The Household Cavalry Journal 2021

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY JOURNAL 2021

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The Household Cavalry Journal

Incorporating The Acorn and The Blue and Royal No. 30 2021 Editor: Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) R R D Griffin, The Life Guards

Colonel in Chief: Her Majesty The Queen

Colonel of The Life Guards and Gold Stick: Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne KCVO CBE Colonel of The Blues and Royals and Gold Stick: HRH The Princess Royal KG KT GCVO QSO Lieutenant Colonel Commanding and Silver Stick: Colonel C A Lockhart MBE ADC, The Blues and Royals Commanding Officer Household Cavalry Regiment: Lieutenant Colonel A E Gilham, The Life Guards Commanding Officer Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment: Lieutenant Colonel T J Armitage, The Life Guards

The Life Guards Battle Honours Dettingen Peninsula Waterloo Tel el Kebir Egypt (1882) Relief of Kimberley Paardeberg South Africa (1899-1900) Mons Le Cateau Retreat from Mons Marne (1914) Aisne (1914)

Armentières (1914) Messines (1914) Ypres (1914) Langemarck (1914) Gheluvelt Nonne Bosschen St Julien Frezenberg Ypres (1915) Somme (1916) Albert (1916) Scarpe (1917) (1918) Broodseinde Poelcappelle

Passchendaele Bapaume (1918) Arras (1917) Ypres (1917) Arras (1918) Hindenburg Line Epehy St Quentin Canal Beaurevoir Cambrai (1918) Selle Somme (1918) France and Flanders (1914-18)

Mont Pincon Souleuvre Noireau Crossing Amiens (1944) Brussels Neerpelt Nederrijn Nijmegen Lingen Bentheim North West Europe (1944-1945) Baghdad (1941) Iraq (1941)

Palmyra Syria (1941) El Alamein North Africa (1942-1943) Arezzo Advance to Florence Gothic Line Italy (1944)

Mont Pincon Souleuvre Noireau Crossing Amiens (1944) Brussels Neerpelt Nederrijn Lingen Veghel Nijmegen Rhine Bentheim North West Europe (1944-1945) Baghdad (1941) Iraq (1941) Palmyra

Syria (1941) Msus Gazala Knightsbridge Defence of Alamein Line El Alamein El Agheila Advance on Tripoli North Africa (1941-1943) Sicily (1943) Arezzo Advance to Florence Gothic Line Italy (1943-1944) Falkland Islands (1982) Iraq (2003)

Gulf (1991) Wadi al Batin Iraq (2003)

The Blues and Royals Battle Honours Tangier (1662-1680) Dettingen Warburg Beaumont Willems Fuentes d’Onor Peninsula Waterloo Balaklava Sevastopol Tel el Kebir Egypt (1882) Relief of Kimberley Paardeberg Relief of Ladysmith South Africa (1899-1902)

Mons Le Cateau Retreat from Mons Marne (1914) Aisne (1914) Messines (1914) Armentières (1914) Ypres (1914) Langemarck (1914) Gheluvelt Nonne Bosschen St Julien Ypres (1915) Frezenberg Loos Arras (1917)

Scarpe (1917) Ypres (1917) Broodseinde Poelcappelle Passchendaele Somme (1918) St Quentin Avre Amiens Hindenburg Line Beaurevoir Cambrai (1918) Sambre Pursuit to Mons France and Flanders (1914-1918)

Crown Copyright: This publication contains official information. It should be treated with discretion by the recipient. The opinions expressed in the articles in this journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy and views, official or otherwise, of the Household Cavalry or the Ministry of Defence. No responsibility for the goods or services advertised in this journal can be accepted by the Household Cavalry, publishers or printers and advertisements are including in good faith. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the Editor and Publisher.

The Journal was designed and published by Brian Smith Associates, 145 St Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 7SH. Tel: 07770 277010 Email: brian@briansmithassociates.co.uk

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Contents Preface by Lieutenant Colonel Commanding .......................... 3

Editorial ..................................................................................................... 5

Household Cavalry Regiment Foreword by the Commanding Officer ................................................. 6 A Squadron ............................................................................................... 7 B Squadron .............................................................................................. 10 C Squadron .............................................................................................. 12 D Squadron ............................................................................................. 13 Headquarters Squadron ........................................................................ 16 The Light Aid Detachment .................................................................... 17 Quartermaster’s (Maintenance and Technical) Department ........... 18 RAO Department ................................................................................... 19 RAP .......................................................................................................... 20

Warrant Officers’ and Non-Commissioned Officers’ Mess ...... 21 The Household Cavalry Regimental Engagement Team (RET) ..... 24 Exercise DARING ROCK: A Troop Leader’s Perspective ............... 25 Exercise SOMME LANCER .................................................................. 27 P Company and The Guards Parachute Platoon .............................. 29 Kenya Short Term Training Team (STTT) .......................................... 30 Patrolling and Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL ................................ 33 Exercise KHANJAR OMAN Observer/Mentor ................................ 36 Turks and Caicos STTT ......................................................................... 37 Household Cavalry Cadets: Melton Mowbray Detachment ........... 38

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment Foreword by the Commanding Officer .............................................. 41 Diary of Events ....................................................................................... 42 The Life Guards Squadron .................................................................... 44 The Blues and Royals Squadron ........................................................... 47 Headquarters Squadron ........................................................................ 50 Quartermaster’s Department ................................................................ 51 The Riding Staff ...................................................................................... 52 The Forge ................................................................................................. 56 Veterinary Department ......................................................................... 57 Household Cavalry Training Wing ..................................................... 58 Adjutant General’s Corps Detachment ............................................... 60 Warrant Officers’ and Non-Commissioned Officers’ Mess ...... 61 The Band of the Household Cavalry ................................................... 62

Pages 93 - 144

Household Cavalry Foundation Accounts 2020-21 ........................ 107 Household Cavalry Museum .............................................................. 108 Amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards 8th July 1922 .......... 110 Obituaries The Life Guards ................................................................ 111 Obituaries The Blues and Royals ........................................................ 112 Nominal Rolls ....................................................................................... 124 Notices ................................................................................................... 130 Household Cavalry Associations North Staffs ....................................................... 137 Household Cavalry Wales Dining Club ........................................... 139 A Squadron LG Operation GRANBY 1991: Old Comrades Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their Desert Storm Victory.... 141 Features ................................................................................................. 142

Cover Photographs: Front: The Household Cavalry storming the Rock of Gibraltar Back: Kit Ride moving at speed

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Pages 83 - 92

Combat Arms Sailing Regatta ....................................................... 89 HCMR Golf 2021 ............................................................................. 90 Household Cavalry versus Hong Kong Polo Match .................. 90 Polo ................................................................................................... 91 Regimental Fly Fishing .................................................................. 92

News from the Associations Foreword, Colonel Commandant Royal Armoured Corps .............. 93 The Life Guards Association Annual Report 2021 ............................ 94 Minutes of the 87th AGM of The Life Guards Association ............. 94 Honorary Treasurer’s Report ................................................................ 95 The Life Guards Association Accounts ............................................. 96 The Life Guards Association Charitable Trusts Accounts .............. 96 The Life Guards Association Notices .................................................. 97 The Life Guards Association Regional Representatives ................... 98 The Blues and Royals Association Annual Report 2020/21 .......... 100 The Blues and Royals Accounts .......................................................... 100 The Blues and Royals Oliver Montagu Fund .................................... 101 The Blues and Royals Association Regional Representatives ......... 101 Household Cavalry Foundation ......................................................... 103

Pages 41 - 79

HCMR Medical Centre ......................................................................... 65 Padre to the Household Cavalry ......................................................... 67 The Funeral of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh ............................................................................. 67 Musical Ride 2021 .................................................................................. 69 HCMR Families Day ............................................................................. 71 Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL 21: HCMR ....................................... 72 A Stroke of Genius ................................................................................. 73 The Swedish Life Guards ..................................................................... 75 The Grand Tour ..................................................................................... 76 Physical Training ................................................................................... 78 HCMR’s Officers’ Mess Summer Ball: The Greatest Show ............. 79

Household Cavalry Sports Round-up Boxing: ‘ There’s No Rank in the Ring’ ........................................ 83 Household Division Squash .......................................................... 84 HCR Football Team ........................................................................ 84 Cricket ............................................................................................... 85 HCR Rugby Team ............................................................................ 86 Household Cavalry Sailing ............................................................ 87

Pages 6 - 39

Preface

By Colonel C A Lockhart MBE ADC, The Blues and Royals Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Household Cavalry

B

elize, Bosnia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Czech Republic, Estonia, Falklands Islands, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Hungary, Kenya, Kosovo, Oman, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turks and Caicos, Ukraine and USA. No, not the answer to some random pub quiz (at least, not that I am aware of!) but a list of countries that Household Cavalry soldiers have found themselves in during the past year. So, despite continued restrictions, it is hugely encouraging to see that opportunities abound, made possible by the continued professionalism shown by all ranks Household Cavalry by both seeking out and willing to be a part of such adventures. All this despite some very real challenges which AJAX continues to throw at The Regiment and the shadow of the Integrated Review/ Future Soldier, which has only recently announced its findings, lurking in the wings.

An AJAX update will be covered later in this Journal, so I thought I would give a quick update on the Future Soldier announcement and what it means to the Household Cavalry. Whilst I hope most will have received my letter on this matter, I repeat some of the information here to capture those who didn’t receive my letter. I want to take a bit of time here to provide some context around the Future Soldier announcements and what it means specifically for The Household Cavalry. With an Army decreasing in size by just over 12% there was very little hiding place for any Capbadge and that is before getting into the future capabilities debate. However,

with the support of the Major General and work done by my predecessors, the Household Cavalry was exceptionally fortunate to have had some very well laid out arguments for the requirement of relative size for both HCR and HCMR. And if relative size was not going to be kept then the options and ‘red lines’ we worked towards were very clear, namely; we remain dual trained soldiers, we must maintain our policy of sending soldiers to HCMR first, if HCMR reduced in size then the output would also need to reduce and finally the relative size for Other Ranks from HCR to HCMR must be at 1.5:1 or at least very close. This last point is vital to ensure that Household Cavalry soldiers can become dual trained, continue to be posted between the two Regiments and all the while keeping pace with the requirements of the Royal Armoured Corps Employment Structure.

