June 1989

WHAY WO LOOK FOR Ill A

COMMAIIDO

One important attribute is strength . So Renault ha s the effect of bonding t he primer to every
put every Commando through a rigorous body bit of bare metal. This electro-coat is t hen
building session . Any cab so much as 1/ 20th baked on , under seal applied , the seams are
of an inc h out of alignment gets its marching sealed and the colour coats applied . Finally, box
orders . (Our engineers and computers have sections are wax-injected as an extra safeguard
very little tolerance .) After body building, of against the enemy. Rust. And that most
course , the Commandos are ready for a good subversive of elements, salt water . Howe ver,
shower. They ' re pre -cleaned , chemically spray as well as being very tough , Commandos also
de-greased then trooped through a phosphate have to be very smart . So we 've issued them
spray followed by a chromic acid rinse. with new civvies : crisp new styling and a
Spotlessly clean , they' re now ready to be fitted plushy upholstered blue interior. it' s now
with their ' Cationic Electrophoretic Coat'. If standard equipment on all models in the
you ' re unfamiliar with this process, here ' s a Commando range from 7.5 up to 26.4 2
primer. The cab is lowered into a 44,000 gallon tonnes . Maybe it's time you joined up and got
vat of paint . 450 volts are then applied which
a few Commandos.

0 RENAULT TRUCI<S. BUILDING A FUTURE TOGETHER

Renault Truck Industries Limited, Boscombe Road , Dunstable. Beds LU5 4LX
Telephone : (0582) 471122

f r>

I

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The repairable andreliable approach
to militaryharnessing systems.

Ray_chem
The difference is material.

Raychem Limited, Faraday Road, Oorcan, Swindon, SN3 5HH, Tel: 0793 28171. Telex 449409.

King
Edward Vll's

Hospital
for Officers

SISTER AGNES'S

IS YOUR HOSPITAL. PLEASE SUPPORT AND USE IT.

This famous hospital , assisted by a staff of Harley Street Consultants , provides the be~t
possible treatment at the lowest possible cost for Officers . serving or retired (including
those who held temporary or reserve commissions) , their wives , widows and dependent
children of not less than 4 years of age .
Civilian patients are also admitted .
it has three theatres and its own Pharmacy, X-Ray, Physiotherapy and Pathology
Departments . Medical check-ups and out patient treatments are available .
Nursing and accommodation are provided free for serving officers and at a much
reduced rate for ex-officers and dependants (unless insured for more).
Subject to age , Friends of the Hospital can receive substantial discounts on their
medical insurance companies' premium .
The Hospital is entirely independent of the NHS and requires a substantial voluntary
income .
For more information please contact The Appeals Secretary, 6 Buckingham Place ,
SW1 E 6HR . (Tel : 01-828 4454) or, for admission , telephone the Hospital (01 -486 4411 ).

Reg oste red Chanty No 208944

Beaumont House, Beaumont Street, London W1
Patron : Her Majesty the Queen

BV APPOINTMENT TO We've been
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN serving the

TA il ORS Services
J OEGE & SONSlTO since 1785

MILITARY & CIVILIAN Since G ieves made unifo rm s fo r
BESPOKE TAILORS Admira l Ne lso n a nd Hawkes
atte nd ed th e Duke o f We llingto n 's
UNIFORM SUPPLIERS sartorial needs, we have m aintained a
steadfas t tradition to serve the Office r
- - - - Regimental Tailors by - - - - in all as pects of dress.
appointment to-
Today, o ur commitment to the
THE QUEEN'S REGIMENT forces is as strong as ever and we
no w vi sit BAOR twi ce a year to meet
Th e Foxhunter Range o ur va lued cu stomers.
of Accessories
Times may have changed, but still
Silk Foxhunter Ties, we g iv e th e prese nt d ay Offi ce r
Gilded Brass Cuff Links and ex ac tl y w hat we gave our ea rli es t
illu striou s c ustom e rs - good , o ld -
Blazer Button s fas hi oned servi ce.

+ GIEVES &HAWKES
No.I Savile Row. London
Th e follo wing are available from
S tock or to Sp ecial Order: Your officially appointed
Regimental and Club Ties tailors and outfitters

Regimental and Person alised No . I Sav il e Row, London
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Crick et and Tennis Swea ters Tel: 01-434 2001

in A ll Wo ol Ca ble S titch I Hi gh Street, Cambe rl ey. Surrey

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Savile Row, London W1X 2HS

Telephone: 01-734 2248
Telex: 264596 Fax: 01-734 8794

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forces around the world.

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Editor: Contents
Ll Col J J White,
Aegtmental Headqu arters. Dates to Remember page
Howe Barracks . Editorial 4
CanterburY Kent Main ly About People 5
1st Battalion 7
CT1 1JU 2nd Battalion
3rd Battalion 8
Regimental Badge 5th (Vo lunteer) Battalion 16
6th/7th (Volunteer) Batt alion 20
Collar Badge 8th (Volunteer) Battalion The Quee n's Fusiliers 25
Depot The Queen 's Division 27
Button RMA Sandhurst 33
Junior In fantry Battalion (S horncli ffe) 35
DEADLINES Regi mental Bands 36
Matenal fo r publtcatton Regi mental Information Team 37
must reach the Ed ttor by The Flying Drag on s 38
the lollowtng dates News from ACF Badged QU EEN S 39
June edtlton - 15 April Reg imental Headqu arters 40
December edtlton - 15 October Officers' Club 41
These are the la tes t Death s and Obituarie s 44
d ate s and copy w tl l be Marriages 45
welcome earlter Regimental Association s 46
Alliances and Affiliation s 46
Correspondence 47
Book Review 49
Article s 51
52
53

CROWN COPYRIGHT

This journal contains official information. it should be treated with
discretion by the recipient. The opinions expressed are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy and views, official
or otherwise, of The Queen 's Regiment or the Ministry of Defence.
Advertisements are included in good faith and no responsibility for
the quality of goods or services can be accepted by the publishers
or printers.

COVER PICTURES

FRONT: HM QUEEN MARGRETHE 11 of Denmark, our Allied Colonel-in-
Chief , visi ting the 1st Battalion at Tidworth , 5 December 1988.
BACK : HRH The Duke of Ken t with the 2nd Battalion Biathlon Team ,
Winners of the Infantry Nordic Ski Championsh ips 1989.

The Journal of

THE QUEEN'S REGIMENT

No 65 June 1989

Unconquered I Serve

BATTLE HONOURS BORNE ON THE COLOURS

The Regimental Colour :

"Tangier. 1662-80," "Namur. 1695 ," "Gibraltar, 1704-5," "Bienheim ," "Ramille s," "Malplaquel," "Dettingen ," "Louisburg ,"
"Guadeloupe, 1759," "Quebec, 1759," "Martinique, 1762," "SI Lucia , 1778," "Seringapatam ," "Maida," "Vimiera," "Corunna ,"
"Douro ," "Talavera, " "Aibuhera," "Aimaraz," "Badajoz," "Salamanca," ''Vittoria," "Afghanistan , 1839," "Punniar," "Moodkee,"
"Sobraon ," "lnkerman ," "Sevastopol ," " Lucknow ," "Taku Forts ," "New Zealand, " "South Africa , 1879 ." " Nile ,
1884-85," "Burma, 1885-87," "Chitral ," "Relief of Ladysmith ," "Relief of Kimberley ," "South Afnca, 1899-1902," "Korea .

1950-51 ".

The Queen's Colour:

"Mons," "Marne, 1914-18," "Aisne , 1914," "Ypres, 1914-15-17-18," "Hill60 ," "Festubert , 1915," "Somme , 1916, 1918," "Aibert ,
1916, 1918 ," "Vimy , 19 17," "Cambrai , 1917-18," "Hindenburg Line ," "Italy , 191 7- 18 ," "Macedonia, 1915-18," "Gallipoli, 1915,"
"Gaza," "Jerusalem ," "Palestine , 1917-18," "Defence of Kut al Amara ," "Mesopotamia, 1915-18," "NW Frontier India, 1915,
1916-17," "Dunki rk, 1940," "Normandy Landing ," "North West Europe , 1940, 1944-45," "Abyssinia, 1941 ," "Pmars, "Aiam el
Halfa," "El Alamein ," "Longstop Hill, 1943," "North Africa , 1940-43," "Sicily , 1943," "Sangro," "Salerno, " "Anzio ," "Cassino ,"
"Italy, 1943-45 ," "Malaya , 1941 -42 ," "Malta. 1940-42, " "Hong Kong ," "Defence of Kohima," "Burma , 1943-45".

ALLIED COLONELS-IN-CHIEF

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS JULIANA of lhe Netherlands
HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARGRETHE 11 of Denmark

COLONEL OF THE REGIMENT

Ma1or General M F REYNOLDS CB

DEPUTY COLONELS OF THE REGIMENT

Bngad1er R W ACWO RTH CBE. Bngad1er H N TARVER CBE. Bngad1 er M R I CONSTANTINE CBE . Colonel R H
GRA HAM MBE

HONORARY COLONELS OF TERRITORIAL ARMY BATTALIONS

Colonel The Rt Hon Robin LEIGH -PEMBERTON Colonel R R St J BARKSHIRE. TO . JP. DL

(5th (Volunteer) Battalion) (61h/7th (Volunteer) Battalion)

Colonel Sir Greville SPRATI GBE . TO . DL. Dlitt

(8th (Volunteer) Battalion The Queen's Fusiliers (C1ty of London ))

1

CIVIC HONOURS

TFM19hoa6elik1de)Ps,stnotBvon1anleereng(ee1(t19o94Pl64l91h)5,e: 5RAC)a.ditmoBypsetogiloffanaLtseot1n9((d161o9095n6),91()G1)..6uR6Biel6rdi:igfgpoaherttdreomna(a1nn(9de14n94tB4l)y4a, )n1,Hs6oCt7eva2aen)dt(Te1(rh19be95u68Fr3)yr,e).eK(d1Tio9nom4gn8sbo)tr,ofidCnAg-hrueuicpnahodneneds-lTt(eM1hr9aa5mi(l41ine9).sg5A1((s)1.1h99Ef48oa45rsd):t,ab(Ld1oe9ouw8pr7tneio·esnAd((111o999p455t1134o)))n.,,
Worthing (1959). (Crowborough is to award the Freedom 24 June 1989) .

The Canadian Army ALLIANCES

The Queen's York Rangers (RCAC) The New Zealand Army
The South Alberta Light Horse (RCAC )
The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada 2nd Battalion (Canterbury, Nelso n. Marlborough and WPst
The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment Coast)
1st Battalion The Royal New Brunswick Regiment The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
5th Battal ion (Wellington, West Coast and Taranaki)
(Carleton and York) The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
The Essex and Kent Scottish
The Pakistan Army

The Australian Army 12th, 14th, 15th and 17th Battalions, The Punjab Regiment

The Royal New South Wales Regiment Hong Kong
The University of New South Wales Regiment The Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers)

The Royal Western Australia Regiment

AFFILIATIONS

HMS Nelson , HMS Kent and The Royal Anglian Regiment

HMS Leeds Castle The King 's Own Scottish Borderers

The Royal Marines (A ' Bond of Friendship ) No 3 (F) Squadron Royal Air Force
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Danish Life Guards (a n 'Unofficial Alliance)

The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

AFFILIATED UNITS OF THE CADET FORCES

CCF School Contingents
ASCERE(Tlpcoedluehslemlnyoeodbnuogmsrnl'eis;dSd;CCgc'JSsehooucolldShllWyeodocegleoh;rSell'loRssc,;o)ehDVHl;iogSIuao(aClublFwtteeao(tiTocrrnmGdohnteanr;VarbsCAbamhroiurledemdlrlrgenyisnaegc)'g;re)e;lASySSK(sctHcikChnhoJeogooor'olss'ohlslehl;nSgSa;R'eTmscco;hoh)ySnoo;SaboocCtlhlrl iGrodA(a(CogrElnoaealbiymsnr(SstotLmreiceoueraheksbaro)utSo;hCSrlyceHco;h)rhWl;ahlooemKeohogailiplne;tdgtg(;CoG)isfn;BrttuaoSrSinniGlgdtclehrhfGLoaitogoarrmohdanwlmm);;rSCeWmaScnorhiiarcllsolrSeeRooScgnloCh;cesgohDo;eGooluCrlolerl;Mawalg;mtHieaecLinmhragh(wnhRaaCocgrmaiooanSmldtglceeSs'shgCgcoeSSahoo;ctolclle.heEho)oogal;;oeosSllCt;b;kM(hoSHiinuicalulnrhnnreHesderistwlspltCeiiSceSorhcrclplh)He;hoogiogioSenohltt;l;

ACF Units/Sub-Units

Greater London : Cadet Companies Nos 25 , 26.
NE London Sector Cadet Com panies
Middlesex and Cadet Compan ies Nos 194, 195, 205 , 211 , 216, 217.
NW London Sector Cadet Detachments No 72.
SE London Sector Cadet Battalions
Cadet Battal ions Nos 133 to 136, 141 , 143, 147, 149, 151 to 153, 155156, 158.
SW London Sector
Cadet Platoons 1st (Redhill) and 2nd (Farnham) The Queen's Regiment (Surrey ACF).
Surrey :
1st (Canterbury), 2nd (Sandgate). 3rd (Tunbridge Wells) and 4th
Kent: (Maidstone) Th e Queen's Regiment (Kent ACF).

Sussex : Nos 2 (Seaford). 3 (Hasting s) , 4 (Lewes) , 5 (Hayward s Heath ), 6
(Crawley ), 7 (C hichester). 8 (C rowb orough ), 9 (Worthing ), 10
(Ea stbourn e), 11 (Horsham ). 13 (S horeh am), 14 (Be xhill) , 16
(Hurstpierpoint). 17 (Bognor) 18 (Littlehampton) . 19 (Hailsham ), 20
(Lewes OGS), 22 (Southwater).

2

REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS

Howe Barrac ks, Canterbu ry, Kent CT1 1JU (Telepho ne 0227 763434)

Regimental Secretary Col J W Franc1s (ext 4295)

Deputy Reg1mental Secretary Lt Col J J White (ext 4250)

Finance, Chattels. QUEENS Assn Benevolence
and R SUSSEX Liaison Ma1 A Martin, MBE (ext 4251 )

Museum . Archives and QUEEN 'S SURREYS
Assn Affairs Lt Col L M Wilson , MBE (ext 4253 )

Chairman Welfare and Benevolence Committee.
QUEENS OWN BUFFS Assn Affairs Maj H C L Tennent (ext 4252)

RHO Admin . Asst RCO, Regtl Assn and MX
Assn Liaison Maj R Waite (ext 4254)

Regimental Careers Officer Mal S C Thorpe (ext 4255)
OC Regimental Information Team Capt GB Moss (0622 67124 1 ext 292)

OC Regimental Free Fall Team 'The Flying
Dragons · Capt P 0 Beat (0763 249300 ext 302)

REGULAR BATTALIONS TA BATTALIONS

1st Battalion 5th (V) Battalion

Mooltan Barracks , Tidworth , Hampshire SP9 ?EN Leros TA Centre. Slurry Road , Canterbury , Kent CT1 1HR
(Telephone 0980 46221 ) (Telephone 0227 462769)

CO: Lt Col C G F Charter CO : Lt Col P L Pearce

2nd Battalion 6th/7th (V) Battal ion

Clition Barracks , Minden , BFPO 29 Norfolk TA Centre , Denne Road , Horsham . Sussex
(Te lephone 01 0-49-571 -800-312) (Telephone 0403 66111)

CO : Lt Col M C Willis OBE CO : Lt Col J A B Salmon

3rd Battalion 8th (V) Battalion The Queen ' s Fusiliers (City of London)

Alexander Barracks , Aldergrove . BFPO 808 TA Centre , SI John's Hill, Clapham Junction. London SW11 1TT
(Telephone 08494 22051) (Telephone 01 -924 3122)

CO : Lt Col A W Barratt CO : Lt Col N J Brunt, RRF

REGIMENTAL REPRESENTATIVES

Depot The Queen's Division Royal Military Acadelny, Sandhurst

Bassingbourn Barracks , Royston , Herts. SGS 5LX RMA Sandhurst, Camberley , Surrey . GU15 4PQ
(Telephone 0763 42271) (Telephone 0276 63344)
Maj R A Bartlett Capt S P B Kilpatnck

Denmark Junior Infa ntry Battal ion (Sout h)
HQ BALTAP, Naval Party 1004. BFPO Ships Sir John Moore Barracks . Shorncliffe. Kent CT20 3HE

(Telephone 010-45-06-615111 ext 2316) (Telephone 0303 39541)
Ma1 J C Acworth Maj PR P Howe

3

June DATES TO REMEMBER JUNE - DECEMBER 1989

1 'Gionou s First of June'. Service and Reu nion . Canterbury.

1 Regtl Cncket Match v Tonbridge School 2nd XI. 29 Regt Golf Match v RM , Canterbury GC .

2 QUEENS SU RREYS Lunch for Su rrey Freedom

Mayors. Clandon Park. September

2 8th (V) Bn Cocktail Party , Merchant Taylors· Hall. 1 Regtl Golf Match v QUEENS OWN BUFFS GC ,

4 QUEENS SU RRE YS Remembrance Service, Ep so m.

Guildford 8 Sevastopol Day.

Ca th edral. 9 Sa lerno Day.

4 Regtl Cricket Match v Eastbourne Co llege 9-24 5th (V) Bn on Ex Potent Gaunt let (20 Armd Bde).

(Eclectics). 10 Regtl Ass n (QUEE NS OWN BUFFS)

6 R SUSSEX Stakes, Goodwood . Remembrance Servtce and Reunion . Maidstone .

8 Regtl Golfing Society Annu al Meeting . Canterbury 13 Quebec Day.

GC .

10 Regtl Cricket Match v HMS Nelson. Tidworth . October

10-11 8th (V) Bn SAA Meeting , Lydd . 3 Regtl Golf Match v King 's School. Canterbury GC.

11 1st Bn 'Glorious First of June· Bn Day. 5 QUEENS SURREYS Golfing Society Autumn

17 Official Birthday of HM The Queen . Meeting , Richmond.

17-18 6th/7th (V)Bn SAA Meeting. 6 QUEENS SURREYS Officers' Assn Lunch ,

18 Regtl Cricket Match v Cranleigh School. Clandon Park.

18-9 Jul 1st Bn KAPE Tour. 13 Regtl Cocktail Party , Law Society's Hall,

19 1st Bn Kirke 's SAAM. Chancery Lane WC2.

20 8th (V) Bn All Ranks Reception , Merchant Taylor's 14 WOs ' and Sgts' Past and Present Dinner,

Hal l. Bassingbourn.

20 Regtl Cricket Match v King 's School Canterbury 19-9 Mar 1st Bn in N Ireland (Op Banner).

(Haymakers) . 90

22 Regtl Golf Match v RRF and R ANGLIAN , Gog 19 Regt l Golf Match v Liphook GC.

Magog GC. 21 Trafalgar Day .

24 Crowborough bestows Freedom on Regt.

25 Regtl Cricket Match v Bradfield Col lege November

(Ecce ntrics) . 9 Field of Remembrance Ceremony, Westm inster.

28 Regtl Dinner for Haberdashers at 8th (V) Bn. 10 QUEENS SU RR EYS Reunion . Un ion Jack Club.

11 8th (V) Bn in Lord Mayor's Procession , London .

July 11 MX Ceremony at Field Of Remembrance .

2 Regtl Cricket Match v Cornhill Team . Westminster

9 Regtl Grand Reunion, Bassingbourn. 12 Remembrance Day. Regtl Assn at Cenotaph ,

12 Regtl Golf Match v RMAS. Army GC Aldershot. London .

15-29 6th/7th (V) Bn Annual Camp. Knook. 12 MX Remembrance Day Service. lnglis Bks, Mill

15-29 8th (V) Bn Annual Camp, Stanford. Hill.

21 Regtl Golf Match v Kent County Constabu lary, N 18-19 6th/7th (V) Bn in Builders Merchants' Competition .

Fo reland GC . 18-19 QUEE NS ACF Officers ' and SNCOs' Weekend.

Long moor.

August

5-6 Roberts Sword Competition (TA Bns) . December

5-11 Regtl Tent , Canterbury Cricket Week . 16 5th (V) Bn Ladies Dinner Night.

13 Regtl A ss n (Q UEENS OWN BUFFS ) 20 British Battalion Day.

Remem br a nce 31 23rd Annt versary of The Queen 's Regiment .

THE JOURNAL OF THE QUEEN 'S REGIMENT

(A hall-yearly publicatiOn- June and December Pnce £2 00 per tssue or £4 per annum - post free w1th1n the UK)
To The Editor. The Journal of The Queen 's Reg1ment. Howe Barracks. Canterbu ry. Kent CTt lJU Date

Please su pply to me each ha lf year w1 th copyl cop1es of TH E JOURNAL OF THE QU EEN 'S REGIMENT .
comme nc1ng w1th the next number. for wh1ch I enclose "(a)£ or ' (b) a Banker's Order (delete as applicable)

PLEASE WRITE IN BLOCK CAP ITALS

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Address

BANKER'S ORDER

No (for off1ce use) To Messrs (your Bank)
.(Bank 's addres s!

Plea se pay now and thereafter on 1si January annually to THE QU EEN 'S RE GIM ENT JOURNAL ACCOUNT (No 0579240) w1th LLOYDS

BANK LTO. 49 HIGH STREET. CANTERBUR Y. KENT . the sum of FOUR POUNDS sterling be1ng my annual subscnpl1on to The Journal of

The Queen s Reg1ment (Please send th1s lorm to the Ed•tor and not d1rect to your Bank)
S1gnature

Name m Block Caprtals please

EDITORIAL

In thi s 300th anniversary year of th e Regiment's earli est link w1th the Royal Hou se of
Denmark it is very appropr iate that a picture of Queen Margrethe , our Alli ed Colonel-1n-Ch1ef.
appears on the Journal front cover. This, and the other photographs 1nside of Her Majesty
were taken during her visit to th e 1st Battalion in Tidworth on 5 Decem ber 1988. Later th1s
year. it is hoped th at th e Colonel of the Regiment will be able to call on Queen Margrethe 1n
Cope nhagen and that ou r Albuh era Band will Beat Retreat before Her Majesty at the Aarhus
Festival. Our Regimental Representati ve in Denmark , Maj John Acworth, has k1ndly wntten a
special article for thi s edition on this important 300 year old association .

