarians asked me to give a talk about the heyday of regional broadcasting, so I went up into my attic in search of my VHS recording of "Marching Orders" to use as an example. Much to my regret, I discovered that the cassette has been lost. Unfortunately, Southern Television's archive (if it ever existed) has also vanished. So I am hoping that someone in Deal recorded "Marching Orders" on VHS or Beta as it was transmitted. If that is the case, I'm also hoping that this kind soul would be prepared to lend me the tape so that I can make some DVD copies, which may be of interest to local museums and historic societies. Please help if you can.

David Pick

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