To understand how we ended up where we did, it is worth being aware of where we started. It is not appropriate to go into too much detail in this Journal but suffice to say that to feed the HCMR Other Rank (OR) size of 270 then HCR needed to be at about 400 ORs. When the initial figures were articulated during the early rounds of the Integrated review it was clear that we were no way near the required ratio. So, after much debate and work to ensure that we had a workable solution the result was as follows: •

•

The size of the Permanent Cadre at HCMR was increased by 20 x ORs. Work is still ongoing to identify which 20 posts these will be but it is anticipated that they will be made up of G4 and a General Duty Mounted Ceremonial spine in order to ensure that sufficient experience is held within the Troops to make up for the much shorter time now spent at HCMR by our Troopers. It is hoped that the lowest rank will be LCpl, that they will be rank ranged and the intent is that only those who have served at both sides of the Regiment can be assigned to this spine. The increase of Permanent Cadre posts at HCMR meant that HCR needed to have about 380 x ORs. This was achieved as follows…

HCR will be made up of Regimental Headquarters, Headquarters Squadron and 3 x Sabre Squadrons each with 4 x Troops. You will

have seen that we have sadly lost the Command and Support Squadron but the capabilities found within this Squadron will now be spread throughout the remaining Squadrons.

•

HCR was also given the task of providing part of the Experimentation Training Group in Warminster with approximately 3 x Troops and it is my plan for this Squadron (-) to be called B Squadron. Finally, HCR was given a half section of workforce (liability) within Guards Para.

•

So, with a combination of an increased Permanent Cadre, the final organisation for an Armoured Cavalry Regiment, the Experimentation Training Group and Guards Para the ratio between HCMR and HCR is sufficient to allow Household Cavalry soldiers to keep current and level with their RAC counterparts

In the last Journal I wrote about playing the hand we are given. The outcome of the Future Soldier announcement is one which I believe we can be very happy with. The size of HCMR has not changed, we will continue to deliver Mounted Ceremonial excellence and HCR has seen a very small decrease in overall size. Opportunities remain.

With deployments from the back end of this year to Belize, Kosovo, Kenya and Cyprus on the horizon and with soldiers still encouraged to serve with Special Forces, Guards Para and additionally with the Rangers then it is just as exciting as you will all remember.

HCMR There has been very little let up with the unique challenges being faced by HCMR. Whilst there was a QBP, held in Windsor Castle for the second year running and this time with a mounted element, there has been very little else in terms of State Ceremonial. This absence of such events will present a significant challenge for the Mounted Regiment as we head into what might be a very busy Jubilee year Ceremonially. At the last time of asking there were some 80% of junior soldiers and it is probably 100% of Officers who have never undertaken a State Ceremonial occasion. Combine this with the fact that a significant number of remounts (over 60) that have also never taken part in a major parade then it will make for a unique challenge for all involved. Whilst QLG has returned

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to normal jogging, rather like State Ceremonial, there have been only one or two Long Guards in the past year. It was evident therefore that what might seem to some as routine business was anything but and to maintain some knowledge it was decided towards the back end of the year to undertake almost two months’ worth of Long Guards.

There have been some further changes at QLG which some of you may have already noticed. Firstly, the timings for the dismounted sentries being posted have been much reduced and are now from 1000-1600 hrs in the Winter and 1000-1800 in the Summer. The benefit to this will clearly be to make life more bearable for those undertaking these duties especially in the Winter months when they are posted and dismounted when still dark. Secondly the weekends will see a 72-hour guard mount as a matter of routine.

The aim here is to try and ensure that those not on QLG are able to enjoy some quality time away as it cuts down the number of people required to be available for duty. Overall, workforce remains healthy with a strength of 89% and rising. Due to the Jubilee and the impact on the Regiment it has been decided to pause any postings to Bulford with a view to being as close to 100% as possible during the Ceremonial season.

Finally, the hardy perennial - Infrastructure. The condition and reliability of infrastructure at Hyde Park Barracks, Horse Guards and the Training Wing has always been our Achilles heel.

It is rare to have a week when there is not a major failure. The regiment fights unrelentingly to secure improvements, and the decision that the Barracks be withdrawn from possible disposal has already seen funds released to work on the worst parts of the barracks. We wait to see if this includes the dung tunnel!

HCR HCR has also had their challenges which most of you will have no doubt read about in the national media. But I do believe there is every reason to be cautiously optimistic, not only about AJAX but also the revised programme that the Commanding Officer has been able to agree with his Chain of Command. And given that it is independent on what happens to AJAX over the coming years we can be reasonably confident that the FOE will remain. I am sure AJAX will be covered elsewhere but in short because of the noise and vibration issues all vehicles are now transferred to Milbrook for further evaluation by an

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independent body. As ever, the soldiers have remained entirely professional in the face of a multitude of frustrations and remain ready to assist Defence wherever to bring what still promises to be a fantastic vehicle into service.

Without wishing to steal the Commanding Officer’s sandwiches, I give a very quick overview of what the Regiment can expect over the coming years. This year (2022) will see a series of exercises building up to a pan UK exercise albeit based in Landrovers but focussing on comms, med, log, C2 etc at reach.

Towards the back end of the year a Sqn will be deployed with the Scots Guards to Belize. Work is ongoing to try and make this a Regt deployment. There is also a Kosovo tour also earmarked for the end of the year. At the start of 2023 a large deployment (Regt (-)) will be undertaken to Kenya for four months where they will be acting as OPFOR as well as undertaking Defence Engagement activity from the Land Regional Hub. Overlapping with this will be a large company deploying to Cyprus on Op TOSCA for six months. The plan will be to rotate as many soldiers through as many opportunities as possible. For the following years it is hoped that the Army will be able to deploy AJAX with HCR leading the way.

A great programme and much to look forward to.

Band The suspension of musical support to public duties meant that although the band performed at ceremonial events ‘behind the wire’, the Major General’s Inspection in Hyde Park was the band’s first engagement in front of the public.

Once musical support commenced in July the band was quickly its’ rhythm, supporting guard changes in Windsor and London, as well as performing at Guards Polo Club and supporting Metropolitan Police passing-out parades in Hendon. Towards the back end of the year the band was again mounted for The Lord Mayor’s Show which gave an outing for the new drum horse (currently known at Harry) in front of the band alongside Perseus. Shortly after this, twenty Musicians, including the Director of Music, joined musicians from across the Household Division for the annual Scarlet and Gold concerts at Cadogan Hall.

For some the highlight of the year arrived when a BBC film crew visited the band at Combermere Barracks in June for an episode of Who Do You Think

You Are with Pixie Lott. Her great, great grandfather, John Martin served for 26 years in the Band of the 2nd Life Guards.

And, as ever, the band have done their bit for operations as they have had three members deployed during 2021 as part of the Household Division Bands’ support to Operation RESCRIPT at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with duties including the very important weekly PCR testing of in-pensioners and staff.

Foundation After a bumpy ride during the past few years, I am pleased to say that the foundation is back where it was prior to the pandemic. Much of this has been due to the continue generosity of our exceptional donors for which I must offer a collective thank you. With their support we have been able to continue to provide benevolence when required and I would remind you all that the Foundation is there for everyone so if in doubt then please get in touch. One notable money raiser was the Household Cavalry boxing in November. Thank you to everyone who helped make the evening such a success and we hope that another will follow in the not-too-distant future.

The Museum journey has been trickier.

I would like to start by publicly thanking all those who have been working tirelessly to keep the Museum afloat and in particular Colonel (Retd) James Gaselee who has done so voluntarily as the Chairman of both the Trust and the Enterprise. Despite some outstanding work from all those in the Museum, given that the footfall has fallen off a cliff it must come as no surprise that there remains a rocky path ahead. We must continue to ensure that we do everything we can to support our Heritage in order to ensure that the Museum remains where it is.

Conclusion With that, it is time to sign off as I hand over the reins to Colonel Mark Berry LG in August. It has been an absolute pleasure and huge privilege to serve as a Household Cavalryman for the past 34 or so years. I feel immensely lucky to have started my service with The Blues and Royals and there can be no better way to end than to finish whilst still part of the Regimental Family as Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Household Cavalry. I thank you all for your guidance, wisdom and advice that you have generously given me and wish everyone, both serving and retired all the very best in the future.

Editorial A

gain, this year has given those serving a remarkable mix of challenge, joy, excitement and frustration in almost equal measure.

However, what does stand out above all else is the stoic attitude of the serving soldier who has had to adapt to a rapid and ever-changing scenario, whether it be State Ceremonial or the support to Covid or the frustrations of the AJAX programme. Even with restrictions and constraints, our people have managed to travel the globe, often representing both the Nation and the Regiments.

Our veteran community continues to meet to mark either current events, or indeed events that are now almost history. This coming year sees the 100th anniversary of the joining together of 1st and 2nd Life Guards and the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands conflict and the Hyde Park Bombing. You will be able to read reports of these events in the next Journal, but even better, why not attend them yourself? Details can be discovered via the Regimental Secretaries (Ken Robertson, Chris Elliot and ably assisted by Jodie Solomon) in

Home Headquarters. For those of you who have stories to tell, please send articles to the Associations.

As the Covid restrictions lift, take the opportunity to reengage with old comrades and swap tales. The Associations and regional dining clubs are there for you to attend. Grab that chance to meet others of your generation and perhaps assist those from a different generation. To follow that old cavalry maxim, “Keep trotting, if in doubt, Gallop!”

Former Commanding Officers of Household Cavalry since the Union, along with Colonel J D Smith Bingham, the Silver Stick at the time (1992) Rear Row: Colonel Gaselee, Colonel Hughes, Lieutenant Colonel Eyre, Lieutenant Colonel Woyka, Colonel Cowan, The Kaiser, Colonel Massey, Colonel Browne, Lieutenant Colonel Scott, Colonel Fullerton, Colonel Hayward.

Front Row: Lieutenant Colonel Armitage, Lieutenant Colonel Griffin, Colonel Lockhart, Colonel Life Guards, Colonel Smith-Bingham, Colonel Falkner, Lieutenant General Rollo, Brigadier van der Lande, Lieutenant Colonel Gilham

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Household Cavalry Regiment Foreword

By Lieutenant Colonel A E Gilham, The Life Guards Commanding Officer, The Household Cavalry Regiment

I

t is safe to say at the end of 2021 that the year just gone did not turn out as predicted, and that the future of the Household Cavalry Regiment also looks different now to when I wrote this time last year. Sadly, the AJAX issues that occurred at the end of 2020 did not go away, and in fact worsened, and the Regiment worked fast to find alternative opportunities for this year.

Between RHQ and the squadrons, a lot of hard yards were put in to keep our people both trained and motivated. This saw us deploy people to about 17 different countries in 2021. We have had Short Term Training Teams (STTTs) deploy to Kenya three times and the Caribbean twice; in the Turks and Caicos Islands the final exercise the team were delivering took a turn for the more serious when the students found and detained a large group of illegal immigrants and a significant haul of drugs.

The HCR also delivered an enhanced D Squadron training exercise in the tunnels of Gibraltar, recces in the Republic of Korea, and multiple formed troops or platoons deploying with other units.

These included; training on CVR(T) with the Royal Lancers in Germany, in the jungle of Belize with the Scots Guards (with our platoon coming top), and in Kenya with multiple different battalions, either supporting the exercising troops or acting as enemy. HCR teams won Silver and Bronze medals at the Cambrian Patrol, and coached our affiliated Indian Army team to a Gold.