All Reg imental Journals must record important news of the Regiment for postenty and th1 s
issue is an exce ll ent example of th is esse ntial role. You can read how th e 1st Battal1on
benefitted from and enjoyed their training in Californ ia in February , how close they were to
winning th e UKLF Boxi ng Competition (Grade 2) and the effort their team put into the ITV
Combat 89 competition . Many of th eir members , as well as Queensmen in other battalion s
and elsewhere , will also feature in the BBC TV series 'Army Li ves ' which is to be screened 1n
th e Autumn .

2nd Battalion news covers accounts of visits to Italy and Denmark and a series of notable
sporting achievements . Th ese include winning the BAOR Infantry Squash , th e In fantry Nord1c
Skiing (see back cove r), 4th Armoured Division Full Bore Shooting , the BAOR Inter-Divisional
Small Bore Shooting , and th e Queen 's Division Small Bore Win ter League Competition. They
also became BAOR Rugby 7-a-s ide runners up , qualifying for th e Br itish Arm y finals in
Aldershot. Besides these notable achievements the battalion raised no less than £11 ,000 for
the Acorn Trust for handicapped children . The Lord Mayor of Canterbury , on behalf of the
charity , received the cheque from Lt Col Merrick Willi s on 8 May after the battalion 's Journal
notes had gone to press .

The 3rd Battalion have now completed about 18 months in Northern Ireland with a variety of
different cap badges under command . Despite operation s and training they have won the
Province Tickle Fitness Competition and the Football and reached the final s of the Boxing and
Hockey. Meanwhile parties have been skiing in Au stria and sai ling off North Wales while , in
preparation for their move next March , Maj Peter Swanson , the 21C. has already been to
Cyprus on a recce .

Highlights of news from our TA battalions are the 5th winning the 1988 UKLF Com bat
Caterer Competition and reaching thi s year's finals , the 6th/7th sponsoring Exercise Decision
Maker and achieving notable Ori enteering successes and the 8th Que en ·s Fu siliers '
achievements in the Courage Trophy Competition . There is of course much other news of
interest in thi s Journal from Cadets to Association s and Affili ation s to Articles and I commend
all these contributions to you .

Observant readers may have notice d that thi s is the first edition with a new combined
printer/advertising agent - Services Publ is hing Services . Th is enterpri sing and rapidly
expanding firm in Corby is already very experienced in the production of Service magazines
and we look forward to many excell ent issues in the future .

Freedom parade s are again in the news. On 13 May a contingent of the 5th (Volunteer)
Batta lion led by the Kohima Band exercised the Reg im ent 's Freedom of the Borough of
Tonbridg e and Mailing . On 24 June th e Regiment will receive the Freedom of Crowborough
with a 1st Battalion contingent and the Quebec Band on parade . Th is is the 20th Civic Hon our
awarded to th e Regiment , th e earl iest being th e 'Privi lege· of th e City of London granted to th e
3rd Foot (Th e Buffs) in 1672 , one hundred years after the first date in our Regiment's long
history .

Finally , there is one all important subject about which th e Regi mental Secretary has written
in his Notes- Recru iting . The manpower situation is becoming increasingly critical. lt is vi tal
that each and every member of th e Regime ntal famil y does his utmost to persuade suitabl e
young men that , first , th e Arm y is a thoroughly worthwhile and most enjoyable career to follow
and , seco nd , Th e Queen ·s Regime nt shou ld be the one in which they sho ul d serve.
particularly if they come from our Regimental recruiting area .

5

NEW DEPUTY COLONEL OF THE REGIMENT

Col R H Graham MBE MA M PHIL

Col Richard Graham was commissioned into The Middlesex Canterbury , Col Graham joined 3 QUEENS at Catterick in
Regiment (Duke of Cambridge 's Own) in 1964 as a October 1977. He commanded A Company for the next two-
University Direct Entrant on graduating from Jesus College and-a-half years in Catterick and Dover, taking his company
Cambridge with an Honours Degree in Modern and to fight fires in Liverpool , on exercise to Denmark , Germany,
Mediaeval Languages. Canada and It aly , and for an emergency tour in
Crossmaglen , South Armagh .
His first posting was to 1 MX in Gibraltar. He served as a
platoon commander both on the Rock and in Libya before In 1980 he attended the six month National Defence
moving with the battalion to Palace Barracks. Holywood, in Co ll ege course at Latymer before going back to his old
November 1965. He continued to se rve as a platoon Cambridge College on the first of the one year M PhiI degree
commander in Northern Ireland and during the 1 MX nine courses which were opened up to servi ng officers.
month tour in British Guiana, until the battalion , by now 4
QUEENS (MX). moved to Warminster in early 1968 to be the After his second spell as a Cambridge undergraduate Col
Demonstration Battalion at the School of Infantry. Graham assumed command of 3 QUEENS in Augu st 1981 ,
the battal ion having arrived in February of that year in
At Warmin ste r his appointments in cl uded Assistant Fallingbostel as part of 7th Armoured Brigade. In 1984 he
Adjutant , Regimental Signals Officer and finally Adjutant. In was appointed Commander of the Battle Group Trainer at
May 19 70 he joined 1 QUEENS where he serve d as the RAC Centre , Bovington where he served for two-and-a-
Adjutant briefly during Brig Charles Millman 's command at half-years before , on promotion to Colonel , he was posted
Lingfield , and subsequently under Brig Tony Pielow in Berli n. as Chief of Staff 1st Armoured Di vision in Verden . He
In 1971 he handed over as Adjutant to Maj Roddy Mellotte assumed hi s current appointment as Commandant Junior
and remained with 1 QUEENS in Berlin as a com pany Division The Staff College at Warminster in January 1989.

commander. Col Graham was Mentioned in Despatche s in 1978 ,
He moved with 1 QUEENS to Bulford in June 1972 and awarded the MBE in 1979 and was made an Officer of the
Order of the House of Orange by Princess Juliana of The
in 1973 went with the battalion for the first of 1ts emergency Netherlands in 1983.
tours in the New Lodge area of West Belfast. In September
1973 after nine unbroken years at regimental duty , he Col and Mrs Graham have homes in Cambridge and in
attended Division 3 of the Staff College at Shrivenham and Guernsey, Channel Islands , and he lists his major pastimes
Camberley, which was followed by a tour as DAA&QMG HQ as golf and learning not to worry about his grown up

8th Infantry Brigade from 1975 to 1977. daughter and son .
After a brief spell as Regim ental Recru iting Officer at

6

MAINLV ABOUT PEOPLE

HRH Pri ncess Julia na, Allied Colonel-in -Chief. prese nted Stop Press
Bri g H C Millman OBE with th e Grand Cross of Honour w1th
Star in the Crown Order of the Netherlands and Col J W W e wa rml y co ngr a tu la te the follow1ng who have
Franc is wi th the Grand Cross of Honour 10 the Crown Ord er, rece1ved award s for Se rv1ce 1n Northern Ireland
at an audience on 15 Dec 88 .
Brig M R I Constantine OBE- CBE
Col J C Holm an CBE is to be Comd 2 l nf Bd e and Lt Co l M C Wi ll is - OBE
Dover/Shorncliffe Garrison in Oct 89 . Maj 0 J Wake - MBE
Cpl (A/Sgt) Da ldar Singh - MM
Col P V Panton OBE is to take over from Col J C Holman
CBE as Colonel The Queen's Divi sion in Oct 89. and the follow1ng who have been Mentioned 1n
Despa tches
Lt Col 0 H A Sh ephard was made an OBE in the New Capt (A/Maj) J P Nob le
Year' s Hono urs list for his work on Warrior. Sgt G 0 Pedder

Lt Col R E Lowans TO has been awarded a 2nd clasp to Last Post at the Thanksgiving Se iVice for Jack de Man1o MC
the Efficiency Decorat1on (TAVR). held 10 All Samts Church Langham Place . London on 18
Jan 89 .
Maj C F G Parkinson TO , formerly 21C 5 QU EENS (V), was
pro moted to Brevet Lt Col on 24 Jan 89 . L C pl Parker , 1 QUEEN S , re ce1ve d h1s Br~ gade
Commanders' Commendation for prompt, dec1s1ve act1on 1n
assistmg those mjured as a result of a motor accident

Cap! J Etherington RAMC. RMO attached to 3 QU EEN S LCpl Cornh ill and Pie Co rn hill , bot h 3 QU EEN S, have
been selected to play Infantry and Army under 25 cncket for
has won the Montefiore Pnze for M1htary Surgery and came
2nd in the De Chaumo nt Prize for Preven tive Medicine. the 1989 seaso n.

W01 L J Baynham , W01 L J Outfield and W01 B W LCpl Pi ne r, 3 QU EE NS , came th ird 1n the over 95 kg s
Winter MBE have bee n selected for commissioning. sect ion s of the UK L F Sen1or Intermed iate Ju do
Champion shi ps.
W01 T Farrow , 1 QUEEN S represe nted the Army in the
1988/89 Inter SeiVices Ori enteering Championships and was LCpl Wray, 8 OF (V), won the individual event 1n the London
award ed Arm y Colours. In Aug 88 he represented the Bri tish Distri ct Badmi nton Cham pionships.
Army in the Swedish Inter SeiVices Champio nships. (See
article on page 55). LCpl Cashman , Flying Dragons. has been selected for the
Army 4 Way Free Fall Parachute Team .
W01 T M Oaw, form erly RSM 2 QUEENS, was appoi nted
RSM Cambridg e UOTC in Apr 89 .

W02 B Kell ing is to be RQMS 1 QUEE i\I S in Ju t 89 and
W02 R Weaver RQM S 3 QUEENS in Feb 90 .

W02 A W Hewett is to be RSM of 5 QUEEN S (V) in Jut 89 .

W02 R C Camille was appointed RSM of 617 QU EE NS (V)
in May 89 .

W02 Parr R ANGLI AN IS to be RSM 80F (V) 10 Feb 90 .

CSgt T Robinson 2 QUEENS, was awarded the BEM for
seiVice with 6/7 QUEEN S (V) in the New Year's Honours

Li st.

Sgt Harper 6/ 7 QU EEN S (V) wa s o ve rall i nd ivi du al Pte Troy Loader , 2 QUEEN S. became 4th Armou red
Champion in the Infantry Orientee ring Champio nships (Minor Division 'Champion at Arms'.-
Units) .
Pie Baldwin , 3 QUEENS, was a passe nger on the Brit1sh
Sgt Thirkettle and LCpl Wray both 8 OF (V) won the Midland 'M1 ' aircrash. Fortun ately, he SUIVIved and 1s well
doub les titl e in the London Di str ic t Badm i nt o n down the the road to recovery .
Championships.
Pte Vine . 3 QU EEN S, came first in the young sold1er sect1on
Cpl Johnson , ACC attac hed to 3 QUEEN S, won the of the North ern Ireland Half Marathon held in March 1989.
Individual Northern Ireland Cookery Competition wh ilst Cpl
Edwards, ACC, came 3rd in the ·c ook and SeiVe' wi th one Pte Bown ess 6 7 QUEEN S (V) became lnd1v1 duat Jun1or
of 3 QUEENS civilian mess steward esses . Champion in the Infantry Orienteenng Champ1onsh1ps (Minor

LCpl Bradbrook. CO's Bugl er 1 QUEEN S, sounded the

7

1ST BATTALION

HM Queen Margrethe of Denmark with senior guests ,and officers of the 1st Battalion during her visit to

Tidworth, 5 December 1988. Further pictures of the Ioccasion are on page 30.

The baltalion ·s return from Denmark on Exercise Bold before departing - as she arrived - by helicopter. But the
Grouse in October effectively marked the end of the NATO day was incomplete since not only were we given the
training year and thoughts were turned to the promises of opportunity to welcome Queen Margrethe, but also we had
California on Exercise Trumpet Dance, to the anticipation of the sad duty of saying farewell to Brig Charles Millman as
what Spearhead might bring. and to the challenge of the Colonel of the Regiment. After he addressed the
preparing for another Northern Ireland tour. battalion on the square . he was dined-out in the Officers·
Mess and presented with a si lver salver from his old
Thus in November, with Saxons now in preservation and battalion .
trundled out only for regular light exercise and the occasional
RAAT task , the battalion took to their boots . 2Lt Steven Christmas leave produced a welcome break in a hectic
· Brann took his platoon from Tangier Company adventure schedule and on return , our sights were firmly set on
training in the USA; Tangier, Kirkes and Quebec Companies California for Exercise Trumpet Dance. But before we took
dep loyed on Exercise Globe Trot , run by the School of the opportunity to invest in a nalty new pair of swimming
Infantry, and provided compliant 'grunts' for as pirant trunks and indulge in some really rather expensive sun tan
Company Comma nders on Salisbury Plain . Then later lotion, the realities of UK so ldiering still required attention.
Kirke's Company , taking advantage of a rare lull, Tangier and Holland Companies took an opportunity to
disappeared to Warcop to carry out some field firing, whilst polish their individual skills at a field firing camp in
other elements provided part of a hunter force on a major Sennybridge , and Kirkes Company sent a group
escape and evasion exercise 'somewhere on the Welsh adventurous training under Us Sandy Gibbins and Shaun
borders' . With the exception of Tangier and Holl and Ell iot to Wales . The officers took a morning to compete for
Com pan ies supporting the School of Infantry , December the annual Snowdon Trophy which finds the best pistol shot
provided a brief respi te from exe rcising and RAAT and in the Mess . This year we were delighted to welcome Col
allowed us the privilege of entertaining Her Majesty Queen Douglas Snowdon to witness the shooting skills (or lack of),
Margrethe of Denmark, our Allied Colonel-in-Chief. and present his own trophy to 2lt Alistair Nelson. January
also saw the start of intensive preparations for Exercise
On a rather dull Decem ber morning. a helicopter of the Combat 89 , an inter-divisional military skills competition
Queen 's Flight landed outside the Officers ' Mess and a filmed by Centra l TV and due to be broadcast in the
radiant Queen Margrethe was met by the Colonel of the summe r. The baltalion had been selected to participate by
Regiment and the Commanding Officer, who escorted her to Queen's Division and Capt Robin Cope was made team
the square . Kirkes Company provided the Guard of Honour manager; his repbrt on the competition appears later in the
and after a brief inspection , the Parade concluded with a article . In this busy month the battalion Boxing Team fought
parachute descent by the Flying Dragons; Capt Paul Beat and won their semi final match in the UK Grade 2
doing his best to emulate the 'Milk Tray' hero, presented Her Competition against old rivals 3 RGJ but then tragically lost
Majesty with a bouquet of flowers . Drinks in the Warrant the final , by one bout , to 1 PWO who went on to become the
Officers and Sergeants' Mess was then followed by lunch in overall Army Champions . The story of how this particular
the Officers' Mess which was a magnificent regimental plum was so nearly picked is recorded by the Boxing Officer
occasion with all four of our Deputy Colonels also being also in these columns. But by the end of January the buzz of
present to host Her Majesty . To end her brief visit the Queen anticipation around the battalion heralded the start of
then met some of the families in the Junior Ranks Club .

8

The Company Commanders bemused by
intricacies of the internal combustion engine.

CSM Weaver finds his match on the Confidence The CO and 21C view 'Impossible City'.
Course.

9

1st Battalion

Exercise Trumpet Dance and underlined the unique RE. 16 Fd Amb RAM C, 5 AB Bde and in addition each
company group absorbed a platoon from 4- 17 lnf. This in
opportunity With which we were be1ng presented . particular was an interesting and rewardmg expenence s1nce
Calllorma . of course, conjures up a particu lar image of sun total integration allows US officers and NCOs to command
Br itish troops and of co urse. vice versa: there was no
and surf encouraged by endless TV dramas. The reality was quicker way to find out how the other works at this level.
a little different. The adva nce party arrived on 28 January
and by the following day a number of telephone ca lls home The three packages allowed us to concentrate on tra1nmg
had requested thermal underwear, sweaters and Barbours to that we would not routinely undertake in UK. Package 1 was
be sent out: California was in the gnps of its coldest winter based on Fort Ord and consisted of an introduction to
for abou t 40 yearsl To say that this ex peri ence dented the FIBUA, battle inoculation , platoon ambush ranges and an
perceived image may be an understatement. yel sunny days horrific Con fidence Course on which Cpl Holt, one of our
were not infrequent and as the back warmed rapidly our PTi s, now claims to hold the record for the fastest time. A
media-inspired perce ption of th e climate held some reality at Compa ny sports day all owed the British to try American
last . Tho se who were tempted lo try th e swimming in Football. w~ich, aft er the first game, our newly arri ved Doctor
Monlerey Bay were soon deterred by radio reports of a tried to proh ibit, and the Americans to try Cricket which had
Great White Shark attack on the day of our arri val - the the potential to kindle diplomatic incidents on par with the
cam p swi mming pool became a popular and attractive Bodyline Affair. The second package took place at a train ing
alternative I area some 100 miles south of Fort Ord based at Fort Hunter
Liggett . Here we set up a permanent tented camp under the
The battalion was to be based at Ford Ord near Monterey. joint ownership of Capts Matthew Brown and John Wright .
in Steinbeck cou ntry, 100 miles south of San Francisco and The cold nights experienced early in the traini ng (down to
350 mi les north of Los Angeles. In fact this was not th e -1 0 C on occasions) re sulted 1n exaggerated calls from the
battalion's first visit to the Fort: B Company under the then
Maj Bob McGhie had exercised there in 1982 with a Lt Nick front line fo r ice- breaking equ ipment and oxy-acetylene
Keyes and a clutch of private soldi ers some of whom torches , but with timely intervention the Vicar earned his pay ,
returned as re sponsible NCOs to survey the re sults of the and our heroe s at Fort Hunter Liggett were in stea d
earlier foray . The vast cantonment housi ng 35,000 troops requesting extra rations of sun cream .
and their families is the home of the US 7th Infantry Divisio n
(Light): our hosts in general were to be their 3rd Brigade, The training area here was quite outstanding in its natural
and in particular, the 4th Battalion 17th Infantry Regiment beauty with hills rising to 4000 feet near the Pacific Coast ,
and this liaison was an exceptionally happy one throughout plunging ravine s and steep sided valleys cove red in thick
the battalion 's six weeks' stay . We found our American hosts and often impenetrable bru sh. Acro ss such terrain the
to be courteous, co-operative and very friendly ; without thi s companies were chased in a long and arduous escape and
rapport , which was established early , the exercise could evasion exercise . Lt Digby Williams records his experiences
have taken an altogether different tenor. of thi s with Holland Company later in this article . Rested
from the ordeal, platoon and company field firing then took
In the early days of the exercise , before the airlift was place , the latter further south still at Camp Roberts training
complete the two battalions spent time being introduced to area. Here we were able to shoot battlegroup weapons: the
each other's weapons , methcds of operation and also to the guns , mortars, SF team s and MILAN teams all fir ed
conditions of service and career structures . Learning curves regularly , and we had the chance to see the Am eri can
were steep and both needed to be careful in the use of equivalent weapons shoot at the same time .
abbreviations and terminology : weeks after the Exerci se we
were still referring to plans being 'locked-in' or problems Adventurous Training under Maj Tony Russe ll provi ded
being 'squared away·. and all this laced with the odd cry of the elements of Package 3. Despite the lack of knowledge of
'Hua' or 'Buffalo'. With the battalion group complete on the facilities available to the battalion in California on arrival , the
ground we were able to celebrate Sobraon Day in style training got off to a start, albeit a little slow, and progressed
much to the bemusement , intrigue and interest of the rapidly to provide so me outstanding opportunities in rock
inhabitants of Fort Ord. Sgt lrvine from Holland Company, as climbing , abseiling , trekking , canoeing, white water rafting
the Sobraon Sergeant received the Colour from the and cross country skiing . Two main areas were eventually
Commanding Officer and it was duly marched to the NCOs' used : one at the Pinnacles National Monument, only some
Club where it resided under the protection of the Warrant 40 mi les from Fort Ord, for the walking and climbing , and the
Officers' and Sergeants ' Mess for the remainder of the day. other at Lotus in between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe
The SNCOs of 4-17 lnf were guests that evening for a very where a permanent camp was set up for the skiing and
special dinner, at which the Corps of Drums gave a dazzling
di splay of their skills . The following evening the Officers' water activities.
Club was the scene of the battalion 's Cocktai l Party given for The package s provided a balanced , intere sting and
our American hosts and again the Quebec Band and Corps
of Drums produced an excellent performance to entertain the challenging programme aimed at company level and were
guests who were most complimentary . considered to be a great success. And then , of course, there
followed R and R. The Paymaster, Capt Philip Hazell was
With friendships now firmly cemented the training period given the task of extracting the best deals from car hire firm s
started in earnest. The plan was simple and straight-forward . and Fort Ord 's own travel agency . Most were happy to
Three company groups would rotate through the training experience the West Coast culture in San Francisco, or the
packages during the period , leaving our attached Gunner glamour and glitz of' Los Angeles: others drove even further
troop from 26 Fd Regt , the Mortar Plptoon and Recce south to the sun drenched beaches of San Diego and
Platoon to conduct their own programmes, dovetailing in with beyond . A few wives had shown great initiative in finding a
the companies where practical. The Company Commanders cheap flight from UK to San Francisco and shocked their
had found a new spring in their re spective steps as they took husbands by arriving as planned to spend the LOA (or what
to the field with twice as many troops as they are normally there was of it) in double qu ick time . Inevitably though , time
used to seeing around Tidworth : we welcomed attachments had gone too qui ckly and the delights of a RAF VC 10
from 5 Queens (V), 6/7 QUEENS (V). 8 OF (V), 8 Fd Sqn brought the battalion back to reality and Tidworth in early
March , to e nd an ·excellent exercise.

10

Two weeks remamed before the battalion disappeared for
Easter Leave dunng which preparation cont1nued for
Spearhead due to start at the end of Apnl . and also the

forthcom1ng Belfast tour.
Some of the commgs and gomgs over th e penod have

seen Maj Anthony Beattie depart for the ranf1ed atmosphere
of RMAS , MaJ Tony Russell has now taken over as Trammg
MaJor of 7/10 UDR . our tame WRAC and ex pert adventurous
trainer , Lt Sandy Gibbin s goes to BAOR . Capt M1ck
W1schhu se n has retrieved h1s 'budg1e · from the att1c and
goes as OM to 5 RRF(V). and we congratulate Lt Jell Brown
on commi ssio ning. New arrivals to the battalion have been Lt
Col Adnan Youell , the Doctor. Maj Nigel Russell as 21C, MaJ
Joe O'Gorman as OC HO Company and W01 Farrow who
comes as the new RSM from the Depot .

ADVENTURE TRAINING IN CALIFORNIA A cheerful Tangier Company group of trekkers led by
by Maj A W Russe ll Maj Eagan , on the High Peaks Tra;l in the Pinnacles.

With no qualifications and little expenence 1n the field of The potential for trekk1ng wa s l1m1ted by the vast
adventure training it was . of course , natural for your scribe to expanses of pnvately owned land. ln1t1al 1mpress1ons created
find himself OIC Adventure Training for Exercise Trumpet by s1 gns such as 'Tre spa sse rs will be eaten ' were not
Dance. Undaunted and fired with images of Californian sun, dispelled when an early errant group was met by a gun-
sea. surf and beaches (not to mention bikini-clad beauties) , toting local citizen . Oueensmen . well ve rsed 1n the South
planning began - it was winter and chilly in the sunshine Armagh experience. acceded to h1s reque st to · ____ off
state , so back to the drawing board! my land '.

In fact central California is a land of diverse terrain and Nevertheless some scen1c routes were established and
climatic conditions , so the potential for challenging. and in most ol the local population were very fnendly and helpful.
some cases definitely 'different' adventure traming was
there . The battalion , and various contacts. were tapped for Skiing took place near Lake Tahoe . Many found the
qualified instructors and advice was sought from across 'the Nordic style more taxing than they anticipated - particularly
pond'. In the event a five day company group package was the 700 foot , steep, ski-shod climb on Day 2 of the package
developed . the major activities being rock climbing and The1r short cou rse concluded with a two day exped1t1on ,
abseiling , canoeing, nordic skiing (i ncluding snow holing and overnighting in snow holes and snow caves . Some found the
snow caving), trekking , and, undoubtedly the most unusual, experience a trifle claustrophobic ; all were surprised at how
white water rafting . Stores were drawn from Thatcham , albeit warm and comfortable a night in the snow, under the expert
constrained by the unit freight allowance , and, once we were eyes of our hired American civilian instructors, could be
in theatre additional equipment and civilian American
instructors were hired . Pte Rose on the water.
Canoeing , which had initially taken place on a large lake,
Activities were based in two areas. Climbing , abseiling soon moved to Lotus . together w1th white water raft1ng on
and trekking in Pinnacles National Monument and rafting , the South Fork American River. Initial tuition , under Sgts
canoeing, skiing and further trekking in the Sierra Nevada Andrews (on loan from JIB) and Foster, took place on the
east of Sacramento. more placid stretches near the campsite before students
'graduated' to the easiest white water reaches of the nver -
The Pinnacles , so named because of the towering rock one canoe was still inevitably trapped aga1nst rocks by the
formations , offered stunning scenery and challenging water pressure for nearly 24 hours - the occupant left very
climbing . Tragically we were abruptly reminded of the rapidly' All got wet , even if only practismg capsize drills.
respect due to the cliffs when an American civilian fell to his Undoubtedly the most popular act1v1ty was wh1te water
death on an adjacent climb during our second week. Under rafting . South Fork American River is class1f1ed as Grade 3
the guidance of Sgts Smith and Lovatt and Cpl Allison many (relatively few drown each year') . Despite low water levels
so ldiers were introduced to the basic techniques of rock and temperatures , it proved to be an exhilaratmg expenence
climbing and abseiling , whilst the more experienced found Each day at least three . eigh t-man rafts . under excellent
ample scope to improve their skills. Most enjoyed the American guides , took to the river to cover an average of ten
challenge, a few vowed subsequently to keep feet on terra miles with some eight sets of rap ids . Students were
firma. All became fitter since a four mile hike and a 1200 foot
ascent were required each way , each day to the climbing
area! Meanwhile other parties hiked further. both in distance
and in feet climbed , under the leadership of Lt Sandy

Gibbins .
Hiking, canoeing and white water rafting were conducted

from a tented base for 90 on a civi lian campsite at Lotus,
only two miles from the spot where Marshall originally struck
the gold which star!ed the 1849 California Gold Rush . The
days were generally pleasant , the nights , mornings. the
water and the ski slopes definitely cold. The sharp intakes of
breath as bare flesh met semi-frozen wetsuits soon began to
drown morning birdsong!

11

1st Battalion

introduced to such concepts as 'eddies ' and 'flow reading '. ESCAPE AND EVASION

Many soon found themselves captaining their craft and crew WITH HOLLAND COMPANY
through such rapids as ·Meat Grinder' and 'Troublemaker'
by 2Lt D W Williams
(the latter featured in ' lndianna Jones '). Not all were
lt was with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that
successful- not every captain or crew finishing still aboard I
Some rap1ds were voluntarily 'shot' without the benefit of a Holland Company spilled out of four huge coaches into the
raft. The general consensus varied from 'tremendous ' to late morning sun of Fort Hunter Liggett. We were the first
company to go through the Hunter Liggett (or Lester Piggot
'incredible '.
, - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -·- - - - - - - - - - . . as 1t became known ) package and therefore guinea pigs for

the battalion escape and evasion exercise . Rumours were

rife as we extracted our equipment from the belly of the

coach and made our way to lunch.

Having consumed a plain but wholesome lunch the

company prepared for the exercise . At this point all we knew

were a few basic rules :

1. We would move in section sized teams .

2. 1 compass . 1 map, 1 red miniflare per team .

3. Any warm clothing had to be worn for the inspection

(search) .

4. 1 sleeping or bivvy bag per man.

With this equipment and dressed like eskimos perspiring

in the heat we presented ourselves to the American search

team and we were informed of our PW status . Section by

section, 120 of us went through the search which was not

that thorough and members of the company who had hidden

money, torches , knives and even girlie magazines in every

bodily orifice found they had probably wasted their time .

Once the whole company had been processed we were

loaded on to trucks and driven away to a camp . We passed

through rocky gorges and crossed wide dry river beds

expecting to see the odd Apache Indian at any moment. We

travelled for some time bumping along dusty tracks watching

the ground squirrels diving for cover behind us.

As anticipated , a series of loud bangs and the rattle of

automatic fire indicated an ambush . The trucks stewed

round , their drivers killed by the partisans and with that, our

chance of freedom . We quickly got out and made for a

partisan who informed us that a boat would be waiting at

0900 hrs in three days to pick us up at Cape San Martin. We

were then given minimal rations for the section and urged to

depart as quickly as possible .

3....The exit ... I did a quick map appreciation and calculated that it was
17 km as the crow flies to Cape San Martin , so taking into
Overall the adventure training was challenging and account the mountainous nature of the ground (the map was
successful - our American instructors professed brown with contour lines) it was probably 25-30 km . I
themselves to be amazed by the discipline , fitness , decided to use my five hours grace to put as much distance
willingness to learn and enthusiasm of their students . The between 'us and them ' using a convenient track that led us
students , be they Oueensmen. attached RE . RA or slightly north of centre onto the ridge then followed a large
American soldiers , greatly enjoyed some of the many river valley down to the coast. The time was 1630 hrs and I
challenges and experiences California had to offer.
hoped to be on the coast by midday the following day.
However we were all in for a few nasty surprises .

With my rather mixed team comprising, LCpl Morley, Pte

12

1st Battal ion

Parkmson and Pte Aitkens all 6/7 QUEENS (V). LCpl Wood . of spottmg the Pac1f1c Ocean At thiS pomt I real1sed we were
Pte Hannan. Pte Howard and Pte Angier from my own not where we should have been' Desp1te every effort on my
platoon and PFC 's Grundy and Colon, 4/17 lnf, we set off. part to keep that secret. Ptes Hannan and Ang1er quest1oned
By a combmation of running and speedmarching we qu1ckly me w1th the conv1ct1on of nav1gat1on experts (and prev1ous
covered 10 km and with dark approaching I decided to have expenence of my map read1ng) , doubt wntten all over the1r
two scouts up front and two follow1ng beh ind as a precaution
against ambush . Not long afterwards. and only two and a faces .
half hours after starting out. we were ambushed . Confus1on it was now gettmg dark and m the gloom and half l1ght we
re1gned as we ran up the side of a mountain to escape.
battling our way through the undergrowth. spotted a log cab1n on the western slopes of the ndge We
called to see 1f the occupants could conf1rm our present
We stopped and hid not far from the top and then realised position and were greeted by a very suspiCIOUS , 1mmensely
we had lost the lead scouts who actually triggered the fat man dressed only 1n a pa1r of Y fronts He mtroduced
ambush . In the confusion LCpl s Wood and Morley were also himself as Spencer and havmg explamed what we were
separated and were m fact later captured. it was obv1ous at do1ng he 1nv1ted us m. Once 1ns1de we consumed w1th great
this point that any more movement on the track was court1ng pleasure cop1ous amounts of coffee and Tuna salad while
disaster and for the next three hours we vainly tned to battle Spencer and h1s w1fe explamed that the1r self 1mposed
our way through the scrub on treacherous slopes before 1Solat1on was to escape soc1ety. Ours . we expla1ned . was a
stoppmg and waiting tor daylight. At this point we reckoned
we were just about halfway. s1m1lar miSSIOn.
Our flagg1ng energy now restored and followmg a path
Some members of Holland Company get themselves
in a knot during the Escape and Evasion . descnbed by Spencer we made 1t to Cape San Martm w1th1n
two hours. Here we were greeted by Capt Brown and h1s
We woke at dawn the following morning to the sound of team and over some soup d1scussed the Company 's
gunfire far below us on the track and watched as another performance it had taken us 28 '1> hours to complete the
group was ambushed and captured . After a small breakfast course . wh1ch I thought was very fast. However we were
from our two remaining ration packs we started to move west beaten by several other groups 1ncludmg the oc·s and Capt
across country and traversed down the mountain towards Bulp1tt's. both of whom had been sunbathing on the beach
the river. Conveniently the valley ran due west straight up to
the final ridge . The vegetation was as thick as secondary most of the day. as the1r reward
jungle and it took immense physical eHort to move and a Approximately 120 of us started and 33 were captured ; all
considerable amount of time .
the remammg groups bar one made 1t to the fm1sh pomt .
Once in the valley we followed the river towards its source Those who were captured were interrogated and g1ven a
high in the great Pacific ridge . Even on the banks of the river hard t1me for a couple of days, and JUdgmg by the1r stones.
it was hard going and we continually had to get into the
water to avo id obstacles . The scene ry was spectacular, our eHort had been well worth 11.
steep mountains with prominent gulleys and waterfalls : the We all benefited 1mmensely from the expenence and got
river itself was clear and became more inviting as the sun
came up . We saw an abundance of wildlife including to see California from an angle that most people would
terrapins in th e water. probably miss. The results of the 1nterrogat1on taught those
captured some important lessons. for example , you do not
We continued in this fashion all day, but the river became give your Company Commander's name and address m
narrower and great boulders and rocky outcrops had to be
traversed . For so me these obstacles were too much . and exchange for biscuits !
Parkinson took an involuntary dip in the fast flowing stream.
About three quarters of the way along we stumbled across a EXERCISE TRUMPET DANCE-
marijuana plantation which stretched for about two
kilometres along the ri ver. There were hundreds of small A PERSONAL VIEW
polythen e bag s in bundl es everywhere and plenty of
gardening tools but I hasten to add that the crop had been by Pte Angier
harvested and we did not fly over the ridge!
Max1mum speed 55 miles per hour, heavy cops pack1ng
As we started to make our way up the final steep slope big guns, ID requested in nightclubs as a matter of course,
1500 m above sea level the going became incredibly hard. forms for just about everything possible except the bas1c
The vegetation became so thick that at several pomts we functions : this is America, or California to be exact, where
were crawling on our bellies to get under it weanng bergans the 'having of nice days ' is a compulsory and cunously
and it was with immense relief that we emerged out of the
bushes and into the cloud on top of the ridge with the reward pleasant custom .
Having recently returned from Exercise Trumpet Dance , a

look back at the last few weeks will show us what a great
opportunity it was for the battalion to experience act1v1t1es
rarely available to us in the UK. This can be seen m two
aspects : the first from the pomt of view of military tra1nmg
and the second in the form of more light hearted pursuits .

How often does the opportunity for a three day escape
and evas1on exercise , over challengmg terram , anse? Not
often. but th1s was just oile of a host of act1v1t1es that
included abseiling off specially constructed towers , a
Confidence Course (aptly named due to the he1ght of the
obstacles ), commando rope crossings. helicopter drops onto
the rooftops of the 'Impossible City', M203 grenade finng,

and so the list goes on.
This extensive m1litary tra1nmg culmmated on the last day

of the Fort Ord Package w1th a company FIBUA attack on
the 'Impossible City'. The addition of the MILES equ1pment
(similar to our own SAWES k1t) Illustrated superbly the
difficulty of assault1ng and occupymg even a few well
defended houses. Predictably heavy losses ensued. albe1t

13

1st Battalion

many of them as a result of enemy snipers pos1tioned on four re se rves of the sa me rank . Those selected were U s
high ground to our rear. Wright and Fotheringham. CSgt Hall and Sgt Patnck. Cpls
Lewi s and Else. and LCpl s Stee r and Soutar. w1th Pt e
One of the more interesting aspects on the military side Bowart as an extra reserve just in case.
was the integration of American troops into the platoons and
experiencing their rat.her different approach to the concept of The training started in earnest in January in Wales and
disciplme l continued in Californi a wh en the battalion deployed to
Exerci se Trumpet Dance . Th e fa cilitie s in Amer ica were
On the light side of life. a week's adventure traimng gave excellent and over a period of five weeks con sid erably
members of the battalion the chance to try their hand at a improved the team 's standard of both fitne ss and m1litary
range of activities from canoeing , white water rafting through skills. Returning to UK. a further week in Wales and a week
to skiing , trekking and rock climb1ng . I personally can with the naval Field Gun team in Portsmouth put on the final
recommend the white water rafting to anybody should they polish . Every aspect of training had been covered and the
ever get the opportunity. Points to note: keep a tight grip of team was confident of doing well.
the raft if you don 't want to swim the rapids!
At the actual competition in mid -March . the first two
A day out provided us with the opportunity to go to San events went extremely well with the team taking first position
Francisco, which turned out to have a unique atmosphere all from the eight teams competmg . At that stage all were
of its own . Chinatown and Alcatraz in particular proved to be confident of getting through to the next round , then disaster
extremely popular with the visiting troops . struck. The third event was the Sennybridge assault course
and falling plate shoot. The team achieved the second
F1ve days R and R towards the end of our stay allowed fastest time . However the shooting went badly wrong and we
the battalion to visit places that they may never have the ended up in sixth place for that event and third overall. The
chance to see again . Th e most popular included : last event , the 'Tank Stalk' went equally as badly and
Disneyland , Universal Studios , Long Beach , The Queen unfortunately the team's overall position dropped to fifth -
Mary, Sea World , Beverley Hills and Hollywood. not good enough to progress to the next round .

In conclusion , Exercise Trumpet Dance proved to be an lt was a great disappointment to all of us, that after so
overall success despite a number of minor hiccups sustained much hard work and giving up leave and weekends to
on the way . As far as individuals were concerned , many prepare , on the day the performance on just two events let
undoubtedly missed their homes , wives and girlfriends us down. All the squad members worked incredibly hard for
during their stay in California. However I don 't believe that in this competition and certainly deserved a better result, but
retrospect any of them regretted the chance of going, even on the positive side we hope for some excellent publicity for
those under the age of 21 who found themselves forbidden the Regiment when the series is broadcast in the Summer.
to drink or frequent the night clubs .
BATTALION BOXING
Should the opportun ity arise again to visit Ca lifornia I
would gladly go back and yet , on the approach to RAF Brize by Maj (QM) V D Ebbens
Norton. I noticed a few things that cou ld only be England - The battalion 's boxing season started in October of last
a patchwork of smal l green fields , a rugby pitch and a church year with the Kirks 's Inter Company Boxing Competition .
spire. There's no place like home! There were over 70 entries within the battalion which
produced a spiri ted th ree day contest in which Quebec
COMBAT 89 Company were clear winners by seven points.
Having achieved so much during last season and getting
The battalion first heard of COMBAT 89 in October of last so close to winning a novice championship we were
year. Few details were known other than this was to be a determined to get training and enter both the Grade 3 and
military ski ll s competition organised by the Director of Grade 2 Army Championships again this year, but having
Infantry and Central TV and would involve a team of four (a lost so many of the novice boxers from last season it soon
subaltern, SNCO , Cpl and Pte) from each Division of became evident after just a few weeks' training that the team
Infantry , the Brigade of Ghurkas and the Para chute was not strong enough in depth to enter both grades, so the
Regiment. lt eventually transpired that the competition would decision was made to pool our resources and concentrate
be held in April this year and although no specific events on the Grade 2 Championsh ips.
were known , teams were advised to train in all aspects of Only four teams entered from the UK : ourselves , 1 PARA,
military skills including watermanship , driving , absei ling , 3 RGJ and 1 PWO. Inwardly we were pleased to have drawn
GPMG(SF) and 'pulling' a MOBAT. 3 RGJ in the semi finals having boxed them twice last year,
losing so narrowly in the grade 2 UK Finals and natu rally the
The Combat 89 squad formed up in December 1988 and team were immediately fired up to ensure that it did not
after a selection in Sennybridge and the Brecon Beacons, it happen again . The ven ue in such a competition has always
was reduced from 12 to 8, a team of fou r to compete , and been considered an advantage to the home team and we
were more than grateful to Maj Russell at representing us in
The Combat 89 team 'pose' for Central TV in front of the tossing of the coin at Colchester and winning it, while in
the Golden Gate Bridge. transit from his staff job and joining the battalion as 21C.
The first bout on 6 January 1989 cou ld not have afforded
us a better start to the evening . Pte Roffey , then the Army
Individual Bantamweight Champion , was too strong for Rfn
Beckett and knocked him out in the first round . In less than
ten minutes of the competition LCpl Thompson had stopped
his featherweight opponent in the first round and 1 QUEENS
were 2 bouts to nil ahead . Cpl Barratt came up against very
strong opposition and battled courageously for three rounds
but unfortunately lost on a points decision . Our light

14

1st Battalion

medical on the day, was not 1n top shape.
Pte Roffey put all h1s sk1lls and expenence 1nto pract1ce on

the n1ght and stopped h1s opponent 1n the seco nd round

which gave us JU St the start we wanted. The featherw eight

contest was the bout of the even1ng. Cpl Tyrell of t PWO

represents the Army and IS graded t Oth 1n the Great Bnta1 n

Ama teu r rating s, you may ask what he wa s domg boxmg for
his unit as a grade 2. and we asked that pr ec1 se que st1on 1

LCpl Thompson was not 1nt1m1dated throughout the th ree

hard !ought round s and should be congratulated on losmg

only on a points deci sion to a very formidable oppon ent.
Cpl Barrett did not have time to settle down 1n the f~rs t

round and walked onto a sohd punch wh1ch ended the bout

and put t QUEE NS behind by one bout for the f1rst t1me 1n

the grade 2 competition . lt took LCpl Bushell two-and-a-half

rounds to eve n the contest and the refe ree had to qu1ckly
int ervene to preve nt Pte Dickman from tak 1ng furth e r

unnecessary punishment lrom Bushell's onslaught.