Operationally, we began 2021 with a team in Kent testing hauliers for Covid19 as part of Operation ROSE, before then assuming UK Standby Battalion in June. This saw troops almost immediately deploy on an ISR task in support of the G7 Summit in Cornwall.

Due to handover in September, we were eventually extended until just before Christmas leave after 3 PARA – our planned successors – deployed to Afghanistan to assist the withdrawal in August, and could not reconstitute in time. We have also sent individuals on several overseas operations, including to Estonia and Ghana, while having people deployed in support of

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homeland resilience tasks pretty much constantly through the year.

Throughout, our people have remained as brilliant as ever - they have been stoic with regard to AJAX delays, and deeply committed to delivering operations at home and abroad, while also seeking out and volunteering for other training opportunities wherever they can.

The year did end sadly, however, with the untimely death of the much-loved Lance Corporal of Horse Mike Miah, and my deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends and colleagues.

Looking to the future, I am somewhat loathed to predict the future of AJAX again, lest I am proven wrong once more. As we understand it, the root causes of the noise and vibration issues have been identified at least in part, and the manufacturer is working hard to mitigate these. The MoD remains committed to the programme, and we do hope to be training on AJAX again in 2022, and if not, we are at least now in a position to deliver training on the simulators in Upavon. Critically, we enter 2022 with a plan that does not require AJAX, and so, regardless of when the issues are resolved, the HCR has a robust exercise and operational schedule ahead of it. Set-piece regimental activity will include a dismounted exercise on Sennybridge for all squadrons, a regimental exercise mounted in Land Rovers training on public, private and military land across the South and South-West of the UK, and then a squadron deployment to Belize in November.

After 15 months of fighting vociferously for operational employment we have finally received some exceptionally good news. The deployment to Kosovo for a half-squadron in late 2022 is confirmed, as is a squadron deployment to Cyprus in 2023. We estimate that between these two tours we will be able to achieve medallic recognition for 150-200 of our soldiers and officers. We are also currently slated to send a squadron to Kenya for the first four months of 2023, conducting Task Force HANNIBAL activity (OPFOR in old money), as well as Defence Engagement, adventurous training, safaris, etc. This is all hugely positive. We continue to request other

operational activity over and above this, and we will see what comes of it.

Many will also be tracking the Future Soldier announcements in late November. Again, the HCR has come out of this well. The Regiment in Bulford will shrink by about 50 people, with B (C&S) Squadron folding, as will happen to the other Armoured Cavalry regiments too. However, we will stand up an Experimentation Troop of 36 at Warminster under 2 YORKS, which will allow our officers and soldiers there plenty of time in vehicles to experiment tactically, and trial new equipment as well. On top of this we will grow our TACP, probably in Larkhill, and we also now have ringfenced HCav slots within the Guards Parachute Platoon.

Ultimately, the net reduction in workforce we face is less than the empty PIDs we currently hold, and so no HCR soldier will be asked to transfer to a different corps – this is not the case for many other units, and so we have done better than most.

What all of this adds up to is, while the future is somewhat different to that which I explained to you in the Journal last year, it remains just as bright, if not brighter.

A Squadron

Squadron Leader: Major M D de B Wilmot, The Blues and Royals Squadron Corporal Major: Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) J D Ashford, The Blues and Royals

D

uring the pause to AJAX conversion, A Squadron has been presented with an opportunity to design and deliver its own training programme.

Returning from Christmas leave, the Squadron commenced a programme of dispersed training just as the third wave of the Covid pandemic landed. With a view to keeping the soldiers both occupied and interested, the varied schedule included everything from engineering capabilities to Armoured Fighting Vehicle recognition. A series of external speakers was kicked off with Lieutenant Colonel Nana Twumasi-Ankrah, former Equerry to Her Majesty the Queen.

Each Wednesday afternoon included mental resilience exercises and a daily PT challenge kept some competition amongst the troops, with the squadron doing 18,848 repetitions of various exercises in the first week alone.

In the early months of 2020, conversion remained central to the A Squadron schedule of activity. A pause to conversion has since followed but we have found plenty of opportunity to be creative. It was great to see Trooper Dunbar completing a marathon whilst carrying 20kg of weight to raise money for

Heads Up, a military mental health charity founded by former Household Cavalryman, Paul Minter. He raised an impressive £1,100 and was by no means on his own, with members of A Squadron showing their support for him throughout. In March, A Squadron led the Regiment’s PNCO cadre on Salisbury Plain and at Thetford in Norfolk. Lieutenant Harry Sayer and Corporal of Horse McClure did a commendable job delivering the course in spite of the challenges of the global pandemic. We also had a number of officers and soldiers attend Pegasus Company with the aspiration of serving in the Guards Parachute Platoon.

Second Lieutenant Sholto Hanson led the Household Cavalry contingent where Trooper Keegan won the 1.5 miler.

A Squadron in Kenya, considering alternative vehicle platforms to AJAX.

Bereft of armoured vehicles, we pulled every string we could get our hands on to get our people away. The Squadron Second in Command, Captain Ed Martin, led a team to deliver Protected Mobility training to the Kenyan Defence Force in Isiolo, Kenya. A credit to Ed and his team was that six months later we were asked back, with Lieutenant Hugo Picket and Corporal of Horse

Chalklin leading the charge on the second iteration. We were delighted when further string-pulling resulted in the regiment being selected to help train the Turks and Caicos Island Regiment, which saw a number of A Squadron personnel deploy to paradise. Sergeant Townshend (RE) was the team’s expert in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief. Lance Sergeant Osei helped to

A Squadron supporting the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 7

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on seeing their achievement as a subunit triumph. They sailed around the course, overtaking a team from another regiment en route to the final stand.

In October we welcomed the Indian Cambrian Patrol Team to Bulford and, under the wing of the A Squadron team, assisted in their final preparation for the competition. The Cambrian Patrol is a gruelling 48-hour endurance competition enjoying a world class reputation.

The A Squadron team put in another monumental performance and did the regiment enormously proud as they finished with a Silver Medal. An additional testament to the team was the Gold won by the Indians who, in their own words, owe much of their success to the thorough and professional programme provided by their hosts.

Lance Corporal of Horse Bruce Capp’s Scavenger Hunt winning team with Colour Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC

mentor the TCI Regiment’s clerk. Lance Corporal of Horse Marchant used his recent surveillance training to provide the TCI Regiment with the most current practices for OPs and surveillance, and Corporal of Horse McClure and Second Lieutenant Sholto Hanson took the lead training the TCI Marines, resulting in a real-life drug bust during the final exercise. That their flight was delayed, resulting in an extra week or two on the beach, was a minor inconvenience.

In May, Horse Guards hosted a joint Household Cavalry Regiment and Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment parade to welcome the return of the Eagle Standard of the French 105th. It was a privilege for A Squadron Leader and Squadron Corporal Major to lead the dismounted contingent; with the latter narrowly avoiding being stampeded by a mounted division. Ceremonial soldiering behind us, we set our focus on the triumvirate of patrols competitions: Regimental, Brigade, and Cambrian.

Lieutenant Harry Sayer had his final outing with A Squadron leading the team to an impressive second place in the Regimental Competition. A Squadron also supported the event with various enablers and Corporal of Horse Albert Hall delivered the exuberant final stand of the competition: the stretcher race.

Eager to get away from Bulford, the Squadron Leader and Corporal Major volunteered to support the stand, with the latter taking on the role of a local militia commander before getting in the mix with the stretcher race. Preparation for patrols competitions was briefly disrupted by Operation TRELAWNY, a United Kingdom Standby Battalion task that saw members of the squadron

deploy to St Michael’s Mount to bolster the police presence around the G7 Conference.

The Brigade Patrols competition was our opportunity to get our Cambrian Patrol team some preparatory training.

Led by Lieutenant Sholto Hanson and Lance Corporal of Horse Jo Marchant, the team approached the challenge with ambition and great professionalism. There was a monumental effort from across the squadron to support the exercise with Corporal of Horse Albert Hall leading the Hasty Attack stand this time ably supported by Cornet Angus McCaul and Sergeant Townshend.

Though officially labelled HCR Team 1, given that A Squadron made up all the team members we felt justified

Beyond patrols competitions, we have had a healthy rhythm of field training, with A Squadron deploying on the Regiment’s first mounted exercise using Land Rover as a surrogate platform. This was followed up by Exercise AGENDO SWORD in the winter, a dismounted exercise in Norfolk that saw A Squadron finish off the calendar year on a high. Elsewhere, we have made up more than half of the regimental boxing team, including our very own Corporal Major Ashford taking the first bout in the Household Cavalry Foundation charity boxing night. The year might be summed up with one word – ‘scrapping’. We have fought for every opportunity to occupy our people meaningfully and twelve months on can look proudly at what we have achieved with personnel deploying to: Ukraine, Kenya, Turks and Caicos Islands, Canada, Germany, Louisiana. All of A Squadron should be enormously proud of what they have delivered.

Trooper Booker laying a wreath during the Canadian High Commission’s Remembrance Day Service at Brookwood Cemetery

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 9

B Squadron

by Major J G Heath, Royal Dragoon Guards Squadron Corporal Major: Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) D G Ridge, The Blues and Royals

A

s the home of the HCR’s specialist capabilities, namely those of Sniper, Anti-Tank and RPAS (remotely piloted aerial system, or ‘drone’) troops respectively, B Squadron has been in a uniquely fortunate position regarding the opportunities we have had to train this year. Our dismounted focus and tactical flexibility have allowed us to work around the delays in the AJAX program, continuing to develop HCR’s capability in other fields.

RPAS troop have had a hugely productive period, seizing a wide array of training opportunities and making significant progress in developing the use of drones in a tactical setting.

In January, a composite RPAS troop from B Squadron HCR joined the 2 MERCIAN Battlegroup in Kenya for Exercise ASKARI STORM. The arduous conditions presented a particular challenge for the RPAS operators, with the rugged terrain and difficult flying environment consistently testing their skills. Despite this, the drone pairs were able to demonstrate their flexibility and independence of mind, working round numerous frustrations to deliver on the ground and gather valuable data to bring back for further development.

The lessons learned on this exercise have had utility across 1 Brigade and continue to shape the Troop’s continued employment in RPAS experimentation. The pace has not slackened as we approach Christmas leave, with support to Sniper training in Gosport and Otterburn and assisting OPFOR on the Crew Commanders’ course all to look forward to.

aspiring snipers across the Regiment.

The team have also represented the HCR to the highest of standards, placing third in the 1X Sniping competition, with Lance Corporal of Horse Massey going on to achieve second in the 3XX competition as a Number 2. The Troop were also able to conduct some interesting outreach, teaching the Swansea FC coaching staff about how their teams work in the field, raising the profile of the HCR while securing some flashy new stash for the Squadron in the process! The Troop continues with its pace into Q4 this year, with soldiers deployed in Kenya and Belize on STTT and jungle exercises respectively.