The next bout was a walkover for t PWO and w1th Cpl

Else now in Ame rica with the Advance Party one can only

The 1st Battalion Boxing Squad 1988/89 . wonder what the result wou ld have been had he been f1t to
box.
No member ol the tea m deserved a w1n more than Pte

Francis and nothing should be taken away lrom LCpl Thorn

of t PWO who was a very strong and courageous opponent.

welterweight LCpl Bu shell looked a confident winn er from Yo ung Francis 's pe rf orm ance was outstand ing and h1 s
the minute he stepped into th e ring and within one-and-a-half bravery earn ed him a poi nts victory which broug ht us back
on leve l term s at three bouts all.
minutes the referee had to stop the contest and the battalion A special mention mu st go to LCpl 'Jimbo' Robinson who
were 3 bouts to t ahead. Pte Francis has never had an easy
bout and after bei ng re cognised as th e most courag eous had yet to score a win on his registration card . He gave t 00
loser in last year" s UK final s, he was about to retain that per cent in avery quarter during the followin g 6 minutes.

unfortunate title . boxing beyond hi s potenti al and well dese rving his points

Rfn Martin is no stranger to t QUEEN S, a very good decis ion .
t QUEEN S were now 4 bouts to 3 ahead and needed only
welterweight of Army standard but little did he know of the
forthcoming six minute battle he would have to endure to on e win from the following two bouts.
narrowly win on a majority decision over Pte Francis. The LCpl Challis had a very hard bout with Cpl Reid of t PWO,
lead had now been reduc ed to one bout and little did
spectators know that Cpl Else had been dragged out of a nail biting affa ir whi ch unfortunately was given to the
retirem ent only three days previously to contest the next
bout. Cpl Else fought very bravely lor two round s not giving opposition to level the contest at four bouts all.
Little did we know at this stage that last year's UK Final
an inch to his equally determ ined and strong opponent. Both
men were tired in the last round but if you had blinked or was about to be repeat ed. Every credit must be given to Cpl
momentarily looked away you would have missed Cpl Peters Pannell for trying so hard to nai l his opponent under such
of 3 RGJ lying through th e bottom rope . Th e Garri son pressurised ci rcumstances. Pte Vickers of t PWO, a very fit
Theatre exploded to match the punch that put t QUEEN S and established Army runner must also be give n cred1t 1n
remaining calm and using his speed and jab to keep away
needing only one victory in the following three bouts.
LCpl Robinson had a daunting task against the far more from Cpl Pannell for three round s.
A further blow to our championship hopes this year was
experienced Rfn Lewis and every credit must be given to the
former for putting up such a gutsy performance for three the later withdrawal of t KING S, the BAOR winn ers , and
round s to eventually lose on a points decision . LCpl Challis Ald e rshot form e rly ann oun ce d t PWO as t he Ar my
and Rfn Edwards fought toe to toe in the light heavyweight
conte st and by the c lo s e of th e sec ond round th e Champions and t QUEEN S Runners Up.
Queensman was looking marginally the stronger. The boxing In early April we entered Pte Rofiey and Pte Smith both of
arena went into uproar when the referee stopped the 3 RGJ
boxer from receiving furth er punishm ent. t QUEENS were Kirkes Company in the Arm y Individual Championshi ps. Pte
through to the UK final s with one bout still to go. Nothing Smith won hi s semi fin al on a stoppage but unfo rtun ately
must be taken away from the ever aggressive Cpl Pannell suffered the same fate from a very strong DVR Sutton of t 0
RCT in the final. Pte Smith boxed very well and wi ll be a
strong featherweight in th e future. Pte Roff ey boxed a hard
contest agai nst LCpl Ross of t 0 RCT in his final but sco red a
convincing points victory to retain his Army Bantamweight

who bulldozed hi s opponent in the first round to give t Title.
QUEEN S a victory of 6 bouts to 3. t Para withdrew from the Las tl y, a ment ion of the boxi ng trainers. W02 Dutch
competition and t QUEEN S were to box t PWO in the UK
Finals on 30 January t 989 . Luck was agai n on our side and Holl and and Cpl Norm an Phillips (now QUEEN S) have given
up so much of their own time to coach the team throughout
we won the toss to box on our home ground in Tidworth. the seaso n, and this experience and gu1dance has been

Thi s good luck was soon overshadowed by bad when Cpl inva lu abl e.
Else broke a bone in hi s hand during a sparring session and We are now th e proud posse ssors ol a tro phy kindly
without a replacement we had only eight boxers in the team .
To add to th is disappointment Pte Roffey was bedded down presented by the departing Colonel ol the Reg iment, Bng
four days befor e the lina l and al th ough he passe d th e Millman, to mark the battalion that has ach1eved most m

Boxing du ri ng the year.

15

2ND BATTALION

THE COLON EL OF THE REGIM ENT'S VI SIT TO THE 2nd BATIALION

LCpl Ferber receives his Grove Trust Award . ,

Meeting Mrs Hart and Mrs Peaple in the Buffs shop .

Nowadays it seems de rigueur tor battalion notes to allude (won by C Company) and the Grove Trust Awards to LCpl
to the hectic pace ol the preceding six months. Well , so as Ferber and Pte Gordon.
not to disappoint regu lar readers , this edition will not depart
from the norm . lt has been a busy half year . The well · Sport deserves a special chapter of its own , as for the first
earned , post-Northern Ireland block leave is now well and time since we arrived in Minden, we have been able to run a
truly consigned to the realms of fond memory. The battalion full sporting programme at all levels . We have had some
has had to make a quick readjustment to life in BAOR . This notable successes . Our Squash Team won the BAOR
has been achieved by intensive cadres and courses at all Infantry Squash Competition and after only our second year
levels, exercises at Sennelager and Soltau and by a lot of in the sport , our Biathlon Skiing Team won the Infantry
hard work by all ranks . Nordic Skiing Championships . A detai led report on this
achievement is included later and a picture is on the back
Amidst all the sweat there have been several highpoints.
We have been fortunate to get large numbers of soldiers cove r.
away to interesting places . A party consisting of elements We have had some tremendous successes on the
from B Company , the Albuhera Band and the Corps of
Drums took part in a major parade at Vittorio Veneto in Italy; shooting front , both fullbore and small bore . The fullbore
Denmark was visited by A Company on Exercise Odin Grunt team won the 4th Armoured Division Skill At Arms meeting,
and our thi rd Exercise , Snow Queen Season saw another sweeping all before them . At smallbore shooting , our team ,
150 so ldiers learn to ski. Articles on these three ventures ably led by Sgt Kirkaldie won the BAOR Inter Divisional
appear later. Championships , representing 4th Armoured Division. To cap
it all the team also wori the Queen 's Division Winter League .
The Colonel of the Regiment visited the battalion in March
and General Mike 's inaugural visit enabled him to meet a lot We hope to be ab le to conso lidate our efforts on the
of faces , new and not so new (there are a number of old sporting front during the coming seasons , providing our full
sweats who can just about recall the General 's time in programme allows . We have adventurous training exercises
command!) . During his visit the Colonel of the Regiment planned for Kenya, Sardinia, Bavaria, and the Pyrenees . Maj
presented LS and GC medals to CSgt Fagg and Sgts James Myles has organised a comprehensive range of
Clarkson , Bence and Janes. He very kindly also presented sai ling courses which shou ld see over 100 soldiers on the
the prizes at our inter·company 7·a-side Rugby Competition water. Somehow we'll fit it all in between running the Corps
Milan Concentration, Sennelager (again), Soltau (again) and
so on . Still , that's soldiering for you I

16

2nd Battalion

in October 1918 w1th the Italian Army launched a counter
attack which smashed the Au stnan Army at Vittona Veneto ,
leading to the collapse of the Austro- Hunganan Emp1re .
Seventy five thou sa nd Bnt1 sh se rvi cemen fought 1n the
battle , and amongst them was 2nd Battal1on The Queen 's
Royal Regiment. Every decade since then , the ltal1ans have
had a massive parade at Vlltorio Veneto to celebrate the
victory. Last, year, for the first time , they 1nv1ted Bntam to
take part in the parade .

it was natural therefore that the battalion should be asked
to represent Britain at the ceremony , and we leapt at the
chance. Two weeks of bulling boots , frantic retailonng of No
2 Dress , learning SA 80 drill , mar chi ng and counter
marching , pleading for passports. packing . and we were
finally oH. The party consisted of the Colour Party, a Colour
Guard of myself and twenty volunteers , the Albuhera Band ,
the Drums Platoon and RSM Daw.

On arriving at Vittorio Veneto , wh1ch is near Ven1ce . we
spent a fascinating few days rehearsi ng w1th the Italians.
Over 1000 troops were to be on parade , from the Bers1ghilen
with black cockerel feathers trailing from their hats, and the
Lagunara in life jackets , to a contingent of Red Cross
nurses! With the size of the parade , our ignorance of the
Italian language and the Italian habit of changing the1r minds
with unfailing regularity , confusion was inevitable . At one
point we were just leaping on the coaches to depart when
the whole brigade swept round the corner and back onto the
square' Always fle xi ble , we promptly invented a new dnll
movement, the 'treble march ' and joined the column bang on
time .

The 2nd Battalion Shooting Team with their trophies.

PERSONALITIES At last on 30 October we marched through the streets of
Vittorio Veneto surrounded by a crowd of 10.000 cheenng
In the last six months we have been sad to say farewell to Italians. We were finally there . but where was the Pres1dent
Capt David Boden on his posting to the Depot and to Capt who was due to review the parade? For one and a half hours
Clive Newell , on his way to civvy street via HQ 33 Armoured we waited . standing at ease , while his helicopter was
Brigade. In his place we welcome as our new Adjutant, Capt delayed by bad weather. Ever tried holding an SA 80 under
James Cameron. Other recent arrivals have been Maj your arm without moving for an hour or so? Don't! Finally he
Seymour Blyth and Lt Les Baynham. landed, addressed the asse(Tlbled multitude and reviewed
the parade , pausing in front of the Colours as a mark of
We also have a new RSM, in the familiar guise of W01 respect. The parade ended with a march past , the Albuhera
Gauntlet!, who has taken over from RSM Daw , who has Band shook the windows of the City Hall with 'Soldiers of the
gone to shed enlightenment at Cambridge UOTC . We wish Queen ' as we snapped our head and eyes over to the left.
him well for the futu re. That eveni ng we celebrated .

A departure to the RIT is W02 'Flash' Wilson, his acerbic We also carried out a number of Remembrance Services
wit and billiard-ball hair style have long been a feature of life in Italian , British and mixed nationality war cemeteries . Here
in 2 QUEENS. we found many members of 2nd Battalion The Queen 's
Royal Reg iment. their graves immaculately maintained, 1n
VENI VEDI VICI VITTORIO VENETO
by Capt S T D Duggan

' By th e right , quick march !' Barely six weeks after
returning from Belfast the battalion square rang to the sound
of the Albuhera Band, hoarse barked commands, and the
crump of ammunition boots. For the first time since
exercising the Privilege of the City of London in 1981 we
were to take part in a major parade . it was October 1988, but
the story began some 70 years earlier.

In October 1917 the Italian Army had suHered a crushing
defeat by the Austrians at Caporetto . Afraid that the Italian
Front might collapse, British and French troops were rushed
to Northern Italy to bolster the defences. Th is they did, and

17

2nd Battalion

period ended with a long advance to contact and a
successful battalion attack which highlighted the abil ity of an
alli ed sub -unit to op erate und er a separate comm and
structure and ove rcome the d ifference s in langu age,
commun ications, tactics and equipment.

That evening with th e snow falling for the first time, we
drove to the island of Funen wh1ch is situated off the east
coast of Jutland and is the home of 1 Funen Life Regim ent.
Here we spent a superb weekend enjoying the many vaned
form s of entertainment in the lively town of Odense. On our
last morning we took part in a joint parade to celebrate the
374th anniversary of their Regiment which was followed by
consuming an unknown brand of Danish liquor which helped
us to sleep on the long drive back to Minden. lt had been an
excellent trip.

Pte Bell at the grave of Pte Edward Walker , Queen 's, "Which end does the stuffing go into then? "
at the Tezze War Cemetery. At Sennelager- if it flies, it dies .

'some corner of a foreign field that is forever England'' Aside
from the parade itself. the Albuhera Band and the Drums
Platoon carried out a series of magnificent concerts in
surrounding cities including Padua and Treviso. On the night
before the parade there was a joint concert with the Italian
Army Staff Band. This turned into a 'fiddler and the devil'
contest , with the Italians performing virtuoso classical pieces
but the Albuhera Band stealing the show for sheer variety
and entertainment. T he highlight of their tour was a
performance in Venice for the Mayor and the British
Ambassador on the Piazza San Marco. (See picture on page
17.) Dressed 1n their scarlets w1th thousands of pigeon s
wheeling overhead , it was a breathtaking , once in a lifetime
sight. Afterwards we had lunch with the Mayor of Venice in
his palace, but that is another story.

EXERCISE ODIN GRUNT IN DENMARK EXERCISE SNOW QUEEN
by 2Lt S Burke
Between 14 and 21 November 1988, 110 all ranks from A
Company commanded by Maj Seymour Blyth , took part in a Early in December Sgt Kirkaldie , twelve staff and I left
joint British Danish exercise in Denmark called Ex Odin Minden with four trucks and a Land Rover all packed to the
Grunt with 1 Funen Life Regiment. lt was our hosts ' major roof with the equipment necessary for Exercise Snow
training period of the year and designed to test the Danish Queen . Sixteen hours later we arrived at the battalion hut in
soldiers at the culmination of their national service . Bavaria and immediately set about preparing for the first
families ' arrival . Over Christmas and New Year , eight
The Funen Life Regiment is one of the oldest Regiments families came down to ski and then the hordes of potential
in Europe having formed 47 years earlier than our own . With ski racers began to arrive . Over 200 soldiers from the
Queen Margrethe as one of our Allied Colonels in Chief and battalion (including a handful of soldiers from 3 QUEENS)
our long affiliation with the Danish Army we found that we participated in this year's exercise . and although the weather
already had a common bond . conditions were not always perfect. a thoroughly enjoyable
time was had by all. Not everybody went back to Minden
During the five days in the field in North Jutland , the with a ski qualification but everybody went back with a great
company covered numerous dismounted skills including suntan and a host of stories to tell. The prize for the best
defence . re served demolition s, OP s. a night mfiltration suntan went to Cpl D Kershaw who returned to Minden
exerc1se . recce and fighting patrols and a Jive firing day. The

18

2nd Battalion

looking like a Heinz bean! One week before Chnstmas the two groups came
Each ski course was split between fi ve days langlaufing
together and commenced a squad programme of distance.
and eight days downhill. Most soldiers had a taste of sk1 techn1que . mterval and speed tram1ng des1gned to f1ne tune
jumping but invariably the majority ended up landing head the experienced sk1ers and bnng the nov1ces up to race
first in the snow. and the 'head plant' was a common sight by
the end of the season . This year we began to organise one- standard .
day ski mountaineering trips which allowed 50 soldiers to The squad moved from Norway by road to compete m the
ex perien ce off-piste sk11ng for the first time . The trips
mvolved descents of 8-10 km or more . Much of the specialist Infantry Sk1 Championships m Zwe1sel . (FRG near the Czech
equipment was borrowed from AMTC Sllberhutte. However,
one cannot ski with two left boots Cpl Wh1telock' border) from 31 December 1988 to 6 January 1989
The race programme featured two Nordic races (1Okm +
All good things must come to an end and once the last
students left on 30 March . Sg t Kirkaldie soon had the 15km) and the 4 x 7km B1athlon relay The f~rst race went
building looking like new ready for handover. Next year the well for 2 QUEENS , w1th the nov1ces tak1ng th~rd place 1n the
battalion will have a new ski hut and a new area to sk1, so team compet1t1on and Queensmen takmg first. second . fifth
the last full winter in BAOR will hopefully see an even better and eighth m the Open event W1th 13 teams from UK and
ski exercise! BAOR takmg part th1s was a creditable periormance In the 4
x 7km B1athlon relay , a really close fought battle between 2
Lt Col Merrick Willis OBE congra ling Pte QUEENS and 1 KOSB saw us emerge as v1ctors by two-
Schubert during the Inte r- Company Bo xing and-a-half minutes with 3 RGJ another ten mmutes beh1nd
Competition . Individually. the team members emerged f~rst . fourth .

2 QUEENS NORDIC SKIING TEAM seventh and 12th.
by Capt J K Hutton RM The final race. the 15km saw some three 1nches of snow

In mid October, after a rigorous five day selection course. fall dunng the event on top of about live mches the n1ght
ten men formed up as the 2 QUEENS Biathlon Squad to before. The cond1t1ons made rac1ng particularly d1ff1cult and
commence training for the 1988/89 ski season. The squad put considerable pressure on the racers to do well. W1th
underwent a comprehensive and demanding training three races to count towards the Team pnze , were recorded
schedule for four weeks which concentrated on the all - first . fifth and seventh g1ving them second place only 20
important requirements of speed, stamina, endurance, roller seconds beh1nd 1 KOSB . Th1s f1ne result . however.
skiing, strong upper body and shooting skills. The squad confirmed 2 QUEENS as the Nordic Infantry Sk1 Champions.
members spent long hours running , cycling, swimming.
shooting and sweating it out under the watchful eye of SSgt LCpl Ferber having won every race .
Mills APTC and Capt Hutton RM . Next stop was Galtur 1n Austna for Ex P1pedown XXIV the

All too soon the squad departed for Norway, where on- 4 Armd Div and UKLF/Royal Mann es 1nter-un11 sk11ng
snow training would begin in earnest. Capt Holmes, Sgt championships . There were 19 BAOR teams and 23 UK
Best, Ptes Newcombe, Varrall, Cowling and Brennan all took teams all comj.)eting for eight places m the Army Finals . In
part in Exercise Viking Loipe . This exercise was designed to the event the team took third BAOR team 1n the 4 x 1Okm
train the novice skier to ski and race up to a standard relay, the 15km. the 7.5km relay and the Military Patrol race
whereby he could confidently compete at Divisional level. which gave them the right to compete at Army and Nat1onal
The exercise lasted for three weeks and provided a good level. a well sought after goal. Th1rty two teams from the 3
basic grounding for the newcomers to the sport. Meanwhile. Armd Div. RM , UKLF and RAF qualified for the Bnt1sh
Capt Hutton. LCpl Ferber and Ptes Harkness and Attard National Inter Service. Army and BAOR Nord1c
were undergoing a programme of distance and technique Championships at Zweisel from 18-31 January 1989.
training , pool ing the knowledge of previous seasons
experience and picking the brains of local reputable At the start , 2 QUEENS were seeded 16th (one place
Norwegian skiers. higher than they finished last year) so the immediate a1m

was to better this position .
In the Junior 1Okm and 15km Biathlon races . Pte Attard , m

only his seco nd season, finished 19th and 16th respectively .
In the se nio r 20km Biathlon LCpl Ferber fin1shed 26th 1n
Britain and Capt Hutton 33rd . The first main team event was
the prestigious 4 x 1Okm relay and we were pleased to f1n1sh
15th team in the Army . Two days later in the 15km team
event. we finished 1Oth in the Army with our mdiv1duals
coming 54th, 64th and 72nd . Again LCpl Ferber sk1ed well to
finish only seven minutes behind Cpl Dixon 35 Engr Regt
who was 13th in the 20km Biathlon at the Calgary Olympics .

In the 1Okm Biathlon Sprint. LCpl Ferber achieved a
notable 20th pos1tion amongst a field of top class racers.

After a superb start, a combination of bad falls and fat1gue
saw the team finish 17th in the 4 x 7.5km Biathlon relay and
left us with our work cut out to do well in the 30km Military

Patrol race.
As it was. the team periormed well and with all credit to

Sgt Best who skied his heart out. the team finished 11th 1n
the Army giving them an overall finishmg pos1t1on of 12th m

the Army .
To round the season off. all team members entered the

30km Mens Cross Country in the Bnti sh National race and
notable results were LCpl Ferber 18th. Capt Hutton 27th and
Pte Attard 43rd . The team result saw 2 QUEENS flmsh fifth
Perhaps an encouraging sign for next season 's squad.

19

3RD BATTALION

PRIVATE ROB ERT RIS EBOROUGH

lt is with deep regret that we announce the death of
Private Robert Rise borough during training at Warcop on
7 December 1988.

These notes commence on a very sad note with the an over zealous dog in Middl etown High Street. W0 2
announcement above of Pte Riseborough 's death during a Bowdrey (CSM A Company) took pity on a stray sheep while
training exerc1se . The deep sympathy of the Commanding on patrol in Aughnacloy and, like the Good She ph e rd ,
Officer and all ranks is extended to the family and fiance of carried the reluctant animal back to base from where a
this young and popular soldier. farmer retri eved it ; there was no truth in the rumour that the
cooks were sharpening their knives' VCP drills have been
lt hardly seems 18 months since the battalion arrived in honed to a high level of excellence as Cpl Parrish was quick
Northern Ireland, and that Cyprus early next year is now to demonstrate on one occasion : '... plate check IlB 2175 , it's
within grasping distance . The 21C has already done an initial a white , white , white ... er ... car over' . Good relations with
recce (and had the nerve to sport a slight suntan on return to the law abiding member s of the public a re of co ur se
NI in February') and the CO's main recce party will have essential and Cpl Thomas (C Company) has perlected his
returned by the time the Journal goes to print. In the technique :
meantime the battalion has continued it's valuable work
towards the defeat of terrorism , and with some cha nges 'Have you any ID Sir?'
under the new Commanding Officer Lt Col Andrew Barratt. 'No'
The period October to April has been relatively quiet for us in
terms of incidents, but this in no way undermines the (Looking in car) 'What about your brother?'
battalion 's exceedingly hard work , whatever the prevailing 'Actually that's my wife!'
situation . Many long hours have been spent on patrolling
(much of it in unpleasant weather and countryside) , guard You can't win them all , but, in general , we do enjoy a good
duties or standby commitments , and the unflagging good relationship with the locals in most of our TAOR .
humour of our soldiers has continued in the best traditions of
the British Infantry. Tangible successes during the period TRAINING AND OUT OF
are difficult to measure or describe in this unclassified PROVINCE ACTIVITIES
publication . However, there can be no doubt that there have
been achievements resulting from the sustained effort . There are clearly many limitations to the achievements of
realistic group training within the Province , let alone a great
Although counter terrorist operations are the focus of a deal of time to do it. Most of the 'In province' training is at the
Northern Ireland resident tour the battalion must still individual level and there is a constant need for "in house"
continue to maintain most of the other requirements of cadres to train or update specialist skills .
'peacetime· soldiering and endeavour to lead a normal
lifestyle. This means training, career and other courses, Ironically, in a counter terrorist setting , we have found it
recreation and sport plus the sustenance of the families and necessary to run GPMG (SF) cadres for operations so that
wider aspects of Regimental life , all of it under greater the expertise is spread around the companies and not just in
restrictions than one would generally encounter elsewhere in the Drums Platoon where it is customarily resident. We have
the UK . We have done our best to meet this challenge deployed GPMG (SF) on several occasions . There are good
although operational demands often cut short the best made range complexes in the Province and each company runs an
plans . annual sub unit skill at arms camp . Annual Personal Weapon
Test (APWT) results this year with SA 80 were considerably
We continue to sport a number of different cap badge~ better and our entries to the Tickle competition have
within the battalion and are grateful to those regiments who reflected this (we hope).
have lent us volunteers for short periods to assist with
manning shortfalls. In addition we have welcomed a
significant number of TA 'S' Types , most of them from
Scotland and the North , and there is an interesting
proliferation of regional accents in this Home Counties and
London Regiment! We are grateful to the Depot for their
assistance in the further training of the TA soldiers ; we have
already had some success in persuading some to sign on as
Regulars (in the QUEENS ). As Marilyn approaches we are
already taking very seriously the need to improve the
retention of the soldiers we have and persuade them to
encourage their friends in civilian life that we do have
something worthwhile to offer .

There have been lighter moments, for exa mple , town Potential JNCO Cad re- Pte Longdon, disguised as a
patrolling has taken on some new dimensions. Sgt Reddick tuft of grass, b riefs h is tea m .
(C Company) was seen to give a good impression of Michael
Jackson 'break dancing ' as he tried to avoid the attention of

20

Capt Gubbin ran h1 s second potential JNCO cadre in QUEBEC BAND VISIT
November but we have spared him another Journal article
this tim e! The cadre was successfully com pleted with a final We were delighted to see the Quebec Band agam when
exercise at Sennybridge, a delightful location for the time of th ey visited 1n November for two weeks Although there
year. Pte Barnett (B Company) emerged as top student. would not be a full time role for a band 's talents In N,arthern
Ireland , and we are rightly the battalion Without one at
c Company co nducted an out of Province exercise at present. one does miss stram s of Reg1mental and other
mu s1c pervadmg the barrack s atmosph ere The Ouebec
Sennybridge in Novem ber in combinat1on with th e JNCO Band 's al l too short sojourn was therefore very welcome and
cadre final exercise while A Company trained at Warcop in the band members too seemed pleased to have the
December ; not exactly an ideal time of year to train in British opportunity to renew old acquaintances . We kept our gallant
hill country but the demands of the operational plot result in musicians occup1ed with a fairly busy programme . The
someone havi ng to go at that time . C Company are no doubt messes appreciated their music played by Oueensmen for a
overjoyed to have drawn the short straw again this year! change and we managed to include Bng Mike Constantlne 's
farewell D1nn er at HQ 8 Infantry Bngade 1n the 1t1nerary.
Whenever operations permit , the Commanding Officer has There were a few ashen faces when the mag1c words .
encouraged platoon com manders to get their soldiers away 'Battal ion Parade' were uttered but W01 Edwards . the new
on adventurous and fun type activities and we ha ve RSM delighted in a bit of real soldienng for a change as we
managed so far th is year to despatch ski ing groups from Fire marc'hed around Aldergro ve , the band playing espec1ally
Support and A Companies to Andorra and Au stna loudly by the RAF gate s. The band also vis1 ted deployed
respective ly and hardy B Company soldiers to an adventure troops in our TAOR , gave an excellent concert 1n the gym
training camp at Tywyn . In March , Capt Mark lngledow, as and made a guest appearance at the grand re-openmg of
his final enterprise before 'retiring ', took two groups of 5 on the Community Centre (see below).
the Infantry yacht Bold Fusilier; we are trying hard to improve
our offshore qualifications before Cyprus . Thanks also to the However, the finale and a very appropriate cl1max was a
2nd Battalion who took 14 of our soldiers on Snow Queen , Beating of Retreat. We were lent an enormous RAF hangar
and to RHO for their support ; it has all helped towards the for the occasion and , together with the Corps of Drums on
maintenance of high morale. excellent form, the Quebec Band gave a su perb
performance , much enjoyed by a bevvy of VIPs, other
The battalion was one of only two Regular major units to guests , the battalion and familie s. In the middle of an
enter the Northern Ireland Skill at Arms Competi1ion in April. important operational tour we much enjoyed th1s temporary
Time avai lable for preparation had been fairly limited but the return to other aspects of Regimental life and we look
team acquitted themselves well. Although we did not feature f01ward to seeing the Quebec Band again at the end of the
highly on the final order of merit it was at least an summer when . hopefully, so me outdoor events wil l be
improvement on last year's effort .
possib le.
3rd BATIALION PARADE
THE QUEBEC COMPETITION

Operational demands in 1988 meant that the annual inter-
company competition was gradually reduced to only four
events which could realistically be completed : Shooting ,
swimming , boxi ng and a March and Shoot. Even th en the
edge of co mpetition was somewhat blunted as , except for
the bo xi ng , it was not possible for company .teams to
simu ltaneously compete against each other. Times or scores
were recorded and overall res ults calculated once the last
company had participated . events often being separated by
several months. Nevertheless, despite the lack of concurrent
competition . most of the teams gave creditable
performances . particularly in the March and Shoot. A few
rifle company feathers were ruffled when an HQ Company
team won the inter platoon element, as well as the com pany

The battalion formed Clive Meek 's team from A Company in the Ma rc h
Northern Ireland. and Shoot Competition. The umpire is Cpl Sh arp
from B

21

3rd Battalion

March and Shoot honours ; all without the COP who were
otherwise engaged! But. strong performances by Fire
Support Company in the boxing and swimming gave them
victory overall and the Quebec guidon will reside with them
until Cyprus when the next competition will be held early in
the tour. There will. however, still be a 1989 shooting
competition plus a March and Shoot with military skills.

ALDERGROVE AND THE COMMUNITY Dame Edna arri ves to reopen the Community Centre
- 'A word in your ear, Colonel , before you give me
Although soldiers' time spent in Aid erg rove is fairly limited, those Gladiol i'. Dame Edna's driver (ri ght ) is Mrs
a lifestyle as near to normal as possible must go on . Training Diana Swanson .
has been mentioned. On the sporting front we have been
rather more successful than hitherto. The Grade 3 Novice The Bonny Baby Competition was another success with
Boxing team met 1 RWF in the Northern Ireland final and the winners Scott Wilcox. Kimberley Linsted and Richard Morri s
8-1 defeat did not do justice to a very competent and plucky leading a fine field . The UFO (Capt Mick Flynn) , RMO (Capt
display by all the team . Although we only had one winner a John Etherington) and Adjutant (Capt John Farrell) gallantly
couple of the other bouts could easily have gone our way . it judged the posse of hopefuls although the qualifications of at
was some compensation that 1 RWF have just become the least one of the adjudicating team were very suspect. 'Have
Army winners . On the soccer scene , despite the difficulties you had any more children since Kimberley? ' (aged seven
of putting a team together, under the OM Capt John Burke's and a half months ) the Adjutant was heard to ask Mrs
management the team won the Northern Ireland Linsted . Noose Russell , hooligan hopeful entered by Maj
Championship in a very exciting game against 1 DWR and John Russell , was disqualified at an early stage despite her
then went on to reach the UK quarter final. In the Infantry fetching attire (she is an Australian cattle dog ).
Cup we again reached the NI final but were then fairly
comprehensively beaten by 7/10 UDR after several of the Soldiers' discos have been organised once a week, even
squad had to withdraw . W02 Bowdrey and Sgt Reddick though at times the men are outnumbered by the local
(whose combined ages probably equal three younger love lies who have been cleared to attend ! An all ranks '
playerst) valiantly tried to pull it together but to no avail. Cpl dance was held shortly after Christmas and . despite one
Elford in goal gal lantly kept down the score . company arriving back late from a reserve commitment and
rapidly exchanging riot gear for dancing togs , appeared to be
The Cricketing Cornhills - one in each platoon of B enjoyed by a very good turnout. Christmas itself passed with
Company of the 3rd Battalion . it's usual accompaniment of merriment although those able
to benefit were of course depleted by deployment and
duties. However, Father Christmas did at least manage a
helicopter call to Fire Support Company.

Hockey took on a new lease of life during the winter, Mrs Anderson and Mrs Philips at the barrack gate on
masterminded by the other OM , Capt Bill Munday. The team Comic Relief Day.
reached the finals of both the NI Army and Infantry
competitions , sadly to be very narrowly beaten on both
occasions by 1 GREEN HOWARDS . We look forward to
more success this year in cricket. spearheaded now by a
total of three Cornhill brothers . The battalion 's fitness
generally is not in doubt. The CO has instigated early
morning physical training for everyone and this paid off with
the battalion winning the 1988/89 NI Tickle Fitness

Competition.
On the Families side the Wives ' Club has been very active

and organised a number of events. One of the highlights was
the opening of a re -decorated Community Centre , graced by
the Quebec Band and 'Dame Edna ' no less- the identity of
a very game and at present anonymous subaltern (whose
initials are TC) will remain a closely guarded secret. The
photographs of the occasion can be obtained from the Unit
Families Officer (UFO) for a small gratuity!

22

Comic Relief Day did not bypa ss Ald ergro ve de sp1t e 3rd Battalion
orders from a very high source that red noses were not to be
worn by either soldiers or Land Rovers on duty! Within the As always there are too many changes of appomtment to
safe confines of Aldergrove B Company held an 1nter platoon ment1on all by name . Of note we have sa1d farewell to
potted sports competition . dressed in togas. and ra1 sed £85 company commanders. Ma)S Wayne Harber (A) and John
for charity . For the wive s, Mrs Anderson and Mrs Phillips Russell (B) , replaced by Charle s Lambert (from HQ
nobbled everyone passing through the camp gates while the Company) and John Barr. wh1le Ma) Johnny Castle returned
girls of 175 Provost Company decked out in a mi scellany of from HQ UDR to take over HO Company. We have also sa1d
ridiculous costume s (or was it th ei r party fro cks?) even farewel l to W01 But cher (on commi SS IOning 1nto 2
1nvaded the sanctity of a battalion conference to collect cash QUEENS) , Ca pt John Thompson (to 7 CTI). Lt Hutchmson
-of course . as usual , most officers had no money on them . (on secondment to the AA C) , W02 McCieave (to 5 QUEENS
(V)) and CSGt F1dg e (on promot1on to 5 OUEENS (V))
The number of NI birth s ha s now rea che d 59 and Fmally, we say goodbye . on their ret1rement , to two long
marnages are increasmg at a rapid rate (not in that order) . servi ng and loyal members of the battalion . CSgt Gorey and
W02 Songhurst is st1ll th1nking of excuses for h1s arnval at Sgt Uppmgton. The1r spouses Bndget and Sheila had also
the church only seco nds in front of his bride and Cpl Bowler long been stalwart s m the W1 ves Club and playschool and
has marned another full Corporal (from the UDR). we thank both cou ples for the1r many years of serv1ce and
wish them every success 1n C1v111an hfe.

VISITORS AND PERSONALITIES

As well as visits by our own in Province hierarchy we have C COMPANY TRAINING AT SENNYBRIDGE
had four other major visit occasions . Brig Constant1ne paid
us a farewell Regimental visit on 15 November and we were by Lt W N E Hutchinson
of course sorry to see h1m leave Northern Ireland. Gen Sir
John Chapple , the CGS , paid us a bnef vis1t on 9 January. Lt The com pany 's annual out of provin ce tra1n1ng was
Gen Sir Jeremy Reilly visited 22/23 February in his capacity conducted at that well known Welsh resort of Sennybndge
as Colonel Commandant Queen 's Division and saw a good Th1 s was th e company 's opportunity to forget Northern
cross section of the battalion . Finally, on 4/5 Apri l we were Ireland for a short spell and to rev1se the art of conventional
particularly pleased to welcome the new Colonel of th e
Regiment together with the Reg1mental Secretary. During a operations .
fairly hectic 27 hours they squeezed in a visit to ju st about The move to SENTA was conducted with mm1mum of
every area of battalion activity and included a mo st
enjoyable Regimental Dinner. fuss , courtesy of an RAF Her cu les and a somewha t
extended coach trip - via Land's End , 1t seemed. On the
COLONEL OF THE REGIMENT'S VISIT TO recce the Red Lion in Sennybndge was Sing led out for
THE 3rd BATTALION special attention and in due course received 11.

The week started with two day s f1eld f1nng starting at
individual level and working up to section attacks three days
later. However before this could occur a day of no fmng due
to lack of range space allowed time for a march and shoot
competition . Each platoon provided two sect1ons . The course
was short (we thought) but turned out to be up the sort of
hills that Chris Bonnington enjoys climbing. Th e shoot
combined handling skills with marksmanship and the results
tended to be based on skills rather than the shooting smce
the latter was of a unive rsally good standard. 9 Platoon was
first overall with team s first and fourth with 7 Platoons teams
second and third . 8 Platoon's gallant eHort showed a great

Presentation of Long Serv ice and Good Condu ct deal of spirit and leadership.
Medals - Left to Right , Cpl Quinell , LCpl Gerrard , 2Lt Steven Taylor's sect1 on attack range the next day
Mrs Quinell , Colonel of the Regimen t, LCpl Noy , Mrs
was a great success with much learnt by all. Sgts Bu shel!
and Redd1ck injected enough real1 sm to have eve ry one
crawling on their bellies . Meanwhile the Company Cle rk's
antics aimed at the CS M re su lted 1n a short . col d
appointment with one of Sennybndges many (W and Cold )

streams. CSgt Fidge provided warmth for all with range stew
and a dry jacket for Pte Ou igley. To complete the week .
each platoon staged its own 24 hr exerc1se mcludmg an
attack on the JNCO Cadre's platoon m a defensive pos1t1on .
After recovering from the battle si mulations. the attack went
with great gu sto . The highlights of the exercise 1ncluded
·night navigation and lo ca tion (?) and some very well
executed blank finng sect1on attacks. Overall the weather
was superb for that time of year and a lot was ga1ned from
the break from NI Operat1ons , not least the R and R run to
Merthyr Tydfill , where Ptes Cheeseman and Wells-Pestell
particularly distinguished themselves .

Long , Cpl Long .

l'

23

3rd Battalion

EXERCISE PYREN EAN GOAT- A NEW in Germany. she was determined to have a good time and
CONCEPT IN ENJOYMENT proved by her elegant perfo rmance on the piste she had
by Capt S J Wi lson more in her Sporting repertoire than just tenn is.

"0, reference your car-check. no trace. and your pick up Exercise Pyrenean Goat allowed soldiers a relaxing and
IS put back five hours to 0430 hrs. over... well deserved break from the rigours of a two year tour in N
Ireland. All soldiers mingled well with other skiers from al l
"Roger out". sai d the Ulster veteran as biting rai n cut walks of life (indeed many young girls openly sobbed when
deeply into his face. the exercise groups finally depa rt ed). All increased in
co nfidence (black runs on day two!) and hopefully many will
Meanwhile in Andorra , 14 men from Fire Support continue to ski in Cyprus in 1990... and if it snows in N
Company slept the sleep of satisfied skiers most of whom Ireland , we could patrol on skis!
were enjoying the snow laden slopes for the fir st time .
Exe rcise Pyrenean Goat I - a sort of mini Snow-queen LIFE AS A WRAC ASSISTANT ADJUTANT
mounted from Northern Ireland - allowed for this and would by Lt E A H James WRAC
not have been possible without generou s support from
Regimental and battalion funds . Having been deployed at I joined the battalion in January 1988 after spending 18
Aughnacloy for the whole of December all enjoyed thi s month s in BAOR with 29 Company WRAC as a Pl atoon
welcome diversion in early January. Commander; thereby going from an all female environment
to an all male environment, which was interesting to say the
Fortune smi led on the exercise from the start. Following least.
worrymg weeks w1th no snow , our fears subsided as the
coach from Toulouse to Enca mp Andorra was actually I spent all of three days with the battal ion in Canterbury .
delayed by three hours due to the heaviest snowfall in most of it was a socia l blur inter sperse d with short
months! This certainly helped the tentative newcomers in appearances at the office - wonderful I thought this could
their first lessons and after a total of 15 hours instruction be a lifestyle to which I wou ld love to become accustomed.
over the week, all were competent skiers. Soldiers were fully Unfortunately it was not to be . After making quite the most
integrated into civilian ski classes and many a civilian was unpleasant of journeys from Liverpool to Belfast, I arrived at
both impressed and horrified at Pte Thomas Atkin 's fearless Aldergrove (via a slight detour to the Airport courtesy of Capt
'Kamakazi ' approach to skiing. Lt Tim Carr of 6/7 QUEENS Charles Mcl eod's map reading ) and following a security
(V) also joined the exercise and was an example to us all of brief I was shown my room in the mess. I have to confess
how to enjoy life both on and off the ski s lopes . that I thought it was all too terrible to be true and
Entertainment at night included ice skating , swimming and disappeared early hoping that when I got up in the morning
tobogganing as we ll as more and va ried 'adult' all would be clear. The only problem I had the next day was
entertainment. to find my office and Battalion HQ. The first few days in
Aldergrove were spent unpacking and trying to put my office
The first exercise in Jancary was such a success that in order. Things then began to run more smoothly .
Pyranean Goat 11 was organised in early March . Again
follow ing deployment at Aughnacloy for the whole of I have been with the battalion now for over a year and 1
February this was another welcome relief and diversion . This can honestly say that it has been great fun , hard work and 1
time though , the exercise was blessed with the welcome have enjoyed every minute (well nearly every minute of it). lt
prese nce of two servicewomen. We all admired their is the soldiers that make life so enjoyable , the men of the 3rd
patience and self-restraint of WCpl Sarah Bowler of 2 UDR Battalion have a very keen sense of humour and are rarely
who had married Cpl lan Bowler of the Drums Platoon in ever without a smile or so mething to say for themselves .
January . She had the unenviable task of recovering her
husband after a 'drinking from the leather bottle' competition I have many fond memories of my last 12 months, and a
in a local Taverna, in which he broke the 3 QUEENS record few not so fond , like being completely 'stitched' up by the
of 103 seconds previously set by Sgt Oliver. Lt Li sa Quebec Band in front of at least two Companies and their
Richardson WRAC , the first and former female Assistant wives (a time when I really wished that I was somewhere
Adjutant of the battalion , was the other lady expedition else). Or when I managed to trip over while I was on the
member. Having come al l the way from 29 Company WRAC range, making my way to see if I had just scared my target to
death ; I did get a round of applause for my mishap (I was
Exercise Pyrenean Goat. hoping that nobody had seen me) . My more pleasant tales
revol ve around being out and about with th e men and
generally just getting to know them and letting them get to
know me. For example, spending a couple of days down in
Camlough with A Company while they were dug in (I got the
luxury suite - the cow shed ... oh , that sweet aroma). Or
becoming stuck up to my waist in water in the pitch black
while visiting a patrol near Middletown - and then catching
double pneumonia shortly afterwards.

Life in Battalion HQ has kept me bu sy . On joining the
battalion I initially worked with Capt Stephen Kilpatrick. Th e
new Adjutant , Capt John Farrell , is completely different and
keeps me very much in order and locked in my office , unless
I manage to escape on the odd occasion to cause alarm and
despondency somewhere else within Alexander Barracks .

I would thoroughly reco mmend se rving with the 3rd
Battalion The Queen 's Regiment to any other WRAC Officer
and the perso n who takes over from me in September is
going to be very lucky as she will be able to sample Cypru s
and dry out from first getting damp in Northern Ireland.

24

3rd Battalion

COMIC RELIEF DAY - CHARITY BEGINS IN 8 COMPANY by Pte Sand iland

Friday 10 March 1989 will be remembered by B Company the best t1me of year to be dressed 1n a toga and 11 was
for two reasons . Not only was it Com1c Relief day but also B worth pay1ng two pounds to wear a tracksUit
The f1rst event, basketball . got under way at 9 45am
Company's inter-platoon sports day. With 6 Platoon hav1ng
bee n deployed to Fermanagh tor the month. th1s just left 4 None of us cla1med to be Harlem Globe- Trotters and as the
game progressed 11 was QUite ev1dent that none were Th1s
and 5 Platoons to battle 11 out between themselves.
As per usual the same amount of uncoordmated plannmg fast movmg non -contact sport became rather a slugg1sh.
went into the event. NCOs running around like headl ess violent confl1ct LCpl Pmer proved to be the best dnbbler and
chicken s trying to mu ste r up football. volley ba ll and 5 Platoon won the basketball mamly due to the fact that 4
Platoon were bemg severely hampered by the1r togas
basketball teams without a great deal of success. Eventually Vol leyball next, and by now 4 Platoon had come to the
it took a cool. calm and collected Pnvate sold1er to get to
grips with the situation and slowly but surely the teams were conclus1on that, 1f they were to stand a chance of w1nn1ng

assembled for their respective sports. anything . the togas would have to come off No one IS sure

Tea ms havi ng been picked it was then suggested that of the fm al result but both platoons cla1med v1ctory A spec1al
with Fnday 10 being comic relief day we should turn the day thanks goes out to Mrs Pmer and her valiant attempts on the
into some lorm of charity event. With time runmng out myself volleyball court as she turned out to be the only w1fe to take
and Pte Scott decided that the attire for the day would be part m any of the events
The f1nal event and the b1g showdown of the day was the
Togas. The money ra1 s1ng schem e wasn't of the most
imaginative nature but was so simple that even the platoon 6-a-s1de football. From 5 Platoon were Cpl Searles Select
commander understood it. If you wore a toga you only had to S1x and representing 4 Platoon were Sgt Felsteads Flyers
donate a pound . if you chose not to wear a toga then the Cpl Searle had already dec1ded even before the k1ckoff that
h1s team were on a sure w1nner . Cpl Searle unfortunately
enormous sum of two pounds wou ld be donated.
On the morning of the big day, beds were not made but counted hi s ch1ckens before they hatched as h1s team
stripped down as we sought to work out the best way to suffered a 5-2 thrashmg to the delight of Sgt Felstead and
wear a sheet. lt didn't appear that there was a right or a h1 s underdogs. lt is rumoured th at Cpl Searle has sworn
wrong way to transform a sheet into a toga as long as it was never to play football agam. Maybe it's for the best.
In true tradition of B Company the day was rounded off
tied up in th e middle. Howeve r, everyone see med to be
taking great pride in thei r appearance. checking each other with a drink in the plastic pub . Eve ryone dug deeply and
generously into their pockets either to buy the next round or
in the mirror.
Once out on parade it was discovered that 5 Platoon were to donate to charity and at the end of the day a grand total of
a lot more generous and ki nd hearted than had once been £82 .65 was raised . The money will go to the Royal Star and
thought as none of them were wearing togas. Then again 11 Garter Home for disabled ex-Servicemen , and thanks go out
may have had something to do with the fact that March is not to all of B Company who donated to th1s worthy cause

5TH (VOLUNTEER) BATTALION

Bandswoman Sturman on parade with the band and man , a 'trainee civ i l
5th (Volunteer) Battalion Corps of Drums. (This HQ
UKLF picture appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 9 engineer, who has joined the Kohima (Volunteer)
Band as an alto sax player - the first bandswoman
January 1989.)
in the Regiment.