Our Sniper Troop have been equally busy with everything from competitions to defence engagement. The range of training that the Troop has conducted has been diverse, including urban operations, ranges and insight courses for

B Squadron’s Anti-Tank troop have been focussing on developing their capability over the period with a series of dismounted and OP-focussed exercises, putting the team through their paces while ensuring key experience

RPAS operators in action during the Brigade RPAS concentration

Sniper pair in action at the Brigade Sniper competition

10 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

is gained. Alongside their own training, the Troop ran the regimental AntiTank cadre over the summer, identifying potential in aspiring soldiers from across the Regiment. This has led to some great gains, with fresh talent being recruited into the Troop. The Anti-Tank troop is now preparing to deliver the 3 Div Anti-Tank concentration early next year - an opportunity to shape best practice across the Army.

Loathe to miss out, even the Squadron Headquarters have managed to get stuck in, with the Squadron Leader, SCM and SQMC deploying to the Turks and Caicos Islands, as part of a crossregiment STTT, aimed at providing guidance and training to the territory’s fledgling armed forces. While the location was suitably enjoyed, the team made some great progress with their hosts, even managing to squeeze a realtime migrant serial into the program,

Sharpshooter dropping targets during the Brigade Sniper competition

Anti-tanks Cadre

replete with the seizure of illicit substances! Along with the Anti-Tank Troop Leader, the Squadron Leader and SCM have also managed to deploy twice to Korea to conduct recce’s of the Korean Combat Training Centre, with a view to establish involvement in defence engagement and joint training

tasks with key NATO allies in 2022.

With such a broad range of activity already conducted and still ongoing, the Squadron is looking forward to a period of well-earned Christmas leave. The New Year sees B Squadron leaning in to yet more diverse training activity, with

Regimental Anti-Tank and Sniper cadres to run, as well as conducting collective dismounted training in Scotland in February. Such a broad and busy forecast will allow B Squadron to continue developing the Regiment’s specialist capabilities and driving our tactical innovation forward.

B Squadron enjoying white water rafting during AT in Kenya

Patrol skills during the Anti-tanks cadre

B Squadron Leader (second from right) and B SCM (far right) visiting the South Korean Combat Training Centre

B Squadron Corporal Major, WO2 (SCM) Ridge provides guidance to the RCM of the Turks and Caicos Regiment

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 11

C Squadron

by Major H J B Jordan, The Life Guards and Squadron Corporal Major: Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) N Turner, The Life Guards

2

021 has presented C Squadron with plenty of challenges as we work to achieve the status of the AJAX Initial Operating Capability squadron. The juggernaut of AJAX conversion continued where 2020 left off with the Squadron rotating in good order between Gunnery at the simulator facility in Upavon, Driving and Maintenance, and Track Commanders courses. By April, the entire Squadron had successfully converted onto the ARES platform, awaiting the final confirmatory exercise on Salisbury Plain Exercise ARES STRIKE. Regrettably, the good work of the instructors was once laid low by technical constraints and a complete halt in the use of AJAX from May onwards.

With never a dull moment, the Squadron switched fire to dismounted training, providing a Troop’s worth as enemy for D Squadron’s Exercise DARING ROCK in Gibraltar under Lieutenant Hutton and Lance Corporal of Horse Petit. Lance Corporal Smith earned some choice feedback after ambushing D Squadron with a GPMG whilst they were queuing for lunch. In May, Lieutenant Bushell organised a Squadron Training Week

at Wyke Regis Camp at Weymouth which culminated in an especially vigorous inter-troop football competition. June brought with it intensive preparation for the Regimental Patrols Competition (Exercise SABRE TOR).

The patrol entailed a 30km march across the High Moor at Okehampton, incorporating a CTR and a number of stands; all intended to identify and prepare participants for the Cambrian Patrol in October. Dartmoor was certainly not pleased to see us and laid on one of the worst summer storms in recent memory. C Squadron Team 2, under the able command of Lieutenant Hutton, prevailed where others succumbed and earned the glorious prize of Best Patrol. Lance Corporal of Horse Bishop, the superb Patrol 2IC, was promptly rewarded for his efforts with a further opportunity to get wet and cold by undertaking the Section Commander’s Battle Course at Brecon.

August was spent at home with much of the Squadron held at readiness to support the Defence Nuclear Organisation, possibly not our natural habitat. The Regiment’s growing partnership with the Ministry of Defence Police

C Squadron shows the Lancers how it’s done

12 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

Lieutenant Hutton and Lance Corporal of Horse Petit formulate another disruptive serial on Exercise DARING ROCK

has yielded some interesting training opportunities; not least the chance to conduct penetration testing against some of the most sensitive infrastructure in the country. In September, the Squadron switched its focus to delivering Dartmoor Mk2: the 1 Armd Inf Bde Patrols competition. Corporal of Horse Esmond devised a disconcertingly realistic chemical warfare stand which put the wind up a few local dog-walkers. Corporal of Horse McKean and Sergeant Alcock, the Squadron Engineer

SCM and SQMC refine the G4 of Pokémon GO in Weymouth

prizes on their Crew Commander courses – an exceptional achievement.

Lance Corporal Wain was awarded A CVR(T) posing with its inspiration, the Top Student on Lance Corporal of Horse Lewis B Squadron’s Anti Tank cadre and was promptly snapped up by B Squadron’s Sergeant, combined an enthusiastic talent scouts. He will bring C Squadron appreciation of explosives and medipanache to the Anti Tank troop. Lance cal skills into a mine clearance stand.

Corporal Croker continues to represent Finally, Second Lieutenant Dwyer and Bath RFC and is the scrum half for the Corporal of Horse Tamang burnished Army Rugby team. their theatrical credentials with a particularly immersive prisoner handling The Squadron has contributed to a wide serial, much enhanced by the acting of array of operations and exercises across Tprs Ryder and Thornes. the globe. Exercise SOMME LANCER, a Royal Lancers’ battlegroup exercise In October, the Squadron spent a week on private land near Sennelager, was in sunny Altcar Camp (a short train supported by Lieutenant Bushell, actride from Liverpool) refreshing MATTs, ing as Squadron Second in Command, doing some Battle PT and conducting Corporal of Horse Tamang who stepped some sporting / social activity before up as Troop Leader and earned a rounding out the year with dismounted Commanding Officer’s Coin, and Lance training at Bramley and Land-Rover Corporals of Horse Coventry and Lewis based mounted training on Salisbury who acted with great professionalism Plain. as Crew Commanders, leaving many junior Lancers contemplating transfer.

The year has seen C Squadron’s pleasLieutenant Lupton, Corporal of Horse ing run of success at career courses conFlawn, Troopers Davies and Izard tinue. Lance Corporals of Horse Lewis deployed as instructors with the SCOTS and Nolan both secured the Top Student

DG to the new Ras Madrakah training area near Duqm in Oman; an amazing experience of what will hopefully become the Army’s premier armoured training area in the years to come.

Trooper Hester deployed with the Irish Guards Reconnaissance Platoon to the land of jazz and alligators as part of Exercise RATTLESNAKE in Louisiana.

Other small bands of determined troops have been to the Turks and Caicos, Belize, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Kenya and elsewhere besides.

The Squadron bids a fond farewell to Major Erskine-Naylor (COS 1ISRX), Captain Howard-Keyes (Staff Capt LONDIST), Lieutenants Muir and Bushell (LG Sqn HCMR), Warrant Officer Class 2 Ottaway (RQMC HCMR), Staff Corporal Harrison-Shaw (A Sqn SQMC), Corporal of Horse McWhirter (SI RATD), Corporal of Horse Jackson (Snpr Tp CoH), Corporal of Horse McKean (LG Sqn HCMR), Corporal of Horse Petit RHG/D Sqn HCMR), and Corporal of Horse Rudwick (RACTR DMI). Equally welcoming Major Jordan, Captain Onslow, Lieutenant Schepers, Second Lieutenant Dwyer, Cornets Henderson and Thomas, Warrant Officer Class 2 Turner, and Corporals of Horse Esmond and Tamang.

D Squadron

by Major R W Horgan, the Blues and Royals Squadron Corporal Major: Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) M B Doran, The Blues and Royals

2

021 has been a year of initiative for D Squadron. With large exercises and operations paused for the Regiment, space has been created for the Squadron to chart its own destiny. As ever, the agility of the Household Cavalry soldier has been our strength.

The first half of the year saw the Squadron begin to specialise in subterranean and urban warfare. This highintensity, close and demanding form

of warfare is unlike any other, requiring exacting standards of dismounted soldiering and small-team leadership.

As a method of occupying soldiers before the vaunted yet illusive delivery of AJAX, no better alternative can be found. Under the close instruction of Corporal of Horse Southall-Owen, our tame Close-Quarter Battle instructor, the Squadron honed their skills in living, moving, and fighting in confined and dark spaces. Corsham Mines

and Hythe ranges were the setting of a flurry of build-up training ahead of the Squadron’s deployment on Exercise DARING ROCK to Gibraltar in March 2021.

On arrival in Gibraltar, the Squadron conducted refresher training over three days which culminated in an amphibious insertion by Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) on to the Buffadero Training Area; a first for many of the

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 13

D Squadron stack up in a tunnel inside the Rock of Gibraltar ahead of a subterranean assault

Squadron. This was provided by the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron and marked the beginning of a seven-day Final Test Exercise, with the Squadron inserting into a series of OPs all around the Rock. Troops were able to observe civilian pattern of life, as well as ‘the enemy’ conducting transfers of weapons and stores by boat and road. Over the next few days, Troop-level Close Target Reconnaissance operations and Raids onto enemy objectives marked a gradual increase in the intensity of the exercise, culminating in an ambitious final attack.

After an early-hours insertion, the Squadron attacked an ‘enemy’ village, supported by the Gibraltar Defence Police’s attack dogs, who cleared through a couple of buildings

with alarming pace. This was watched by Commodore Steve Dainton, Commander British Forces Gibraltar, and several of his team, who kindly agreed to promote Troopers Taylor and Broughton to Lance Corporal.

Following the occupation of the village, the Squadron launched a simultaneous Squadron attack onto a complex series of tunnels in the famous Rock using night vision, testing our command and control as well as small-team leadership. The final phase of the attack saw the Squadron conduct an amphibious insertion via RHIB in the hours of darkness, using a tunnel to cross through the width of the peninsula to the other side (to catch the enemy by surprise).

The exercise also gave D Squadron the

Soldiers from D Squadron conducting urban operations in Gibraltar on Exercise DARING ROCK

14 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

opportunity to conduct some adventurous training and Defence Engagement.

Notably, the Squadron provided a Ceremonial guard for the final week outside the Residence of His Excellency the Governor, Vice Admiral Sir David Steele KBE DL. The Sqn also conducted an inspection outside the Convent in the format of the 4 o’clock inspection, the first time the Regiment has mounted guard in Gibraltar. This was a memorable experience which was greatly appreciated by the local population.