25

5th Battalion (Volunteer) The Lord Lieutenant of Surrey presents Long Service
and Good Conduct Medals to three members of the
The past few month s have been bu sy one s for the : 5th (Volunteer) Battalion: Left to Right : W02 Graham
F1ghting Fifth w1th a maJor recruit1ng dnve gomg on . a fair ' Bigwood , Sgt Andrew Rutter and Sgt Michael Beach.
number of arrival s. departures and changes of appomtment
and perhaps most 1mportant of all our first BAOR FTX for needed for Camp th is year . On 10/ 12 March the battalion
several years approaching . command element did battle with the Slavic hordes at the
Battle Group Training at Bovington ; this provided one or two
The first departure of the year was in January when Maj entries to the battalion Line Book. including the question
John Huskisson relinquished his post as Training Major and 'What's the point of sending a JAMREP when you can 't get
left the Army to emigrate to Australia together with hi ~ w1fe through on the radio'!
Maur and children T1m and Charlotte (not forgetting Max the
dog) . His efforts as Training Major over the last two years In among all this , we were able to send ten soldiers to
have been outstanding and he will long be remembered by California with 1 QUEENS, to whom we are most grateful for
us all for his cheerfulness, professionalism and dedication the invitation . lt was quite remarkable how many Territorials
and his famous . somewhat uniquely shaped beret . sudden ly found they could get six weeks off work! They
thoroughly enjoyed themselves and learned a great deal
Maj Chris Parkmson has also left the battalion (for the from their Regular counterparts .
second t1me. but no second farew ell prese nt '). He was OL•r
Having won the 1988 UKLF Combat Caterer Competition
longest serv1ng oHicer and we are delighted to congratulate we are pleased to report that a new team , sti ll under the
him on his promotion to Brevet Lt Col and w1 sh him luck in watchful eye of the Quartermaster, Maj Bill Marshal! and now
his Staff appointment at HQ South Ea st Di strict . while led by the newly promoted Cpl Cork ACC has gone through
thanking him for his sterling eHorts over the years . We are to the 1989 National Final on 21 /22 May. lt says no less of
sorry also to have said two other farewells (both , we hope. the team 's achievement that the Regional Final was a 'walk·
temporary). Maj Steve Thompson having been B Company over' because nobody else competed , since this can only
Commander for a number of years , has been forced to retire mean that other units decided that our victory was a
due to the pressure of having to supply trucks to build the foregone conc lu sion! We look forward to the successful
Channel Tunnel. We wish him the best of luck. Capt Mark defence of our UKLF title.
McGhie has also left for Canada for two years , during which
time we hope he will be able to serve with one of our We have of course had our share of visito rs. but were
particularly pleased to have been the first battalion in the
affiliated Canadian Reg iments. One dark secret was only Regiment to entertain the new Colonel , Maj Gen Mike
revealed after his departure , when invitations to his Reynolds , to a Dinner Night on 4 March . He also addressed
forthcoming wedding in Canada appeared . Our the officers the following morning , and certainly got his
congratulations to him, and our hopes to both these officers message through despite the hangovers' We look forward to
that they will be able to return to the fold ere long . welcoming him to a visit to field training shortly. We have
also been visited by the CinC UKLF, the Inspector General
For the arrivals , we are delighted to welcome back Maj of TA , GOC South East District and the Divisional Colonel .
Andrew Roberts as the new Training Major. Having been Colonel John Holm an . We congratu late Col John on his
here as Adjutant , he is no stranger to the vagaries of imminent appointment to command 2 Infantry Brigade. We
Territorial soldiering . As he and his wife Julia also have two look forward to seeing more of him as he will then be our UK
children and a dog (as per NATO standard) their arrival in Higher Formation Commander.
lieu of the Huskissons maintained both th e human and
canine populations of the Battalion HQ perfectly! The Battalion is now bracing itself for an exceedingly busy
spring and summer, which will include a 4 Armd Div CPX ,
We also welcome Capt Peter Platt as OC B Company at the exercise of the Regiment's Freedom of Tonbridge on 13
Broadstairs and wish him well for the future with us. At D May, a major recruiting stand at the Kent County Show in
Company in Tonbridge Capt lan Kemp has taken over from July and last but not least Exercise Potent Gauntlet, the 20
Capt Martin Mortimer, who has taken over the dual Armd Bde FTX, in September.
responsibility of Operations Officer and OC Recruit
Reception and Training. W02 Anderson has left his post as One last word ; if you are a Regular reading this , and when
CSM C Company , handing over to W02 Peters , and moved the time comes for you to leave the Regulars, don 't forget
to Tonbridge to set up the GPMG(SF) Platoon . We wish that we are always on the lookout for new blood in the 5th
Battalion. We provide stable soldiering . extra pay on top of
them both luck in their new appointments. whatever you earn in civvy street and the chance to stay in
Training has of course continued apace , with all the usual the Reg iment. The 141 ex Regulars serving in the battalion
now (mostly Queensmen ex Regulars) can 't be all wrong!
weekends and also a two week Spring Cadre session on St Your skills and experience are needed.
Martin's Plain which included Assault Pioneer , First Aid ,
Standard 2 Signals, GPMG(SF) and HGV Cadres . The latter
represents a ceaseless task for the MTO, Capt Bill Gawler,
but it seems that we are on track for the numbers of drivers

26

6TH/7TH (VOLUNTEER) BATTALION

Previous Journals have highligh ted the· battallon ·s PERSONALITIES

considerable con tnbut1on to the Phase 2 Enhancemen t (the There have been a number of mafor personal1ty changes

1ncrease 1n the s1ze of the TA to 86.000 by 1990) and qu1te w1th1n the battal1on s1nce the last 1ssue Lt Col Roger

nghtly so for 1t IS good to report that the battalion 's current Lowans . the former CO . was d1ned out m November by the

strength IS 605. JUSt 73 short of establishment . and at the off1cers of the battal1on and many former battalion off1cers

sa me t1me to ref lect upon the more depressmg na11onal w1th whom he had served H1s long and d1St1ngu1shed career

recrUiting figures. Our recru1t1ng efforts w1ll and must go on 1n the TA was chron1cled 1n the last 1ssue. However 1t IS nght

with determmation becau se there are a number of factors to record our grat1tude for h1s enthus1asm and hard work as

which will make recruiting that much harder 1n the future . a Terntonal CO. There will be ab1d1ng memones of the

Th e demographiC trough (I wouldn 't mmd rece1vmg £5 for evenmg for many but perhaps espec1ally so for MaJ Tony

eve ry occas1on I hear th1s ment1oned ) wi ll shortly start to Pnor who. as PMC . was arrang1ng 1t Throughout h1s penod

b1te . coupled with lower unemployment and Crawley . for of command he was faced w1th the problems of the Phase 2

example. has one of the h1ghest employment f1gures 1n the Enhancement and the d1sappomtment of losmg to 8 OF(V)

country. F1nally there are numerous le1su re pursUitS avai lable the Edgware and Hornsey Company . wh1ch he had

to young men and women . commanded from 1975 to 1978. Nevertheless he left the

Lt Jonathan Nye. attached to us from the 3rd Battal1on . battal1on m very good sha pe and 1t was perhaps appropnate

has produ ce d so me excellent 1deas on recruit1ng and that h1s prese ntation should be a f1ne pamt.ng of the Tynwald
retent1on . He will be putting these into practice 1n Cobham Ceremony- no doubt a h1ghl1ght of h1s per1od of command
The battalion was the f1rst TA unit to carry out th1s anc1ent
where the battalion is rai sing an outstation to D (Tang1er)
ceremony wh1ch precedes the off1c1al openmg of the Manx
l Company . In fact the battalion has become qUite adept Parliament. We are all sorry that Colonel Roger has not
recently at raising outstations . first at Worthing and then at taken up the appo1ntment of TA Colonel East wh1ch was
Lingfie ld and both are recru it ing ve ry well - a sa lut ary offered to h1m . We are also sad that he has now left the
reminder of the importance of them to the con tinuing l1fe of a
TA Company . lt is hoped that Cobh am will quickly replace South East and settled on Hadnan ·s Wall . accepting the offer
of a most cha ll enging tob 1n Educa!IOnal Management. We
the Camberwell Platoon lost to 8 OF(V) .
While on the su bject of recruiting 1t is im portant we w1sh h1m , and Mary who supported h1m so well , the best for
mention the National Employers· Liaison Committee wh1ch the future. Many will recall that h1s displeasure was del1vered
a1ms to encourage larg e employers to actively support the on a yel low AS memo (mck- named yellow grenade) smce
TA and invi tes executives from local companies to swap the Battalion HO's farewell present was a real yellow grenade 1t
press ures of the office for the rigours of the battlefield or to begs the question whether they re ce1ved more than the1r fa1r

quote the current phase 'Get stre tched you 'ornble littl e share.
We welcome our new CO, Lt Col John Salmon . who JOins
executive' . Following the success last year this battalion will
again sponsor thi s civilian management exercise entitled us hot from the Joint Se rvices Defence College . He has
'Dec isio n Maker' on 12-14 May . 'Decisio n Maker' . which done all his Reg1mental service With the 3rd Battal1on . was

co mes under th e generic umbrella of 'Execut ive Stretch·. Adjutant from 1977 to 1979 and later served as Commander

aims to give candidates a taste of the TA and to test them of a mechanised company 1n Germany. He has also had h1s

through a se r ies of co mm and tasks (i ncluding t he fair share of the less exc1ting side of sold1enng as a staff

Woodcutters ' Ball - whatever that entails!) an d mental officer in the Defence Secretanat 1n Whitehall ,.<;it HO D1rector

problems in an Outward Bound environment. of Infantry and at Divisional Headquarters at Bass1ngbourn .

The HSF have started re cruiting at Brig hton under Lt John After al l that he probably canno t believe h1s good fortune 1n

Barham . Their fir st success was to enlist Pt e (ex W02 being posted back to sanity .
On 7 January we bade farewell to our Tram1ng Major.
Langley , form erly CSM at Crawley) . Overall our E (Dunkirk)

Company have done very well and the1r current strength IS 'Rocky' Hitchcock who brought great humour and style to the
71. battalion 's tra1mng . By hold1ng the event on th e study
weekend for Ph ases of War we were assured max1mum

attendance. plus the fact that we were trammg on V1scount

Montgomery's land near Alton . Mat H1!chcock. a normally

shy and retinng type, had boldly appeared at the w1ndow of

the said Lord's house and havmg convmced h1m that he had

known h1s father well 1n the desert. was g1ven a warm

welcome . He would make an excellent l1fe 1nsurance

salesman w1th h1s ·cold callmg ' techn1que . In h1s place we

welcome MaJ James Mills from the Depot.

Our RSM . W01 Wmter. who departed on 12 Apnl will be

remembered by all for h1s care and concern for the sold1ers

and JNCOs Th1s was particularly noticeable on the range

where he coached many a despe rate f1rer mto pass1ng the

APWT . H1 s other great contnbut1on was to the var~ous

ceremon1al events. mclud1ng the Freedom Parades 1n

Bnghton . Arundel and Worthmg and espec1ally for the way

he mou lded the Terntonals mto a qUite excellent parade at

Tynwald . Th1s clearly was the h1ghl1ght of the Annual Camp

Lt Col T E Lowans TO hand s ove r to Lt Col J A B on the Isle of Man and the battalion rece1ved many glowmg

Salmon , 30 November 1988 . compliments . Havmg now brought a substant1al supply of

27

6th /7th Battalion (Volunteer)

Lt Col J A B Salmon (second from right) briefing a
syndicate.

Lt Roger Wheeton (centre) manages to smile despite Somme Company firing GPMGs (Evening Argus
a broken leg sustained in a 'friendly ' with Capt Tony picture) .

Dalby .

York1e Bars we wish him well in his new appointment as Tony Prior. He joined the Manchester OTC in 1965 and was
.commissioned in 1968 . He JOined 6 QUEENS (V) as 2LT m
MTO 1n the 3rd Battalion. 1972 and commanded the Camberwell Platoon until the
HQ Company have said farewell to W02 Page (SPSI) amalgamation with 7 QUEEN (V) in 1975. lt was therefore
particularly sad that as OC of D Company some 12 years
who IS replaced by the energetic W02 Alien from the 1st later he should have to release this platoon to the newly
formed 8 OF [V) .
Battalion .
On 8 April we said farewell to Lt Phillip Evans , who Maj Prior was 21C of D Company at Sutton from 1977 to
1979 and a very popular and effective OC from 1980 to
readers may remember took advantage of the pile of Beanos 1983. He built the strength of the company to its peak of 125
left by his predecessor and subsequently made it to the final and it continued to flourish under his command . He
established a good relationship with the local Mayors and
of the · Brain of Britain ' quiz. continued to maintain strong links with those with QUEENS
We welcome back Lt Tim Carr after brief service with the SU RR EYS connections and with the Livery Compan ies
which are associated w1th D Company . From 1984 and 1985
3rd Battalion . He has taken over the Recce Platoon and he was OC HO Company and he was then inv1ted to
currently is nursing a few bruises from a car crash . The
dnver . Sgt Reynolds . ended up with six broken ribs but
hopefully she will soon be back running the Officers· Mess.
In the meant1me CSgt Bennet has helped out.

F1nally . we say farewell to a great servant of the TA - MaJ

28

6th/7th Battalion (Volunt ee r)

become S02 (TA) at HO 2 lnf Bd e - normally a two yea r strea m of POs show1ng mtere st 1n th e battal1on S1nce
appoin t ment. He al so attended the TA Staff Cour se at a nn ua l ca mp las t yea r th ree o lf 1cers have be e n
Camberley . When D Company unexpectedly lost the1r OC. commiSSioned 1nto the battalion . two of them 2Lts Whale and
he cut short h1s S02 appomtment and returned to Sutton to Bark er by way of the accelerated comm1SS10n1ng process
take command again unti l a replacement could be found . In
March 1988 he assumed the appomtment of Bn 21C. a post known as ·Fast Track
he held unt1l the end of the year. The emphas1s on tra1 n1ng has now sw1tched to trad1t1onal

Mal Tony Pnor has served the TA w1th d1stmct1on over m11it ary sk1lls and w e look forwa rd to the exerc 1se on
many years and it was appropri ate that wh en he f1nally ambu shes . FIB UA urban wa rf are pa troll1ng and br1dge
de parted on 29 March 11 should be from the Sutton TA demol1t1ons. The format of tra1 n1ng cycles remams w1th each
cen tre . A bachelor. although thmg s may well change soon . phase starling w1th a stud y weekend for off1cers and SNCOs
so we hear. he has given a great deal of t1me to the TA . foll owed by a vanety of com pany based exe rc1ses dunng
despite the demands of being a partner 1n a f1 rm of sol iCitors which the le ssons taught can be pract1 sed and endmg up
and mo re rece nt ly as Treasury Solic1tor. If you lind beaut1ful w1th a battalion exerc1se wh1ch tests the compan1es on the
MOD lands passing into private ownership you know who to vanous skills The h1ghl1ght of the trammg year so far was an
excellent battal1on exe rc1se on SPTA. Exe rc1se Sock Eye lt
blame . prov1ded the new CO and Trammg MaJor w1th an opportunity
We also welcome our new Chief Clerk, W02 Sk1nn er. to see the battalion tram1ng m the held Sock Eye start ed
w1th a long tab acro ss the Pla1n foll owed by an assault and
whose previous appointment was Staff Assistant to the Ch1ef clea ran ce of lmb er vi ll age. defend ed by a Platoon of 8
Eng meer in BAOR and at the same t1me cong ratulate SSgt QF(V). our Recce Platoon and B Squadron . Royal Wessex
Mi rk on her promotion at Battalion HO. Yeomanry . A number of use fu l lesson s we re learned 1n
part1cular the need to 1mprove commun1ca t1ons and for more
Mat Tony Dalb y has take n ove r the hot seat as OC tramed s1gnallers. On the admm 1stra t1ve Si de com p an~es
Somme Company at Brighton and Capt Ne1l Strachan has fou nd 11 would be better 11 they held amm u n~t1 on. rat 1ons.
moved from Worthing to become 21C. Not for long however CEi s etc before they departed the TA C Many found 11 a
because in Aug us t he start s h1s SSVC w1th one of our testmg exerc1se; even the CO was overh eard saymg that he
regu lar battalions . We wish him and Lt Rogers. who will also
now mtends to run up Den ne Hill every day
be do1 ng an SSVC . the best of luck . The battalion has had great success 1n the on entee nng
Maj Tim Roche has taken over from MaJ Joh n Ross as OC
competition s. In the M1nor Un 1t Sect1on of th e Infantry
HO Company Maj Ross reti red on health grounds. we hear, Champion ships. Salerno Company 's A Tea m took 2n d
suffering from nervous ex haustion as a resu lt of his decis1on place . wi th Sgt Harper bemg the overallmdiVIdual champ1on .
for reasons of fire safety. to move the company office from Pte Bowness achieving the great result of 1nd1v1dual fUnlor
the first floor to the ground fl oo r and then the stores from the
gro und to the first. In the move he somehow lost the champion .
tele phone. He has taken on the part tim e job of Ops Offi cer . On th e TA Night Onenteenng Champ1on sh1p m December .
OC POs and assistant PM C. and from his modest savi ngs
he has pu rchased a second racing yacht. Salerno Com pany ga1ned second place. In Febru ary the
batta lion had gre a t results m th e Sout h Ea st D1 stn ct

TRAINING Orienteenng Cham p1onsh1ps w1 th Salerno tak1ng f1rst place .
Somme third and Tangier s1xth. As a result 14 members will
The training over the last two years has larg ely revolved be elig1ble to run m the UKLF Champ1onsh1ps from 21-23
arou nd our Home Defence role and the battalion proved April which will be held in South Wales.
itse lf well on Exe rcise Autumn Tiger last September. Among
the reservists mobilised for th is exercise we re some qu ite Later in the year the battalion w1ll be entenng a team for
remarkable characters in all shapes and s1zes. the Cam bnan Marches . unde r Capt Edward s of Quebec

Somme Company surpri sed all by winning for the second Co mp any .

year runn ing the cove ted Builders Merchants' Trop hy. which ANNUAL CAMP
involved a ?km march in CEFO fol lowed by an assa ult
Annual Camp this year for the bulk of the battal1on w111 be
co urse and shoot. at Knook Cam p, Salis bury Plain . over the penod 15-29 July
We co ncluded trai ning in 1988 with a fie ld firi ng exe rcise wi th the traini ng emphas1s be1ng on cadres mcludmg HGV.
Potential NCOs . RR U and RMA. For the lucky ones. annua l
on SPTA and undoubtedly the high light was the LLAD range. Cam p w 1ll be spent 1n the sw.; lte rmg heat w1th the
So acc urat e w as the firing by Sa le rn o an d Ta ngier Connecticut National Guard on an exchang e arrangement
Compani es . th e exe rcise was cut short thro ugh lac k of called Exercise Glowworm (6/7 QU EE NS (V) to USNG ) and
Ex Ratt les nake (USNG to 617 QUE EN S( (V)) . The compos1te
targ ets. company . drawn from across the battal1on . IS to be cal led
Somme Company have been takmg 'aid to the c1vil power' Cas1no Com pany and 1t will be commanded by Mat Ton;
Guth ne. With New Yo rk be1ng the nearest large c1ty he may
se riou sly. First. at Brighton a loca l thug was seen hel ping have second thought s a bout R a nd R for the lad s'
himself to some kit. While trying to make a break for it. he Meanwhile 100 Connect1c ut Nation al Gu ard smen w1 ll be
was apprehended by Cpl Bur!ey and LCpl Lee . Meanwhile. attached to the battalion at Knook Camp wh1ch w1 ll no doubt
at Worth ing , ob se rva nt se ntry Pt e Sergea nt notice d a add a b1t of lu stre to th e fortn1g ht: howeve r not much
suspiciou s character entering the house opposite - after all bnghtness for OM Mat l ed Parker when. lymg on h1s bunk.
he was doi ng so via the top window . The police , on arnving. he cons 1ders the new mea n1ng of 'k1 t exc hang e T he
requ ested military assistance and LCpls Perki ns and Pellet Amencans will partake 1n the vanous cadres as well the 5 AB
obliged by sitting on the wretched fellow until the van took Bde exerc1se and adve ntu re tra1 n1ng No doubt there w1ll be
some exce ll ent stones and l1 a1sons establ ished from both
him away . s1des of the Atlant1c. These will be cove red m the next 1ssue
Th e rece nt ·co rporate 1mage· displ ay advertismg for the
of the Journal
TA has he lped to mai ntain th e re cruitmg at all locat1ons
Including WRAC who continue to fulfi l a variety of useful
tasks. W/Pte Julie Brennan passed out as Best RecrUit on
her Guildford Cadre 1n Novem ber . Most compan1es have
held open evenings for local employers and there IS a steady

29







8TH (VOLUNTEER) BATTALION

THE QUEEN 'S FUSILIERS (CITY OF LONDON)

Our busy schedule lead1ng up to the Lord Mayor' s
Procession and Remembrance Sunday contmued at the
same pace until the Chnstmas break, after wh1ch we had a
Rash of visitors , Inspections and competitions as the military
year ended . A steady programme of tra1ning and recru1t1ng
has been kept up, and the end of year totals of Man Training
Days show just how committed many of the Volunteers are
- the vast majority of sen1or ranks having passed the 70

day mark .