The second half of the year saw a steadier pace of events. The Squadron became fully immersed in Operation TEMPERER, the military contribution to supporting civil authorities, requiring the Squadron to be held at high readiness. In August, the Squadron Leader

Members of D Squadron’s amphibious task force, borne by the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron, come ashore

(Future) Second Lieutenant T Horne puts in a fine performance as Page Boy at D Squadron Leader’s (Des) wedding in June 2021

and Squadron Corporal Major changed over, heralding a fresh-faced and enthusiastic change at the top.

Additionally, members of the Squadron were able to deploy individually on a range of exercises and operations.

Lieutenant Carr-Smith led a team on Exercise SOMME LANCER to Germany with the Royal Lancers, where our soldiers had the opportunity to operate at reach on CVR(T) Scimitar. Similarly, Lieutenant Kaye led a team to the jungles of Belize, supporting the Scots Guards on Exercise MAYAN WARRIOR. Corporal of Horse Minto and Lance Corporal of Horse Shaw deployed to Kenya to support the Grenadier Guards on Exercise ASKARI STORM, while Lance Corporal of Horse Mclaughlin also deployed to Kenya with a short-term training team

Lance Corporal Holden and Trooper Skeen assess their position on a Navigation Exercise at Portway estate

assisting the Kenyan School of Armour.

Just in case he hasn’t already told you, Lieutenant Stone led a Cambrian Patrol team to a Bronze medal and Lieutenant Godwin and Corporal of Horse Hinchley executed an impressive fourweek Potential Non-Commissioned Officer Cadre. Of note, Lance Corporal Taylor has conducted a solo deployment on Operation ESCALIN, keeping petrol flowing at forecourts through the country with his relentless oil tanker schedule.

Combat skills it is currently honing over the winter period. What is clear to the new incumbent on the Squadron Leader’s office is that despite the challenges which all readers will be only too familiar with, D Squadron continues to retain its charming yet professional manner, offering all its members the chance to work in a tight-knit, professional and supremely welcoming environment.

2022 is likely to offer some larger set-piece training opportunities which will allow the Squadron to practice many of the Mounted Close

Lieutenant Stone leads his team across in a river crossing on Dartmoor

Known only as ‘The Instructor’ (or Corporal of Horse Hinchley), a D Squadron NCO keeps watch over students on the PNCO Cadre

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 15

Headquarters Squadron

by Major D H Robson, The Blues and Royals Squadron Corporal Major: WO2 (SCM) S C Dimbylow, the Life Guard

T

he year kicked off with a Basic Combat Skills exercise on Salisbury Plain, devised by the Squadron 2IC Captain Ben Wood RTR. Staff Corporal Sabatini produced the best model the Squadron had ever seen for his rolling replenishment lesson. The Squadron’s performance on the exercise was nothing short of excellent and the Squadron Leader was impressed with everyone’s drive and resilience. In February, the Squadron was tasked to provide support to the Covid testing of hauliers in Kent: Operation ROSE. In freezing weather, the Squadron, led by Major Danny Robson RHG/D, deployed to Manston Airfield where they remained for three weeks. It was a busy task; soldiers were racking up 30,000 steps on each shift. Having inherited chaos, the Squadron passed over the commitment in good order to the civilian agencies that followed.

From June, we assumed our commitment to the United Kingdom Standby Battalion, and we remained at readiness until December. The UKSB is held at high readiness to provide support to the Police and other agencies deal with a variety of different major emergencies. We were frustratingly (but understandably) extended to the commitment because our replacements, 3 PARA, were deployed to Kabul to conduct the evacuation. Staff Corporal Hendy and a number of others deployed individually throughout the year to assist the NHS as vaccinators.

Following summer stand-down, the Squadron was heavily committed to delivering the 1 Armd Inf Bde Patrols Exercise on Dartmoor. Warrant Officer Class 2 (RQMC) Privett was the brains of the activity, first in and last out, wholly

Squadron Corporal Major Dimbylow tries hard to sell regimental notebooks to an unsuspecting customer in the shape of Staff Corporal Sabatini RHG/D

unflappable. The scale and complexity of the G4 challenge was the greatest the Regiment has encountered on exercise in the past few years, the departments delivered in spades. Corporal of Horse Jordan endured a baptism of fire in his first week as MT CoH, nursing a tired fleet of Land Rovers through the exercise; the exercise would have failed without his ingenuity and tenacity.

Command Troop played a vital role: Staff Corporal Archer and Corporal of Horse Morris provided an innovative and highly successful frequency hopping rebroadcast net, delivering reliable communications along the whole 35km route.

The Squadron has also had a busy year

Snowy conditions during Operation ROSE, support to Covid testing for hauliers in Ken

16 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

of trawls. Trooper Sreeves, barely a few weeks after joining Command Troop from C Squadron, deployed as a CVR(T) driver on Exercise SOMME LANCER to Sennelager in Germany. Warrant Officer Class 2 (RSWO) Wilkinson and Lance Corporal of Horse Capes also deployed on long trawls to Germany.

Lance Corporal Purcell-Shaw was trawled for six months to administer the military vehicle fleet in Belize where training is being reinvigorated following many years of decline. Four other

We know the when and where, but Who??

That is why you have a spade mounted on the front of a Land Rover!

soldiers had the good fortune to exercise in Belize with the Scots Guards during Exercise MAYAN STORM. We said a fond farewell to Captain Stephen McWhirter RHG/D who handed over RCMO to Captain Mark Jaworski LG. His legacy to the Regiment is a considerably improved manning picture, now well above 90%. Staff Corporal Thomson passed the instructor cadre at Sandhurst, a proud achievement, and will represent the Regiment superbly over the next two years. We

A hungry diner asks ‘Can I have some more...compo?’ with apologies to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist

wish him good luck! Corporal of Horse Semakula has returned to the fold from the Norwich Army Recruiting Centre, bringing great expertise to the Regimental Engagement Team before posting to the Life Guards Squadron at HCMR. Special mention goes to Lance Corporal of Horse Savage who, following six years of unbroken service within HQ Squadron, has posted on promotion to Corporal of Horse as the Forage Master at HCMR. Finally, Captain Ben Wood RTR has been

the powerhouse behind the Regiment’s boxing success during October and November. Lance Corporal of Horse Capes did superbly as the head coach.

Lance Corporal Currie RLC represented the Squadron valiantly, contributing to HCR’s victory at the HCF event in London.

Looking ahead to 2022/23 we hope that we have what we expect in the way of training and that what we achieve, is marked by our successes.

The Light Aid Detachment

by Captain Adam Allchin OC HCR LAD

O

verseas deployments to Land Training Fleet (Sennelager), the Falkland Islands and Op CABRIT (deterrence of Russian bad behaviour in the Baltic States). Enabling key sub-unit training, support to the Covid response, sporting success and of course enduring Covid-19 with its lockdowns. The list could go on. The LAD has engaged with and successfully completed a vast variety of tasks and done so in a way befitting of the Household Cavalry Regiment.

It has been heavily involved in helping test the manuals and technical publications which will greatly ease the fielding process once it resumes. We have a healthy risk appetite! Punching

above its weight, the LAD continues to influence engineering decisions well beyond the Regimental boundaries.

Through liaison with partners in Army HQ and DE&S, it is helping to rebuild

Whilst striving to maintain the Regiment’s fleet to the highest possible standard, the LAD has seen numerous platforms come and go. Most significantly, in August this year, it has witnessed the end of the CVR(T) era. A sentimental time for many who have operated and maintained them. A platform that has seen so much service it begs the question, “If all of the components of a CVR(T) have been replaced over the years, is it still the same CVR(T)?”

The LAD is proud to play a vital role in driving forward the fielding of AJAX.

Lance Corporal Shaw on deployment to BFSAI conducting repairs and inspections on the fleet

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 17

HCR LAD Crafty Cup cricket team captained by Sergeant Graham

Lance Sergeant Adams and Lance Corporal Riglar conducting repairs on ATLAS (an AJAX variant)

momentum in the delivery of AJAX. Making use of the variety of technical skills that the LAD possesses, and, in a bid to build upon the extensive history of the Regiment, it has purchased a horsebox! Renovation is now underway to turn it from non-taskworthy into a fully fit refreshments facility.

With lots of moving parts, it has been important that the LAD has been able to remain stable in the modern workshop facilities recently provided. The LAD has welcomed in new leadership as

HCR LAD Football team captained by Craftsman Hall

Warrant Officer Class 2 (AQMS) Brooks posted on promotion to ASM, replaced

by Warrant Officer Class 2 (AQMS) Mellor. Whilst the EME Captain Allchin was replaced by Captain McAfee. New additions include Artificers Bailey, Diedericks and Pendlebury on completion of their Artificer course at MOD Lyneham. Congratulations must go to Warrant Officer Class 1 (ASM) Turner on his selection for commissioning.

Although engineering activities have occupied most of the LAD’s time this

year, it has also been able to squeeze in some sport. Entering the REME cricket competition started off as a way to enjoy the summer weather. However, with some strong team performances and a bit of luck the LAD went on all the way to win! It now looks forward to seeing how it goes in the REME football cup.

In another year dominated by uncertainty the LAD can be proud that it has built upon the stable foundations laid down in Bulford.

Quartermaster’s (Maintenance & Technical) Department Quartermaster: Captain S M Mansfield, The Life Guards Regimental Quartermaster Corporal: Warrant Officer Class 2 (RQMC) M S Privett, The Blues and Royals Quartermaster (Technical): Captain J R Dove, The Life Guards Regimental Quartermaster Corporal (Technical): Warrant Officer Class 2 (RQMC) D D Snoxell, The Life Guards

A

s 2021 draws to a close, there is finally a sense of calm within the Quartermaster’s departments after a hectic but productive year. The turbulence in staff has continued seeing a change of RQMC(M) from Warrant Officer Class 2 (now Warrant Officer Class 1) Eade to Warrant Officer Class 2 Privett, whose infectious sense of humour and dedicated work ethic has seen him slip seamlessly into role. We bid farewell to the Forces Health Protection SCpl, Staff Corporal Parker who has returned to the Gunnery School at Lulworth as SQMC and to Staff Corporal Lewis, the JAMES unit administrator, who has returned to HCMR on promotion as Headquarter Squadron Corporal Major. Corporals of

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Horse Savage and Jordan have moved onto HCMR and HCR MT respectively.

They will all be sorely missed and we wish them good luck in their future endeavours. As we say goodbye, we also welcome Staff Corporal Preston from the Regimental Engagement Team as Force Health Protection SCpl, Lance Corporal of Horse Bayley-Bligh stepped into the breach temporarily as JAMES UA until Staff Corporal Crudgington returned from the Signals’ school.

Corporal of Horse Doyle returns from the AJAX acceptance, trials and testing team Methyr Tydfil to take up the mantle of Barracks Manager.