RECRUITING AND NELC

Last September the Prime Minister launched the
Volunteer Reserve Forces Campaign , the veh1cle for which
is the National Employers Liaison Committee (NELC). The
aim of the campaign is to expla1n and demon st rate to
employers how they can benefit from the training a member
of the Reserve Forces rece1 ves. as well as do1ng the1 r b1t for
national defence. The campaign understandably targeted the
'Captains of Industry' in the first instance. We have now tned
to bring it down to the local level , identifying (a lmost the
hardest part) and ·cultivating' employers within the battal1on
area who are in position to influence and are likely to be
sym pathet ic .

To this end we staged an Employers ' Evening at St John 's
Hill which involved the CO writing 63 personal letters to local
employers . In the event 21 accepted which we regarded as a
good strike rate . They were given a presentation on what we
had to offer - pitched very much in terms of what was in it
for them - a look at training , and a good buffet supper and
Open Forum . The employers seemed impressed and
responsive , though we now have to look at our retention
figures to see if our message did get over.

Complementary to the Employers' Evemng we held an
Open Day two weeks later to try to boost recruiting south of
the river . Much trouble was taken over this w1th valuable
outside assistance from both RITs, 1 and 5 QUEENS (V). A
reasonable number of visitors made 1t worthwhile , though the
odd potential recruit was dragged away from our front door

by the wife'
The next fi xture m this process is our Involvement in the

56 London Brigade sponsored Exerc1se Execut1ve Stretch 1n
early May when some 90 young zealots from commerce and
industry will be put through the1r paces m the Pirbright area.
A civilian management training course would cost m the
order of £500 for the weekend of decision making and group
motivation in adverse weather cond1t1ons- the TA offers 1t
for free .

TRAINING

After a successful Unit Equ1pment E xam1~a t1on wh1ch
confirmed that everyth1ng was work1ng . a Battal1on Patrol
Competition was held on Salisbury Plain over the weekend
18/19 February . Eleven section-sized patrols took part m a
test of recce patrol skills . including some quite challeng1ng
night navigation , culminating in a 8-km speed march . The
overall competition was won by Cpl Mimnagh's sect1on from
B Company , with a C Company team . commanded by Cpl
Peet. coming a very close second. As well as prov1d1ng
some healthy competition and good tra1ning value. the
weekend proved a useful work-up to the Courage Trophy

four weeks later.

33

2Lt N Bailey and A Company team afterwards- with ANNUAL REPORT ON THE UNIT
the rewards!
Th1s year hera lded our f~rs t ARU (' Full' as opposed to
'Reduced'). much to the d1smay of the Adjutant when the
form was produ ce d . A heavy programme of ancil lary
mspecilons began back 1n October cove nng v1rtually eve ry
aspect of our admin1strat1on and husbandry. Sterling work by
everybody resulted 1n people wntmg some ex tremely n1ce
th1ngs about us. Spec1al ment1on must be made of th e
ORQMS. W02 Thorne , who achieved a quite excellent result
on the documentation . All m all we surv1ved the whole ordeal
very well . and it IS rea ssuring to know that our house 1s m
good order as we run up to 1990 when the battalion IS
required to be ready for role . lt 1s also n1ce to know that .
havmg been given a thorough g01ng over this time round and
emerged satisfactonly . th e staff should leave us alone next
year!

On the weekend 18/19 March 8 QF(V) notched another VISITORS
'first" by entering three teams in the annu al Courage Trophy
Compet1tion . Th1s is a tough two-day military sk1l ls event. The steady flow of VISitors continues. 1988 finished with
held m th e Pirbnght area , for all London D1stnct TA units. .velcome vis its from th e D ~rec tor of In fantry an d both
and IS sponsored by Courage Breweries. Be1ng new boys . Colonels - Gen Rei lly during the day and Bng Millman to
we busily sought advice from all quarters on the do 's and ::Jur pre-Chris tmas Training Nig ht. by way of a farewel l before
doni' s of the competition , and af ter mdiv1dual com pan y handing over the Colone lcy .
training we to pped off the teams preparations with a ·mock'
Courage Trophy weekend a fortnight before the real th ing. A In January the Commander-in -Chief . Gen Sir Charles
total of 36 tea ms ente red the actual com peti tion , and th e Huxtable , managed to fit in a coupl e of hours with us before
skill s being tested ranged from an 8 km speed march visiting the Scots Guards at St James·s Palace and a 10
PARA Training Night (a fa sci nating changing parade at St
ca rrying full fighting order and weapon . the Guards Depot John 's Hill') After a bri efing from th e CO he toured the
new (a nd ve ry cha lleng ing) Assault Course . shooti ng . and Centre and th en had tea with all members of the Perman ent
n1ght orienteering . to th e more cerebral acti vities such as Staff which provided a good opportunity for the PSis to offer
AFV Recognition and First Aid . so me grass roots advice .

Each rifle com pany entered a team . and by the close Mr Derek Harris , Master of the Tobacco Pipe Makers and
there was no doubting that it had been a hard and testing Tobacco Blenders' Co mpany visi ted HQ Company on 24
two days. There were some tremendous Individual and team January to prese nt the 'Pipemakers' Cup' to its first recipient,
effo rt s and plain ly. from the 'war stories· at the end , our LCpl Thomas, who . in the opinion of the CO . has contributed
places of 11th for C Company, 12th for A Company and 23rd most to th e batta lion over th e year . In early February the
for B Company would have been much improved had it not Master returned with a tea m from the :_,very for a closely
been for si lly an d - we like to th ink - uncharacte ri stic fought .22 shoot with HQ Company which the visitors won by
errors . the narrow marg in of four points. B and C Companies have
also hosted their affiliated Livery Co mpanies, the Cutlers and
Nevertheless , all agreed that next year we definitely have the Cordwainers respectively, by way of trying to repay so me
something to go for' The weekend rounded off by all the of the splendid hospitality they have received over the year.
teams competing in a separate Falling Plate event in which ,
under the eag le eye of our Honorary Colonel , B Company We have also welco med Col John Holman . Divi sio nal
managed to reach the se mi -final s. Colonel The Queen 's Division , and Col Rupert Nicholas , OIC
IMRO(S). who listened patiently to the PSis' reque sts for
The seco nd weekend in April saw th e battalion lau nch postings before explaining that not eve rybody could go to
itself on a 36 hour FTX over Salisbury Plain . Thi s was Bermuda .
essentially an uncomplicated . down to earth (litera lly')
defence exercise - something of which the Volunteer gets SPORT AND SOCIAL
too little. Indeed. for many of our soldiers it was the first
occas1on they had had of occupying and properly preparing Our London District badminton title was defended on 4/5
a defensive position for which the pleasures of digg1ng in February against much stiffer competition than last year. All
chalk won 't have been lost on them . In addition HQ th at lunchtime practice paid off , and LCpl Wray won the
Company success fully deployed a combined A and B Individual event and partne red Sgt Thirkettle to retain the
Echelon mto the field for the first tim e. We were lucky to Doubles title . Lack of the basic commodity - snow - forced
have a robust and imaginative enemy pitted against us in the the traditional C Company ski ing weekends at Aviemore in
form of th e Recce Platoon s of 5 and 6/7 QUEENS (V) and a mid -March to be ca nce lle d . it having already been
good battle was had by all. postponed for the same reason . This was a pity as there was
plenty of su pport , and everything was in place ; we can only
Over the pas t few month s we have beeln fortun ate in hope that the elements are more coo perative next year. The
be 1ng given th e opportunity of se nding soldie rs on Signal Platoon . however, accom panie d Hertford shire
attachment to reg ular battal io ns exe rcising overseas . In Venture Scouts to th e Lake Dist ri ct for their annual Peak
Nove mber a mixed platoon of eighteen led by Lt Francis Assau lt. As well as provi ng a good 'leg stretch' it provided a
Tusa JOined 2LI on the 3rd Armoured Div1sion FTX m BAOR , usefu l opportunity for some Signa ll ing ove r interesting
Exerc1se Iron Hammer . ground - to say the least! Under Lt Trevo r John son and
CSgt Lucey ten intrepid Volunteers carried out a spon sored
Later 1n February it was the turn of 1 QUEENS to accept a canoe trek from Windsor to Tower Bndge 011 1/2 April in aid
group of ten . under 2lt Giles Morgan . for four weeks in the of the Scanner Appeal for St George 's Hospital. Tooting.
Umted States on Exercise Trumpet Dance.

34

------------------------------- --

John Franc1s . We were lucky to land the band of the
Honourable Artillery Company and the1r D1rector of Mus1c,
Maj Don Pryce (a past DOM of The Queen 's D1v1S10n) who
did us proud and gave us an excellent smg -song of 'Lays of
London ·. In al l 1t was a thoroughly good evemng . and our

guests seemed to go away happy.

LOOKING FORWARD

At the t1me of wntlng we looked forward to the St George·s
Day and Albuhera celebrations (the latter has assumed
spec1al s1g n1f1cance for us as 1t was on that date last year
that 8th Queen 's Fusilie rs officially came 1nto be1ng ). as well
as the build-up to camp which mcludes the London D1stnct
Rifle Association Meetmg , field f1nng , and our own Sk1ll at
Arms Meeting . Camp IS at Stanford over the last two weeks
of July, and prom1ses a lot. We look forward to 11. and ·Year

2' overall, w1th confidence .

CHANGES

8 QF(V) intrepid canoeists - before their 50 mile Sadly we say farewell to Capt Guy W1sby , our Adjutant
sponsored paddle from Windsor to Tower Bridge. and 1n his place we welcome Capt Dav1d Cook from 3 RAF

Capt Nigel Brooks, our Ass1stant Adjutant departs on

Th ey were seen ashore by a Sizeable welcoming party which retirement but only to re-appear as our PSAO for A
included the Mayor of Wandsworth . the MP for Tooting and a Company . Capt Jack Nash. PSAO of C Company has ret1red
bevy ol pretty nurses from St Georg e's. Nearly £6000 was and been succeeded by Capt Chris Mears who moved
across from A Company . We said goodbye to Capt John
raised , which was a magnifice nt effort.
We dined in ou r Honorary Colonel, Colonel Sir Grevil le Fisher on emig ration to Australia and marriage and welcome
Sp ratt , on 10 March at what was effectively our fir st Capt Keir Ayling as our Paymaster 1n place of Maj Edwm
Regimen tal Guest Night. Other guests were Brig Paul Page . We also welcome Capt Albert Cave who has been
Orchard -Lisle , Chairman Greater London TAVRA, Maj Paul recruited from 217 Gen Hosp (V) as our RMO .
Newal l, retiring Chai rm an of the City TAVRA (and an ex- Finally , we welcome W02 Wishart and Sgt Wickles who
Company Commander at Balham), Col Patrick Shervi ngton, joined A Company as CS M and Recruiting Sergeant

and the two Regi mental Secretaries , Co ls Joe Hordern and respectively .

DEPOT THE QUEEN'S DIVISION

by Maj R A Bartlett

The Depot contin ues with its remit for training new recruits . . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,

and it becomes see mingly more difficult at times to keep

them in training but the extension of the CMS (R) and Phase

11 training should help the situation. The new programme will

be starting in January 1990.

The ITO study team has visited the Depot recently and we

will wait for their findings with interest to see whether we will

be enlarged to take even more recruit s.

The development of the barracks continu es with A and B

Companies moving into their new accommodation and the

new armoury will be up and running by the end of May .

Unfortunately with the com pletion of the armoury there is

now no building scheduled to start until early next year when

the old Depot coo khouse is take n apart to become the

Holman Block which will have the new lecture theatre and

training rooms urgently requi red for our recruits. At the same
time refurbishment of five H Blocks will commence to Mrs Doreen Chamberlain , Chief Steward of The

upgrade the living accommodation so that all new recruits Officers' Mess at the Depot, retired at Christmas,
after 18 years ' service to the Mess. She will be
will be housed to a decent standard. remembered by most serving officers and many
The LAW 80 System is being integrated into our training
retired officers, not only for her devoted and sterling
and the indoor trainer is working . 11 produces good results
service to the Mess but for her trusted and valued
and it has certainly enhanced the training of our recruits .
The Depot con tinue s to play sport despite th e hard friendship as well. Doreen and Phil Chamberlain
training programme and th e Regiment is represented by Lt plan , after a holiday in the USA, to remain at their
present home in Orwell. She is seen in the picture
Burnett and Sgt Cox playi ng rugby , hockey by the RSM, receiving the Silver Salver from Lt Col Michael
Boocock, the CO of the Depot, on her retirement. The
W02 Hilton , and football by Cpls Bradley and Miller.
Salver, subscribed to by our three Regiments , as well
Recent recruit achievements : as the Depot Officers ' Mess , depicts the three

Best Recruit Pte Hawkins 1 QUEENS

Pte Claxton 3 QUEENS

Best Battalion Shot Pte Reader 2 QUEENS Regimental badges and an inscription denoting that
Most Improved Recru it it represents all the Officers of The Queen 's Division.

at PT Pte Higgs 1 QUEENS

35

Ptes S, The Divisional Colonel, Co l J C Holman CB E ta lking

who passed out of t he Depot on 23 Ma rch 1989 w ith to Sgt Cox and Lt S R Burnett, both formerl y of the
1st Battalion, on t he Depot Passi ng Out Parad e, 23
Talav era Platoo n. Bot h went to t he same sc hool in March 1989.

Canterbu ry , trained t ogether at Shornc liffe and at t he

Depot.

ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY SANDHURST

'Sandhurst Revisited '

by Capt S P 8 Kilpatrick

'Seagull' l. .. came the dulcet tone from the adjoining office route I)
that normally indicated that the Brigade Commander had
delivered another Regimental Thunderbolt or, worse , that the Frie nd ly fac es in Victory Colleg e include those of LCpl
coffee cup was empty , 'RHO and I have decided that you 're Cooper from 2 QUEENS and Maj Beattie who arrived from
to go back to Sandhurst'. 'Sir, give me just one more chance , the 1st Battalion . Also at the Academy is CSgt Layze ll ,
I'm sure I can get the Staff List correct by a week on Friday ' I currently at th e SAA Wing but shortly to move to Rowallan
pleaded . ·Not a hope, and besides , it'll give you a chance to Company . Only after I had re ad and re -read hi s own
get married .' He always delivers one below the belt when he co ntribution to December's issue, lauded it and indeed
knows I'm winning . so for me, the discussion was over. answered que stion s on it did Maj Beattie agree that we
should discuss matters of a Regime ntal nature. I recall with
The good news was that I was to be an instru ctor at delight the reaction on Exercise FIRST FLUSH to a liberal
Victory College where the graduates and more mature sprinkling of ketch up on my jun ior breakfast. 'I n the 1st
officers are trained. The bad news was that I was not to be Battalion we don 't use red sauce', was followed by a look of
given a platoon but was to be employed as an admini strative utter disbelief as a platoon of chips was dressed smartl y
officer. providing largely for those fortunate enough to between two slices of bread . Those of you who tut-tut and
command their own platoons. Also within my remit is the job shake your heads in embarrassment should agree that we
of Queen 's Regiment representative . overseeing the must all have our vices - I mu st only sit back and await a
progress of those who have opted to join the Regiment and change of circumstances report . Nevertheless it is great fun
'encouraging · others that it is wise to do so . To do this one to be working alongside Anthony Beattie (that should get me
cuts about smartly with one ear to the ground. At last I have off the hook for a couple of weeks) and we shall endeavou r
the chance to stem the tide of vagabonds, va rlets and to ·encourage' the better young officer to join The Queen 's
vagrants that has persisted since my time I thought . Not so Regiment.
fa st! The Academy has very strict ru les on 'poaching ' other
cadets and one may not approach cadets for the first five lt is heartening to see that th e friendly ri valry/outright
weeks or offer 'hospitality' (normally the Cricketers at Hartley loathing still persists between graduates and non-graduates
Wintney - a short stagger across the common to the bijou (the haves and have-nots ) at the Academy . The latest line of
residence) for 11 weeks . Then it's seconds out and take only assault is the reference to graduates as 'Communists' by
decent prisoners . those cadets from New and Old Colleges whose loyalty is
doubt less unqu es tio ned . The rivalry is healthy but
One 's initial return to the Academ y after seve n years· occasionally the powers that be decide to clamp down by
absence is a peculiar ex perie nce . Once the initial shock locki ng someone 'aweagh'!
passes of not being bellowed at from every open window .
one ca n take delight in not sw inging one's arms when For thi s the Sp ring term I have also been se lected to
·easi ng ' across the square and deliberate ly walking out of organise April 's Co mm issio ning Bal l. Rarely does one have
step when in a group . The effect is enhanced by the the opportunity to arrange an event for some 2000 people for
attachment of S02 G1 /G4 (Ops) HO 1 Armd Div's dog under which ex penditure will exceed £55 ,000 . As one might
command . He has successfully passed off the square but expect . much of the organisation is based on contracts that
walking up Old College steps without stopping has so far have a long time to run and therefore it is merely a question
defeated him. (Peculiar also how he was reluctant to ru n of inserting a new di sc and pressing th e button .
Nevertheless . there is scope for introducing new ideas and .
farth er than 1112 km and how he tries to enter every pub en of cou rse . losing one's name in a major way - forgetting the

36

~ --------- -

ketchup at breakfast. par example. cleaned by CIVIlians , t1me for meals and runs 1n gym shoes
Life at the Academy is inevitably busy , and workmg As usual they spend most of the1r lives on the square but
there is also a great deal of Military Stud1es. Eventually the
weekends are the norm . One is rightly expected to support OS will begin to understand 'Miss1on Analy s1s ' to the level
sport on Saturday afternoons and often to attend Church that we feel competent to instruct 1t and , mdeed to test 1t, but
Parade . Academy Sundays in No 1 Dress are impressive
affairs and thankfully the Regimental Representative and that day is still a fair way off. Thankfully all off1cers now leave
Divisional Representative agree upon the correct form of the Academy with a Range Management qualif1cat1on. wh1ch
dress. The working weekends are more than compensated is no doubt of value when they arnve at the battal1ons .
for by the long recesses between each term, when
attendance on Adventure Training courses is encouraged. In summary. life for an mstructor IS not the doddle that you
This April our fearless hero will be taking 40 student officers all sa1d 1t would be and there are occas1ons when one
on an intrepid attempt to undertake alpine skiing in Verbier. reflects fondly upon those portacabms and the flooded
hailed as an impressive venture with a fair chance of p1tches , and even the Friday run s. A millisecond later I forget
them and resolve that I shall no longer moan about the fact
achieving the aim. that I'm now in my third order of dress before lunch and
And what of the standard of training of our future officers?
Harber's dog hasn't been seen since breakfast.
Of course it is far easier than it was in our day, with rooms

THE JUNIOR INFANTRY BATTALION (SHORNCLIFFE)

by Maj P R P Howe

In the last six months we have begun to feel the effect of The Battalion Boxing Competition in November saw an
the dreaded demographic trough . The Junior Soldier intake impressive w1n for Cassino Company, tra1ned by Cpl Warner
in January was only 64 strong whi le the April intake could and Cpl Harris (3 QUEENS ). Unfortunately the RMO
on ly provide 19 Junior Soldier entrants for the QUEEN 'S medically disqualified 52 out of 69 boxers and the Company
Division , which has meant a joint QUEEN 'S Division/POW team was unable to enter the Junior Sold1er Bo x1ng
Competition against the Light 01vision . Th1s was later
Division Platoon being formed . followed by a successful Charity Boxing Event run by
Cassino Company in December which raised over £3000 .
Many Queensmen boxed with success and determmat1on
through the season proving what a valuable training med1um
the sport is. Hopefully our battalions will soon feel the

benefit.

On 5 November we were able to play host to off1cers and Valence CCF on the1r annua l 1nspect1on on Monday 13
NCOs of the Regiment's Cadet Forces led by Brig Hugh March . They were a very enthUSiaStic group. 1n part1cular the
Tarver. Th1s was part of the1r weekend seminar arranged by g1rls who enJoyed putting some young men 1n the1r places.
RHO . We gave them a mini-Parents ' Day with Junior Hopefully we may get some officer recruiting spin off .
Sold1ers demonstrating their sk1lls of drill, se lf defence and
shootmg . lt was surpnsing how many of the visitors were In December 1988 Jun1or Sold1er 12 passed out 51
able to meet their ex -cadets and see them prospering here. strong . of whom 17 were Oueensmen and 1n March 1989
We have extended a welcome to the Regimental Cadet Jun1or Soldier 13 passed out 57 strong . of whom 14 were
Forces to send members to us for up to a week . The cadets Oueensmen . Jun1or Soldier 14 who started in January were
would work and live with our Junior Sold1ers and certainly 64 strong but will be reducmg to about 45 . This has mamly
get a feel for life here at Shorncliffe; as yet we have no been due to vanous types of CP - a con tinumg unsolvable
takers' We are also very keen to have groups of cadets. their problem. We con tinu e to work hard to prov1de motivated
officers and SNCOs visit us on a Parents' Day. young Infantrymen who will succeed when they arrive at our
battalions .
We were very pleased to look after elements of Sutton

REGIMENTAL BANDS

THE QUEBEC BAND or is ever likely to have took place 1n Los Angeles . We
started out early on Saturday morn1ng stopping at the mag1c
by W01 B Cunningham mountain for refreshment then travelling through the
In February this year the Quebec Band accompamed the mountain pass which leads to LA . The beautiful scenery
1st Battal ion to America and spent almost four weeks including snowcapped mountams. waterfalls and lakes was
rehear s1ng and performing concerts for the people of as inspiring as any I have witnessed anywhere . We were in
California. staying at Ford Ord , Monterey. LA at the reque st of the Jonathon Club which is similar to the
gentlemen 's clu bs 1n London . This was the first time they
Once the band and their equipment arrived we had allowed anyone other than members to stay there and
Immediately began rehearsing with the Corps of Drums for as one would expect from an exclusive establishment such
our participation in the battalion Cocktail Party. In the days as this , the rooms were without doubt 5 star by anyone's
leading up to thi s event we all became increasingly aware of standards.
just how important our role would be in getting everything off
to a good start by suitably impressing the many important Having inspected the accommodation and judging it to be
people who would be our guests on that evening . up to our usual standard we began setting up our equipment
Considering the band and Corps of Drums are used to the in the ballroom for our first performance later that evening .
pressure of performing on great occasions it is difficult to After the event most of the band went out into the city.
explam why there was an air of nervousness abroad which remembering not to stray too far, as downtown LA at night is
exceeded the normal level just prior to this performance. The a dangerous area. where murder is commonplace'
question is now purely academic because the whole evening Thankfully our host. Colonel Waiters , the club secretary , had
was considered a huge success. briefed everyone carefu lly beforehand .