After

a

period

of

unprecedented

restrictions and lockdowns, we have made the most of training and operational support activities. This saw us initially getting back to basics with an Echelon exercise, with most of the department’s personnel spending time in the field. Not only was this a great opportunity to get back into soldiering, but also how to cope with austere conditions. Unwelcome sleep deprivation was ably facilitated by Lance Corporal of Horse Batikaikai, who could give a stuck walrus a run for his money. The whole team performed well above the expected level given the long interval since our previous field training, proving that we can still function effectively as deployed A1 and A2 echelons.

Lance Corporal Palmer taking part in some ‘extra-curricular’ activity

QM(M) and HQ Squadron Leader on a normal Saturday night!

Traditionally, the Quartermaster Department (Maintenance & Technical) have been largely untouchable in respect of trawls for individual augmentees; this year has seen a dramatic change. Captain Steve Mansfield, the Quartermaster, deployed with RHQ on Exercise WARFIGHTER in Texas, in role as the Brigade Deputy Chief of Staff. On his return, there was a brief ‘high five’ hand over/take over with the Quartermaster (Technical) Captain John Dove, who almost immediately deployed on Exercise JOINT

QM(T) working hard on JWA!

WARFIGHTING ASSESSMENT in Colorado as a Brigade Liaison Officer.

Lance Corporal of Horse (now Corporal of Horse) Jordan also deployed as the Brigade’s CBRN guru; it is no small achievement that he is the absolute ‘Go To’ expert concerning CBRN within the whole Brigade. No sooner had the team from Colorado returned, BATUS (Canada) came calling with Lance Corporal of Horse Foran filling a gap in their supply function for most of the summer, being heavily involved with the return of a large number of the fleet to the UK and Germany for repair.

Armoured Corp in Rugby Union, proving a highly worthwhile addition.

At home, Warrant Officer Class 2 RQMC(T) Snoxell maintained a steady hand on the tiller throughout, chasing the Squadron 2ICs to complete their JAMES training and to concentrate on their Equipment Care. He was ably assisted by Staff Sergeant ‘Uncle Joe’ Ngwira looking after the RLC contingent of supply specialists including Lance Sergeant Gurung (Big G), Lance Corporal Gurung (Baby G) and Private Rinatikoilutu, all of whom are invaluable to the departments. Lance Corporal Gurung has represented the RLC in football on several occasions and Private Rinatikoilutu has represented the Royal

Not only have we, as individuals, been deployed to bolster various exercises, we have also been supporting the Sqns in their endeavours. As a function, we have found ourselves enabling exercises to Kenya (HQ & B Squadron), Belize (A Squadron +), Gibraltar (D Squadron) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (B Squadron). All of these deployments required a significant amount of background work to resource the kit, clothing and equipment required to ensure success, none of which have been found wanting.

HCR saw the final remnants of the CVR(T) fleet depart Bulford in August for deployment on exercise in Germany with the Royal Lancers.

A number of these vehicles were crewed by Household Cavalry soldiers, a fitting farewell to vehicles which have been the backbone of the Regiment since the Union in 1991. A Squadron have taken on the task to convert the final Scimitar into a Gate Guardian, which will take pride of place outside RHQ.

RAO Department

by Major S E Ison AGC (SPS).

Regimental Administration Warrant Officer: Warrant Officer Class 2 (RAWO) A O’Hara AGC (SPS)

T

he first major activity of the year for the Detachment was Exercise RESOLUTE STORM which was a backto-basics BCCS exercise on the Salisbury Plain training area where participants took part in dismounted drills such as harbour occupation, patrolling, map reading, CASEVAV and CPERS (PoW in old money!). Day two was where

theory turned to practise with navigation, patrolling and CPERS collection all tested. The Detachment manged to successfully navigate their way back to Bulford and handover, with the correct paperwork, their captured personnel.

Not all work and no play, the Detachment also conducted some fraternal activities,

the first being a visit to a gin distillery in Laverstoke to say farewell to Warrant Officer Class 2 Emily Daley. Then in July the Detachment said farewell to two more of the team, Lance Sergeant Michael Asumadu, who was assigned to the Personnel Administration Training Wing at Worthy Down, and Lance Corporal Keeley Bishop, who was

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 19

RAO Dept. TNB SPS Sports Day

leaving the Service. This time we opted for an adrenaline fuelled adventure and set off for Thorpe Park. With rides completed, Private Davy Jambo then decided to test his metal against the carnival prize games which (without telling you how much he spent) he finally won, winning the biggest Pikachu (and probably most expensive) to leave the park. Finally, Lance Sergeant Robinson Anton-Wilson and Private Azariath Saltearn put on a spectacular SPS sports day for Tidworth and Bulford SPS personnel which was attended by over 100 participants. A great day had by all, which was well organised and promoted the Esprit De Corps of the SPS. After all this fun we went back to training and our next adventure was map reading in the Test Valley. Organised

by Corporal Baz Morris (who left us in October 2021) members of the Detachment would set along a 10-mile route completing map reading tasks along the way such as triangulation, calculating back bearings and identifying features such as relief and man-made structures in relation to the map. Lunch of course was at a very quaint Public House who at first did not appreciate us eating our ‘rat-packs’, but once they knew we were soldiers they welcomed us with open arms, and a few drinks.

Operationally, Lance Sergeant Ernest Osei deployed with the STTT to the Turks & Caicos Islands where he provided basic administration training to the newly formed Defence Force, also taking part in a drug bust, a story for the Mess I am sure. Lance Sergeant

RAO Map Reading

Robinson Anton-Wilson represented C Squadron during the Regimental Patrols Competition showing that even administrators can compete with the Combat Arms and that we still have a soldier first mentality. Finally, Private Azariath Saltearn supported C Squadron during Exercise DARING ROCK in Gibraltar.

Additionally, the Detachment raised over £4000.00 for charities by conducting several charity events, so thank you Staff Sergeant Lianne Roberts and Private Danielle Leboutillier-Lewis, top job.

Overall, this was a good year for the SPS Detachment who were able to find that balance between work and play, which will hopefully continue in to 2022 and beyond.

RAP

by Major S A Foster RAMC and Sergeant T C Pilinger RAMC

T

he RAP had a busy New Year. In January, in support of the NHS, we deployed the inimitable Lance Sergeants Dickson and Cooke to a London Intensive Care Unit. In incredibly difficult circumstances, they rose to the challenge with great cheer and enthusiasm. Lance Corporals Dean and Wardle travelled to Northern Ireland where they also faced immense challenges and rightly earned the General Officer Commanding’s Commendation.

Not to be left out, the Scottish National Health service received much succour from Lance Sergeant Goodfellow’s attachment.

The spring easing of Covid restrictions enabled field training to resume and the Medics were busy, supporting a wide range of exercises. Lance Sergeants Mascall and Eaton deployed to Kenya to support a Short Term Training Team and Exercise ASKARI STORM

20 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

Immersive high-pressure training with Wiltshire Air Ambulance Left to right: Lance Corporal Goodfellow, Lance Sergeant Shilston, Lance Corporal McCloskey

the immersive simulation facilities at Wiltshire Air Ambulance: able to simulate the sights and sounds present at a wide range of potential major incidents.

The relationship with Wiltshire Air Ambulance is developing well and several of the medics have had the chance to shadow shifts with the Critical Care Paramedics. We look forward to hosting them in return and further opportunities to work together.

First Aid teaching in Kenya.

Lance Sergeant Peters

respectively. Lance Sergeant Eaton enjoyed the opportunity to enhance her ‘green’ skills by getting to grips with one of the army’s latest drones. As restrictions eased further, the inseparable Lance Sergeants Goodfellow and Peters deployed to Gibraltar to support D Squadron’s underground activities.

On return, they joined our first RAP run-out on Salisbury Plain with an unforgettable clinical lesson concerning some of the more salacious infections available in life. There was focus on what STRIKE might mean for ‘Med’ with some good work and interesting ideas from across the A1 echelon. A particular highlight of the six months of the year was a fabulous day using

We have supported operations and exercises around the world, from Belize to Kenya to The Bahamas. Notable events have included significant unexpected drug finds on tropical beaches and reallife trauma involving large quantities of potatoes. We continue to support sub-unit and regimental activity in and out of camp as well as having been to Dartmoor twice for the Regimental and Brigade patrols competitions, adeptly led by Lance Sergeant Relf. Most have been through mandatory training courses with great success in training instructors to benefit the wider Army.

We have been represented at Army Medical Services football, surfing and basketball. Several medics stepped aboard Gladeye, fishing, being unwell and enjoying themselves as well as the doc grinning broadly whilst achieving 18.2 knots somewhere between Plymouth and Dartmouth.

In between, the RAP have worked tirelessly within the medical centre and Regiment to support activities and enhance training opportunities.

They relish challenges, rarely decline

opportunities and much of this is thanks to the warm support afforded to us as attached arms by the Regiment.

We welcome Sergeant Pillinger and Lance Sergeants Clark and Shilston and bid farewell to Lance Corporal McCloskey; good luck in his quest to become a paramedic. Sergeant Kritikos departed on promotion. The RAP and medical centre are much quieter as a result, but we thank him sincerely for his hard work. Lance Corporal Wardle won’t thank me for highlighting it, but should also be noted for his Mention in Dispatches. I’d also like to thank Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Lewin for leaving me such a strong and competent RAP. I hope it continues as such!

A rare respite moment.

Left to right: Lance Sergeants Dickson and Cooke

Warrant Officers’ and Non-Commissioned Officers’ Mess

by Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) S J Allwood, The Blues and Royals

T

he Warrant Officers’ and NCOs’ Mess finally saw out 2020 whilst continuing to operate under force health protection measures due to the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19. This meant the long-standing tradition of Brick Hanging would not be conducted in its normal fashion. The RCM and RQMC(T) could not let a pandemic bring a stop to tradition, therefore. Following strict social distancing measure, they ensured the brick was well and truly hung minus personnel involvement.

Due to force health protection restrictions continuing into 2021, the decision was made to present every mess member with a personalised pocket watch or equally appropriate female formal accessory. Staff Corporal (SQMC) Harrison Shaw seemingly went to work

to ensure these gifts were designed and produced. These small gifts were greatly appreciated throughout the mess which gave them all a sense of belonging to a family organisation. Unfortunately for the second year, Derby Day had to be cancelled, however the Mess is firmly

A gift any Mess Member would be proud to own

It will take more than a pandemic to stop the brick being hung

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 21

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Lance Corporal of Horse Cannon showing his patriotic side whilst supporting the Euro 2021 championship

Joined by Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) Douglas and Lance Corporal of Horse Greenhow from HCMR. Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) Allwood, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) Ashford, Staff Corporal (SQMC) Harrison-Shaw, Corporal of Horse Jackson and Corporal of Horse Kennedy had the privilege of being a part of the 105 Eagle parade

on track to resume this event in 2022.