Having planned three joint concerts with the American ,..
Army 's 7th Infantry Division Band we had to quickly get
down to some serious rehea rsal. especia lly as our firs t The Quebec Band playing at the Jonathan Club's
concert was only two days away . With such a short period to private beach facility.
prepare a varied and interesting programme it was fortunate
that the two bands complemented each other musically and The next day we went to the Jonathan Club 's privat e
were of a high enough standard to cope with the more beach and with temperatures in the high 70's the band
difficult items. On one occasion when the American performed a two hour concert under a cloud less blue sky ,
bandmaster Mr Charles Volherbst and I were sitting in his with the added accompaniment of the Pacific Ocean ebbing
office discussing the forthcoming concerts, one of his senior and flowing over the golden sands. The champagne lunch
ranks popped his head round the door and said, 'Excuse me which followed was a banquet fit for a king and very
sir. one of the saxophone players is pregnant'. 'I sincerely appreciated by the Quebec Band.
hope it isn't one of mine.' I replied hastily'
Colonel Waiters decided that instead of going straight
lt wasn 't long before we learned some of the phraseology back to the city he would first take us by coach on a guided
and many of the band even now find themselves saying tour of nearby Sunset Boulevard , Belair and Hollywood and
things like 'no problem ' or 'you got it' , with a perfect
Californian accent.

All our joint concerts went extremely well and were
rewarded in each case with the audience show1ng their
appreciation by giving the bands a standing ovation.

The professional and social interaction between the bands
proved to be very much a learning experience for both . lt
was interesting to note the differences in establishment,
rank , structure and funding as well as peacetime and
wartime roles . The most surprising aspect was the many
similarities and in particular the fact that we both seem to
face the same problems . The American band were not only
a very friendly and hospitable bunch of people but they were
also exceptionally generous and made our trip rewarding 1n
every sense of the word .

The most enjoyable engagement the band has ever had

38

------- - -------- - - -

even provided a large cool-box lull ol drinks lor us lo enJOY THE ALBUHERA BAND
en rout e . Look ing back 11 wa s rath e r funny th e way
Hollywood turned us all. in an instant, from a M1l1tary Band by W01 I R Peaple
1nto a swarm of camera-clicking . souvenir-huntmg tounsts . 1t 1s a reflection of the age m wh1ch we are livmg . that the
Bnt1sh Army IS com1ng 1nc rea s1ngly under th e f1nan c1al
Alter a bnef look around Universal Stud1os. 1t was t1me to m1croscope , and that when ever there 1s spe culat1on of
face the seven hour journey back to Ford Ord and b1d possible expenditure cuts, someone , somewhere . will ra1se
the subJect of 'Bands' . Consequently, 1t fall s upon our own
farewell to LA. shoulders to mamtam our ra1son d'etre by contmumg to stn ve
Ou r farewell performance to Fort Ord took the form of a for standards of performance that for sheer professionalism.
cannot be matched anywhere 1n the world . That IS the theory
marching display with the Corps of Drums in the mam sports behmd the pract1ce and 1t must be sa1d that 1f sat1sf1ed
stad1um . The bnght green of the astroturf against the scarlet audiences and favourable press coverage are the fruit s of
uniforms made the occasion an even more colourful our labour, then we have every reason to be pleased w1th
spectacle than usual and th e t1ered seating gave the
audience an aenal v1ew which is always a desirable vantage our efforts during the last six months.
po1nt 1f one IS to appreciate fully the intricate movements. lt all began in the Italian town of V1ttono Veneto where , for

With the satisfaction of having successfully completed all the first time , we had been mvited to take part 1n the World
our engagements the band dispersed for a well earned four War One celebrations . From a purely mus1cal v1ewpo1nt. the
proposed itinerary had led us to believe that the parade 1tself
days R and R before fly1ng home. was to be the ma1n feature of our tour. and that the concerts
Due to illness and compassionate 'reasons we were two and other performances were somewhat secondary m
1mportance. As time passed however, it became mcreas1ngly
cornet players short for our trip to the States and had to obv1ous that the emphasis had shifted towards the vanous
borrow W02 Shacklady from the REME and LCpl Sykes mus1cal engagements we were to g1ve and . as a re sult. the
from th e Green Howards . Th eir contribution was much entire two week period was both physically and mentally
appreciated and I am grateful to all who made this short dra1mng. Among the lasting memones of the SOJourn were
the culinary delights served to us in the cookhouse by the
attachment possible .
1t was a great shock to us all when we discovered that Jim 'gourmets' of the ltal1an Army .
Nevertheless. the musical aspect was very grat1fymg and
Shacklady had suffered a heart attack while undergoing
some tests m the Ford Ord ho spital. We are of course the response from the Italians was overwhelming . lt IS true to
extremely pleased that he has made a full recovery and look say that the e~tire venture was an experience we will never
forward to seeing him and his wife Marg aret again very
forget.
soon . The last six months have also seen us do our fa1r share of
Thi s year we have already said farewell to Bdsm
travelling around Germany. As1de from the large quant1ty of
Headland and Sgt Gaylor who is now spending his last year local engagements , we took part in an International Military
attached to th e Kohima Band . We will soon be saying Mus1c Show 1n Stuttgart and were also invited to Bavana to
goodbye to W02 (Nippy) Norton and CSgt (Bob) Cross after perform for the Corps Commander in Sonthofen. Th1s annual
22 years of valuable service and we wish them all every event is his way of thanking the dignitaries of the are~ for the
work that is involved in organismg Exercise Snow Queen .
success in the future . We didn't manage this time to indulge in any sk1mg but we
On the other si de of that co1n we welcome Bdsm
are hop1ng to be mv1ted there again next year.
McCiintock (Horn), O'Harro (Oboe) and Stafford (Horn) all of Congratulations are in order for Sgt West and Cpl
whom have made a very good start and will be of increasing
Popman who ass1sted the battalion in winning the BAOR
value to the band throughout their career . Infantry Squash Championship and also to the families of
Two of our members recently took the plunge and LCpl Jancey and Bandsman Rees who despite a busy and
demand1ng t1me for the Band , still managed to fmd t1me to
abandoned bachelor-hood for married life and so we extend
our best wishes for a happy and fru1tful future to CSgt and make way for the patter of tiny feet.
Finally , we will shortly be saying farewell to three stalwart
Mrs Cross and Bdsm and Mrs Fi sher.
.Some three years ago Cpl Keeley went to th e Royal members of the band , Cpl Gear. Cpl Perryman and LCpl
Jancey who have all dec1ded to seek new careers for
Military School of Music to train as a Bandmaste r and 1am themselves in C1vvy Street. Our thanks to them for the1r
very pleased to report that Student Bandmaster Keeley has many years of loyal serv1ce and we extend our very best

successfully completed his final exams . w1shes to them and their families .
Considering there are at least four others in the band

capable of achieving the same goal and bearing in mind that
W01 Paul Cooper also came from the Quebec Band , we are
certainly doing our bit to supply the Army with Bandmasters

and hope to do so for some time to come .

REGIMENTAL INFORMATION TEAM

ACF ASSISTANCE The Cumber/and Sword Competition (3 and 4

April brought us to the end of our ACF winter trainmg Star Cadets only)
ass istance programme , culminating in the Cumberland CSM D Huggett. No 5 Haywards Heath , Sussex
Sword/Kirke's Cane Indivi dual and Section Competition
1989 , which we ran over the weekend 22 /23 April at ACF .
Crowborough Training Camp . Entries this year had The Kirke 's Cane Competition (1 and 2 Star
mcreased to 115 male and female cadets and despite April
showers and pretty dismal weather . they managed to Cadets only)
ach1eve very good results in all events which meant that LCpl A Simmons. 72 QUEENS Cadet Company .
sco res were much clo ser than last year . Th e eventual
winners of the four major individual prizes . which were London SE Sector ACF
presented by the Colonel of the Regiment were as follows : First Aid Rose Bowl (All Competitors )
Cpl M Pinckney. 72 QUEENS Cadet Company ,
39
London SE Sector ACF
Best Female Cadet

the ACF Annual Camps in July/August. We will be attending
Kent, Sussex . Su rrey and NW London and Middlesex ACF
Camps this year.

The Cumberland Sword & Kirke 's Cane Prize SHOWBIZ 1989
Winners : Back Row Left to Right LCpl A Simmons of
72 Queen 's Cadet Company, Colonel of the Although our major Showbiz programme starts on 1 May
Regiment, CSM D Huggett of NoS Haywards Heath . through to September, th1s year we have received requests
Front Row Left to Right : Cpl M Pinckney of 72 to attend events as early as the 9 March . so we are very
Queen 's Cadet Company and Sgt D Earle of No14 busy refurbishing our section show stands in readiness . One
(Bexhill) Platoon. major improvement that we have been able to achieve is the
purchase of a TV and video for each section for use not only
(Photograph By Jacqueline Hodges) on the section stands but on our Cadet visits. The cost of
these items is being borne by RHO and South East District.
LCpl E L Webb , Huntleys Platoon , Kent ACF Our mini assault course , which is becoming more and more
Inter county/sector section competition were : popular at these shows , has undergone a complete rebuild
Sussex ACF Team A thanks to the efforts of Cpl Taylor , who encouraged local
After a successfu l winter season we now look forward to firms to donate all the necessary materials free of charge .
with 44 District Workshops providing the welder.

During the period we have bid farewell to the following :
W02 Kim Leach who , having completed 22 year Co lour
Service , has moved north to Durham to start a second
career. He gave valuable service to the QUEENS RIT and
the Regiment. We wish him and his family every success for
the future.

We welcome to the fold W02 Wil son from 2 QUEENS ,
Pte Gaskin from 1 QUEENS, Cpl Vaughan and Pte Cunliffe
and Heathfield from 2 QUEENS. Cpl Smith and Ptes Cote
from 3 QUEENS.

Finally congratulations to Pte Hunt and his wife Paula on
the birth of their son , Joseph, and to Pte Welter and his wife
Nicholette on the birth of their daughter Kylie .

THE QUEEN'S REGIMENT FREE FALL TEAM
THE FLVING DRAGONS

by Capt P D Beat

Team Training took place in the USA this year thanks to envi ronment and with air to air filming for each jump
an invitation from CO 1 QUEENS to join the battalion on Ex (courtesy of the excellent Blue Sky Videos lnc), along with
Trumpet Dance . On 6 February 1989 an RAF TriStar took expert advice from some of the world's leading parachutists,
the team from Brize Norton to San Jose (nea r San team skills received a tremendous boost. The training
Francisco) and dropped us (if you'll excuse the pun ) in some co ncentrated on free fall relative work with some canopy
of the coldest weather California had seen for 37 years . lt relative work and specia l jumps with the camera for use in
then took a short stopover at Ford Ord (1 QUEENS base for promoting the team .
the exercise) to sort out the equipment before heading south
towards Los Angeles and the Perri s Valley Parachute The actor Lewis Co llin s took time off from his work in
Centre . Hollywood to come and jump with us and the team were
surprised to find he 'geeked' at the camera more than me'
The drive to Los Angeles was tougher than expected ; the By the end of the training each man had made 80 jumps,
weather if anything had worsened since our arrival and the mostly on film , and gained much useful experience . These
interstate highway was swept by gale force winds and included CSgt B F Reader (2 QUEENS and Chief Instructor),
sandstorms . Further south the road led up into the Pte V Brierley (2 QUEENS) and Pte M Ryan (1 QUEENS) .
mountains where drifting snow blocked all main routes . lt
took several hours to find a pass that was open . If it never In breaks from training other teams joined us including
rains in Southern California it sure can snow' The Parachute Regiment Freefall Team 'Th e Red Devils' . In
o~e jump we put 32 men together in free fall and in another
The first stop in Perris was at Rigging Innovations lnc who with 'Aerial Performance ' the top American team , stacked 8
had designed and manufactured new parachute containers canopies on top of one another . Other team s present
(cal led 'Talons) for the team as well as holding new canopies included the Canadian Armed Forces Parachute Team .
ordered from Glidepath ln c, another American company .
Sandy Reid , the owner. and his people very kindly took time On 2 March we were homeward bound, a little earlier than
off to help us pack the reserve canopies as well as the new expected but having achieved a higher standard of
main canopies into the system . The team are now all cleared parachuting than we cou ld possibly have hoped for, partly
due to the helpful attitude of the Drop Zone manager, Steve

to pack their own main and reserve canopies . Mack, and his staff.
Much to my relief the sky showed a brighter face the I would like to thank Lt Col C G F Charter for all his help

following week and Team Training was able to start in and also Ess -Food Danepak Ltd , the Bacon and Dairy
earnest. Blue skies and low winds gave the best possible Products Firm , whose generous sponsorship and

40

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encouragement made the trip possible.
One member of the team who didn 't come to Amenca. but

deserves a mention is LCpl I Cashman (1 QUEENS). He
was selected for the Army Parachute Team earlier in 1988.
earned the Approved Parachute Instructor rat1ng 1n
December 1988, and then flew to Florid a with the Army
Team for training a few days later. He then discovered the
wonders of Brecon between January and March thu s
earning himself a good pass on the Section Commanders
Battle Course in the process . A busy winter and a triple

achievement, Congratulations'
Well done also to Pte D Mayhew (2 QUEENS) for his

promotion to LCpl.

ARMY CADET FORCE BADGED QUEENS·

CITY AND NORTH EAST SECTOR SOUTH WEST LONDON SECTOR

The fortunes of both 25 and 26 Company, have to say the The latter end of 1988 saw the retirement of MaJ Bob
least , been mixed . 26 Company have recently been evicted Cooke MBE after 28 years serv1ce as CEO SW London
from the school premises from where they have operated for ACF. Hi s replacement is Maj Guy Wiseman . late RE . who
the last 15 years. Presently they are eo -located with a prior to joining us commanded No 4 Cadet Training Team .
friendly RRF detachment about half a mile from their original
school in Hackney . The move was fairly smooth . The Among the recent highlights were the awards of Deputy
problems of housing two units in a building designed for one Lord Lieutenant's Certificates to Cadet Cpl Dunkley of 155
have mostly been overcome . But the matter of stores is Cadet Detachment at Ewell. and Cadet CSgt·Dunne of 151
producing more than a few headaches for both OCs, not Cadet Detachment, Kingston upon Thames . Cadet CSgt
least for U/0 Ray Minshull and Sgt Richard Nicholls of 26 Dunne's cup then overflowed when he was later awarded
the Lord Lieutenant for Greater London 's Certificate w1th the
Company.
The move does not appear to have adversely affected the appointment of Lord Lieuter)ant's Cadet.
Cadets of 134 Detachment were pnvileged to form part of
strength of the company but with a further move to new
premises some distance away in August of this year we are the Guard of Honour on the occasion of the vis1t to
Richmond by Her Maj esty The Queen and were h1ghly
not too sure what the final effect will be . commended by the Mayor of Richmond for their bearing and
25 Company continues to recruit reasonably well ,
turnout.
although with Lt Jim Weber, the OC , on leave of absence the
strength does seem to fluctuate daily. However CSgt John SURREY
Torraqbo is doing a stirling job keeping the show on the
Winter training for Surrey ACF IS enlivened by two maJor
road. competitions. Cumberland Sword and the Surrey Inter-
Both detachments have taken a full and active part in the Detachment Competition wh1ch precedes it - SCIDCOMP

life of both the Group and the Sector, attending various '89 .
weekend camps and a very entertaining Easte r cam p at Th1 s year , more tha11. 200 cadets from the 26 Surrey

Crickhowell . Wales, where canoeing , abseiling , horse riding detachments took part m SCIDCOMP , a maJor test of
and shooting were the main attractions . All the lads did very phys1cal and pract1cal skills for both md1v1duals and teams
well in a most unusual training environment for London boys . Despite a cold , wet and miserable March day the vast
majority threw themselves vigorously into the act1v1t1es wh1ch
At the most recent sector event . the Assault Course ranged from first aid and command tasks to sk1ll-at-arm s and
Competition, 26 Company came second and 25 Company a severe assault course . In a close -fought f1n1 sh Redh1ll
fourth from a field of some 25 units. A most creditworthy Detachment , led by Cadet Sgt N Potashn1k . JUSt beat the
Yorktown and Ash Detachments.
display was given by both detachments.
We are all looking forward. with great anticipation. to the Concentration of SCIDCOMP and Cumberland Sword has
not detracted from the two major tasks for 1989 - recrUiting
next six months which include annual camp . and training for Annual Camp.

L1ke the Regular Army and TA, the ACF is sufferi ng from
the fall in birth-rate 1n the late 70s- but is feeling the effects
now. A maJor recruitment programme for adult instructors
and cadets is under way and has re su lted 1n 116 cadets and
14 adu lts joini ng in the first quarter of t 989 .

Annual Camp this year will be at Penalty in South Wales ,
a new venue for Surrey. The training faci lities are restricted ,
but there are many more opportunities for adventure training
than we are used to - a new set of problems for the training
staff .

We look forward with interest to observing the effect that
two night-clubs in the vi ll age will have I

KENT

Throughout the County, the general si tu ation is very

encouraging. The current recruiting drive IS producing good
results, and the more experienced Cadets are competing in

Regional and National events - also gam1ng experience in

1nternat1onal travel! Kent ACF came a creditable second in 3rd Cadet Battalion The Queen 's Regiment (Kent ACF)
the National Small Bore Rifle Association competition.
Snr Cdt Cpl Mark Akehurst of Huntley's platoon has been
1st Cadet Batta lion The Queen 's Regiment (Kent ACF) selected as one of twelve cadets who will represent British
Capt Paul Hughes took over the com mand of 1st Cadet Cadet Forces in Canada in July.

Battalion on 22 February 1989. Capt Hughes took over from The annual exchange is eagerly looked forward to . Cpl
Maj D T Martin who has been appointed S02 at County Akehurst helped secure his se lection by achieving top
Headqu arters, Maidstone . Capt Hugh es started his ACF student in last year's County Signals Course . The 12 fly into
career in 1968 as a Sergeant In structor at Faversham White Horse , capital of the Yukon and take part in the
Detachment of 1st Cadet Battalion Th e Buffs. Pri or to leadership course, which is strong ly slanted towards outdoor
becom mg an SI he was a Cadet at Si ttingbourne where he pursuits and includes an expedition to Alaska.
reached the dizzy heights of Cadet Sgt Major .

Early in February all the adu lts and officers of the battalion

attended the Unit Study Weekend . Held at Leros TA Centre

in Canterbury, home of the Battalion Headquarters . A great

dea l of information was discussed and ideas were

exchanged on all administration and training subjects. Being

in the same TA Centre as 5 QUEENS(V) Maj Ch ris Argent ,

21C, attended and gave a full run down on the duties of the

Territori al Army and its posit ion in the Arm y structure.

Recruiting was high on his list.

LCpl L Byrne of the Sittingbourne Pl atoon gained th e

coveted Victor Ludorem as best athlete in the county, at the

Sports Meeting held at Deangate on 16 April. The prize was

pre se nted by the Mayor of Roche ster upon Medw ay,

Councillor V Reeves.

2nd Cadet Battalion The Queen 's Regiment (Kent ACF)

In Feb ruary , cadets of Elham Valley and the St Mary's

Bay Detachments were presented with sporting badges by

the Commandant during a sports/fun night at the lnvicta

Training Centre . lt was satisfying to see girl cadets among
those col lecting their awards . Thanks are due to SSgt lan

Skeldon (Martello Del ) and his wife Evelyn who are helping

to bring the sporting activities within the battalion back to life.

Congratulations are also due to Cadet Sgt Majs Ayres and

Tuff of the Ashford Detachment on thei r recent promotion

and th ei r elevation to Junior Staff Inst ru ctor . Both Cadet

WO s are hoping to be co me Adult In structors . Two new

platoon s have just bee n formed . The Martello Platoo n at

Folkestone under SSgt Skelton and another in Dymchurch

under Sgt Fields.

Together with th e existing platoon s at SI Mary 's Bay, LCpl Emma Webb of Huntley 's Platoon - best
Ashford , Tenterd en, Elham Valley, the battalion now totals (Kent and Sussex Cou rier picture).

over 200 cadets.

Tente rden , under the command of SSgt Cha rlie Foster, Another member of the platoon LCpl Emma Webb also

afte r being homeless for a sho rt while due to new achieved success in gaining the award for the best NCO on

development of their old HG si te, have shown great resource an NCOs' course at Crowborough camp, while Cadet lan

in moving to shared accommodation with th e loca l Girl McCu llock was recently awarded the Walton Trophy for best

Guides although this happy state will soon cease as TAVRA all round cadet at Annual Camp. The presentation was made

has offered a new HQ hut to be sited near the Homewood by the Adjutant of 3rd Battalion , Capt Paul Thompson . The

School playing fields . 42 award is made to the cadet who tries hardest at his training

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