As the ease in restrictions came into play, more people were able to use the mess for its primary role, a place to relax and socialise. Corporal of Horse Bevan should be mentioned for his work to ensure those mess members who live inside the wire, were able to enjoy the European 2021 football championships.

These members tucked into huge banquets, leaving no one going back to their rooms hungry. One mess member certainly could not resist the temptation to dress for the occasion.

Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) Turner taking the podium at Truxton racetrack.

If only Warrant Officer Class 2 (RQMC) Privett and Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) Ridge could keep up

A Select few had the privilege to be a part of the 105 Eagle parade. This occasion was to mark the movement of the 105th eagle, captured during the battle of Waterloo, from the National Army

Museum to the Regiment’s museum on Horse Guards Parade. Despite the typical British weather, all personnel from both Regiments thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this historic event.

The WOs of the mess were joined by the LE Officer cohort to take time to focus on their own mental resilience. This accumulated in pushing their willingness to succeed coupled with a competitive battle on Thruxton racetrack. Finally, and with risk assessments produced and approval from higher formation. The WOs’ and NCOs’ Mess can now continue in the way it remembers. This saw the Mess conduct its first formal function in over two years, with the setting being the State of the Nation dinner.

With a brief remind and revise of mess etiquette, and port glasses charged. The

The Warrant Officers’ and Non-Commissioned Officers’ Mess State of the Nation Dinner 2021

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 23

Commanding Officer was able to brief the Mess whilst in charge of the Badgers head, on the past and current vision of the Regiment and what should be expected of all leaders of the Regiment.

The senior Mess members are: Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) S

Allwood, Warrant Officer Class 1 (ASM) B Turner, Warrant Officer Class 2 (RQMC) M Privett, Warrant Officer Class 2 (RQMCT) D Snoxell, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) S Dimbylow, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) J Ashford, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) D Ridge, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM)

M Doran, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) N Turner, Warrant Officer Class 2 (RSWO) A Wilkinson, Warrant Officer Class 2 (TWWO) D Salmon, Warrant Officer Class 2 (MTWO) D Cox, WO2 (AQMS), WO2 (RAWO).

The Household Cavalry Regimental Engagement Team (RET)

by Captain Dan Sentance, The Life Guards, OC RET

T

his year has been extremely challenging for the RET with all the limitations and frustrations that we have all felt because of Covid-19. However, the team have been consistently driven to find new ways to achieve our main aim: to reach out to the public and sell The Household Cavalry. And with the phased lifting of restrictions, we were able to get back out on the road to conduct visits and presentations to augment the Regiments’ online efforts.

In an engagements capacity we were able to support the Household Cavalry Foundation with a stand at the Royal Windsor Horse show, this was a hugely successful event which was well attended by the public and marked a slow return to normality. And, not that it’s a competition, but our stand was bigger and more impressive than the efforts made by the other regiments. In addition, we were given the opportunity to bolster the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) Engagement teams stand at the Royal Bath and West show to help promote the RAC, as well as the Household Division Support Team (DST) at a Hindi community event in north London.

The RET enjoying the atmosphere at the Royal Windsor Horse Show

Another priority for the team is to aid Capita to recruit and I’m pleased to say that recruiting is extremely healthy! We have gone to great lengths, and covered

The Duchy College in Cornwall getting to grips with the command tasks

24 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

many miles, to make sure the recruiters in the Army Careers Centres have a sound knowledge of the Household Cavalry and what we offer. In addition,

Military Preparation college in Plymouth learning to work as a team to achieve their aim

we have been able to hold nurture events to help those potential recruits that might be on the fence to make teat final decision.

A local Cadet Detachment in Wiltshire solving the STEMs activity pack

We were also fortunate enough to be invited into many secondary schools to deliver activities as part of the Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum as well as deliver regimental briefs to help educate school levers on our roles, whilst dispelling any misconceptions of military life. In addition to secondary schools, we have been re-establishing ties with some of our affiliated cadet units and reaching out to inner city youth groups to influence any

preconceptions of the Army.

Naturally, a regiment as prestigious as ours always has a positive draw and the RET, whilst maintaining those practices that work, will continue to find new ways to engage. If you have any ideas for events, or would like to know more about our work then please email: HCR-Recruiting@mod.gov.uk

Exercise DARING ROCK 3rd-22nd March 2021 A Troop Leader’s Perspective

by Lieutenant H R Stone, The Blues and Royals

T

wo days after arriving at the Household Cavalry Regiment from my Troop Leader’s Course, I received something of a ‘baptism of fire’: deployment on Exercise DARING ROCK to Gibraltar, focusing on dismounted skills, tunnel warfare and Close Quarter Battle.

The Main Body deployed over a few days, with the initial group gaining an initial ‘lie of the land’. In their first few

days, they conducted a mixture of activities including tunnel tours to understand the history behind the ‘Rock’ and its military significance. The early arrivals then had the good fortune to take part in dinghy sailing, paddle-boarding and power-boating, making the most of the luxurious weather. The remainder of the Squadron arrived shortly thereafter. The Squadron conducted refresher training, comprising three days of spe-

cific instruction on tunnel warfare, Close Quarters Battle and urban operations; much appreciated by the new Troop Leaders who had missed the preparatory training in the UK. All of this training culminated in a day’s battle exercise on the Sunday, working with the Royal Navy and conducting an amphibious insertion in to Rosia Bay and then onto Buffadero Village, the lo-

The Squadron complete on the top of the Rock

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 25

of the day. This was the first time any unit had performed this kind of patrol in fifteen years and was a unique experience, particularly for those in the Squadron without operational experience.

The Governor, Vice Admiral Sir David Steele conducts an inspection of the Guard

cal training area, for a series of Trooplevel attacks. The battle exercise was a fantastic opportunity for the Troop to gel whilst testing operating procedures.

The evening after the battle exercise we were fortunate to be invited to meet with the Chief of Staff British Forces Gibraltar, Colonel Rob Lindsay SG, where we were able to discuss the benefits of the Gibraltar’s training areas and the benefit we had already experienced in an unfamiliar training environment.

On Monday 8th March, the final exercise commenced with a hefty insertion tab up ‘the Rock’ into Observation Posts. 2 Troop were split between Spur Battery and the Signal Station, 360m above sea level. The insertion was demanding and a worthy test following the long period the Squadron had spent in Covid dispersion. Gibraltar’s resident macaques had their drills well-honed in advance and more than a couple of soldiers had their rations swiped.

The OPs remained on task for 48hrs,

observing the training village in Buffadero the town harbour where weapon exchanges and other enemy activities were occurring. The mixture of real civilian activities mixed in with exercise play made for a far more realistic and engaging task than is usually available on UK training areas.

Halfway through the OP phase the troop were collapsed to conduct a hasty raid onto the Rock Gun, an enemy stronghold that had been under observation on the northern peak of the Rock.

B Squadron’s drone provided excellent intelligence concerning the objective until a seagull knocked it down.

From Rock Gun, the troop was instructed to return to their OP’s for the next twenty-four hours. Shortly before the end of the task, enemy were sighted at the tunnel entrances, a strong indicator concerning the next phase of the exercise. The Squadron withdrew from its OPs, descending from the high ground and patrolling the hustle and bustle of the City of Gibraltar during the middle

Troops patrol in the shadow of the Rock

26 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

An assembly area was established in the Admiralty East-West tunnel. This was the Squadron’s first exposure to the Rock’s largest tunnels. Once ready, the squadron inserted on foot in Marching Order before caching bergans at an FUP close to the target, Buffadero Village.

Attached dog handlers from the Gibraltar Defence Police joined the Squadron for the raid, clearing the buildings in record time, with the whole raid complete in thirty minutes. Following the raid, Commodore Steve Dainton, Commander British Forces Gibraltar, addressed the Squadron and promoted Troopers Taylor and Broughton.

Following the seizure of the village, we occupied and defended it from our worthy adversaries, played by C Squadron.

The Squadron Engineers devised some very creative and awkward obstacles to hinder the enemy advance. Once enemy attacks on the village had been repulsed and it had successfully become a friendly forces stronghold, our attention turned to preparing for the final phase of the exercise, clearing an enemy stronghold in the Arrow Street tunnels deep in the heart of the Rock.

The Squadron was inserted by Royal Navy boats under the cover of darkness before breaking into the tunnel systems.

The enemy were then subsequently flushed out of this final objective bringing the FTX phase to a close.

Following the FTX, the Squadron was delighted to enjoy some R&R. Gibraltar’s superb vaccination programme had enabled restaurants and bars to open well before the UK was able to do the same. Everyone enjoyed a varied package of water-sports, tunnel tours and other activities. A particular high-

Fighting in Buffadero Village

light was a ‘treasure hunt’ organised by CoH Southall-Owen and LCoH Davey, sending teams on various errands and challenges around the island; Dry Martinis in the Rock Hotel were an experience to remember! Everyone had the chance to go out and experience the local Gibraltarian culture.

During this final week the Regiment carried out ceremonial duties, providing the Guard for the ‘Convent’, the Residence of HE the Governor. This is the first time that the Regiment has conducted this role, so it was a unique opportunity, and much appreciated by the local community.

Troops patrolling through the tunnels on an insertion

Overall Exercise DARING ROCK was a fantastic opportunity for both professional and personal development of all personnel that were lucky enough to be deployed. It was a remarkable feat to be able to deploy a Squadron during the uncertainty of the Covid pandemic, not without considerable effort by the planning team, and a relief to be conducting training in person in a stimulating and challenging environment.

Exercise SOMME LANCER

by Lieutenant J Bushell

A

s the majority of the Regiment looks to the future of AJAX, September saw 19 members of the Household Cavalry take a step back and deploy on CVRT alongside the Royal Lancers as part of Exercise SOMME LANCER, a battlegroup level exercise across Sennelager Training Area and swathes of private land kindly offered up by a number of German Barons. (The linkages made by the Weser Vale Hunt still paying dividends.)

After a number of days of maintenance to ensure the vehicles were in the best possible shape, the battlegroup deployed onto Sennelager to conduct two days of low-level training covering the occupation of hides, cam and concealment, and basic vehicle movement.

For a most of those deployed, this was the first mounted exercise they had ever undertaken, and for the rest it was the first for some time. Once the cobwebs had been blown away, the battlegroup stepped off for a 70km march North into a screen on the River Weser. Told to ‘liberate Germany’, CVRT were paraded through the small villages of Lower Saxony, waving to the locals, stopping for coffee, and providing plenty of entertainment for the legion of military shutterbugs who were to become an enduring feature of the exercise, frequently

The Household Division flag flies proud alongside the Royal Lancers motto

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 27

Lance Corporal of Horse Jones conducts covert surveillance from a Hameln hotel

being mistaken for the enemy and being on the receiving end of more than one fire mission. After a short screen, and owing to the ban on military vehicle movement on weekends in Germany, the battlegroup moved into a leaguer to conduct maintenance and complete some Defence Engagement. Beginning with a field service attended by 3 (UK) Div Deputy Commander, BrigadierGeneral Gene Meredith (US Army), the battlegroup was treated to a BBQ with the Baron and his family and joy-rides in the farmer’s tractor.

Reinvigorated by the Baron’s own craft beer, the battlegroup moved back into its screening positions. 72 hours later, and

having tested both the organic survivability of the platforms and dismounted surveillance methods from a Hameln hotel, the battlegroup returned South to Sennelager. Corporal of Horse Tamang RHG/D stood out during this period as Support Troop Leader in which he delivered a textbook CTR on an enemy ammunition storage facility and successfully called in fires without being detected. Two days of battlegroup level operations followed. A Squadron, now out of CATT(G), conducted dismounted raids supported by organic fire from C and D Squadron and demolitions from the Engineers.

maintenance, preparation for ranges, and entertainment as the soldiers enjoyed an Oktoberfest evening, and the officers a dinner night in old Wehrmacht Officers Mess which boasts a mezzanine balcony from which Hitler gave a speech on the eve of the invasion of Poland. As resounding renditions of ‘Old Stable Jacket’ were given by Lancer and Cavalryman alike, it felt that a strong bond was being built between the two Regiments and our German hosts who were resoundingly positive in their desire for our return. Merriment concluded and with enough ‘Prosts!’ to last for quite some time, attention returned to mounted training and the delivery of a range package which would see Scimitars, Spartans and dismounts firing on the same range, accompanied by fast air from the Luftwaffe. Both C and D Squadron quickly found their mark as all achieved a first time pass in the Annual Crew Tests. The Joint Terminal Attack Controllers in turn, including our own Lance Corporal of Horse Hale, found their rhythm, calling in German Tornados with terrifying accuracy and providing those firing with a terrific training experience.

The Household Cavalry’s time in Germany alongside the Royal Lancers yielded a period of exceptional mounted training, a mutual respect with our host Regiment and admiration for the Germans, who were kind enough to allow us to train on their land and who seemed keen that we should train there again. I would be tremendous for the Household Cavalry to train, once again, as a Regiment at Sennelager.

Back in camp, attention was turned to

The Royal Lancers Battlegroup come together in a leaguer

28 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

P Company and The Guards Parachute Platoon

by Lieutenant Sholto Hanson, The Life Guards

T

he Household Cavalry Regiment, The Guards Parachute Platoon, and P Company, form a unique and unmatched trio. Each entity intrinsically linked to the other by discipline, challenge, and ambition. Over the past 12 months, I have had the privilege of engaging with each one of these groups and learnt how the Pegasus Ethos of striving ‘for the highest standards of achievement, turnout and attitude’ rings true to all three.

Tales of Pegasus or P Company are as old as they are eccentric. Crash mats, log races, and obstacle courses are just a few of the words that might suggest activities more suited to an outdoor adventure camp than an arduous military course. These coupled with events called The Land of Nod, The Four Horsemen, and Snakes’ Pass make P Company sound like something out of a whacky children’s fable. And like most Household Cavalry Officers fresh from Sandhurst and still suffering the effects of 48 weeks of sleep deprivation, far too enticing not to try.

The test starts well before the journey up to Catterick and before the sewing and stencilling of various sorts of white patches onto pristinely ironed t-shirts. For members of the Household Cavalry on Course 21.01 it began in Lille Barracks, Aldershot. Now of course, not much of interest can be gained from discussing rep-range, tabbing routes, or Fartlek sessions. Instead, what is more pertinent is what this time and these activities resulted in. Over the ensuing few weeks, a core group of 15 Soldiers and Officers from the Household Division formed, which would go on to have disproportionate levels of success on P Company. Indeed, The AllArms Pre-Parachute Selection Course 21.01 began with over 170 students, just over 50 were awarded their Maroon Beret. Of these, 12 were members of The Household Division and 4 members of The Household Cavalry.

The success of our Regiment is testament to the qualities of our soldiers and the character that spans The Household Division. Discipline, more specially selfdiscipline, is demanded of Airborne Soldiers but it is also instilled in all our soldiers at HCMR. The reward for the toil of constantly producing faultless, parade-worthy, ceremonial kit is a discipline unique within the Army. Such that the burden of re-ironing t-shirts, re-folding noddy hats, and re-packing ‘sticky’

Four new All Arms Pre-Parachute Selection qualified Household Cavalrymen. From the left: Lieutenant S W Hanson, Trooper Martins, Trooper Dando and Trooper Paterson

(chocolate) bars on course becomes feather-light. But beyond self-imposed discipline, it is the character of our men and women, which ensures success on course. As the self-coined ‘Blue-RedBlue’ Mafia progressed on Course 21.01, so too developed a unique and unwavering esprit d’corps. Whilst apprehension of events and test week grew in others, a sense of purpose developed in us. The option to withdraw from events became less and less an individual choice, and instead tied to the group’s uncompromising desire to succeed.

The motivation and sense of purpose which transcended all members of the Regiment on course was the chance to serve in The Guards Parachute Platoon.

Ostensibly just 6 Platoon, B Company, 3 Para, The Guards Parachute Platoon is a unit like no other. The Platoon helps tie together two of the British Army’s elite bodies, helping to cultivate improved relations, healthy competition, and superior operational effectiveness. The Platoon acts not just as a guarantor of a tied future, but also an important reminder of a shared past. Indeed, the tradition of airborne guardsmen and troopers, inseparable from the history of airborne forces, now lies solely with the Platoon.

The past year has been typically busy for The Guards Parachute Platoon, with exercises at home and abroad as well as supporting Operation PITTING and the evacuation of Kabul. The summer saw

the arrival of Troopers Dando, Martins, and Paterson to the Platoon, and with them the immediate deployment of the Platoon to the desert of Jordan on Exercise OLIVE GROVE. The tough terrain proved a brilliant testing ground for complex infantry training and also provided an opportunity to develop interoperability capabilities through working alongside the 61st QRF Bn of the Jordanian Armed Forces. The exercise incorporated some fantastic live fire training and air lifts with Jordanian Air Force Black Hawks, certain motivation for those looking to join the Platoon.

Whilst The Guards Parachute Platoon, along with the main body of B Company, remained in the UK in reserve for Operation PITTING, the deployment of individual members meant the Platoon was still represented on the ground in Afghanistan. But as quickly as Kabul was brought into focus, attention soon turned to the upcoming Operation SHADER, Exercise RATTLESNAKE with the 82nd Airborne in Louisiana and deployment to Belize on Exercise MAYAN WARRIOR. The Household Cavalry is an integral part of the platoon, two inseparable parts of the same mixture. And whilst the Regiment continues to provide the Platoon with some of its boldest and brightest, The Guards Parachute Platoon offers our soldiers the opportunity to hone dismounted skills and gain operational experience.

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 29

Kenya Short Term Training Team (STTT)

by Captain H F L Hunter, The Life Guards, Regimental Signals Officer

O

n 26th of August 2022, the 1X Dismounted Reconnaissance & Observation Post (DROP) Short Term Training Team (STTT) deployed to Kenya to deliver a Train the Trainer (T3) package to the Kenyan Defence Force (KDF).

The STTT comprised nine Service Personnel (SP) in total with five from The Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR), two from 1st Battalion The Scots Guards (1 SG), one from 3rd Battalion The Rifles (3 Rifles) and one from The Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG).

The deployment of UK SP on OP PITTING saw the STTT encounter several frictions given the Army’s focus was rightly on supporting the humanitarian evacuation taking place in Afghanistan.

All Military Air Transport (MilAT) was seconded to support this critical Defence output seeing us fly by civilian means into Nairobi via Ethiopia. The three SP from 1SG and 3 Rifles were due to join us in London Heathrow for onward travel having started their journey in Edinburgh, only to be delayed by four hours by a member of the public suffering a medical trauma prior to departure. With the next flight not for two days, and the complexity inherent with flight mishaps mid Covid-19 meaning new PCR tests and travel documentation would likely need to be generated, the Edinburgh trio were forced to partake in the London Heathrow variant of the British Army 2-Miler Operational Fitness Test abandoning their holdall baggage as they raced through security to their connecting flight. Fortunately, they made it onboard with a mere seven minutes left before take-off thanks to a gargantuan physical effort and some sweet talking of the terminal staff by the

Captain H F L Hunter LG delivers orders for a KDF Reconnaissance Patrol

OC STTT. Incredibly, Ethiopian Airlines still departed on time though, less the six holdall bags of the Edinburgh trio.

At the time of landing, Kenyan Ministry of Health guidance compelled us to conduct seven days of isolation before we would be permitted to travel north to Isiolo. The seven days were vital in facilitating the success of the STTT given the complexities presented by the Covid-19 pandemic significantly reducing the scope of pdt and resulting in all members of the STTT meeting for the first time in London Heathrow Airport.

full, thanks to the presence of a large 3 Scots STTT simultaneously to us, we found ourselves isolating in the Cold Springs Boutique Hotel in Karen as the only nine guests permitted on site, with a de facto private pool and dining room.

This extremely permissive and enjoyable environment gave us the space to rally around a unified purpose and focus, undisturbed by the influence of our parent yet units, on ensuring that the essential refinement of the T3 course was completed. Even if supported by the occasional piña colada and poolside ‘Egyptian PT’ session.

Despite the predeparture fears of being confined to a 6ft2 room for isolation in a foreign country, this period of isolation turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts of our time in Kenya. With all of the British Army’s accommodation

Whilst in Kenya we were subordinated to the British Peace Support Team Africa (BPST(A)). Unlike the familiar Nanyuki based BATUK, which deals extensively with training Light Role Infantry Battle Groups. BPST(A) is a regional

Corporal Robinson 3 RIFLES tests out his recently fabricated gym equipment

30 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

A KDF Multiple Commander delivers his CTR backbrief

hub that projects British foreign-policy and conduct support and stabilisation operations throughout Africa. Our role was to deliver a T3 course to the Reconnaissance Wing of the Kenyan School of Infantry based in Isiolo.

Our intent was to enhance the operational effectiveness of the KDF forces deployed on the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) by developing the dismounted skillset of their reconnaissance instructors. The STTT had a second, more subtle, role as a small piece in BPST(A)’s mosaic of effects that seek to strengthen the bilateral relationships between the UK and Kenya. This is especially prevalent given Kenya’s new status as a land regional hub post the announcements of the integrated review.

With isolation and the pre-requisite RSOI completed in Karen, the STTT deployed in a fleet of Land Rover defenders five hours north to Isiolo.

Isiolo itself has complex human terrain with 80% of adults aged between 18 and 30 unemployed and strict religious delineation between Christians and Muslims. The town of some 40,000 people is split directly through the centre by a large crossroads. Everything

south of this, including the Potemkin International Airport, is controlled by the Christian cohort whereas everything north, including the main county school, is controlled by the Islamic cohort. It is by no means an overwhelmingly friendly place and indeed felt quite hostile when transiting and visiting the local markets. This is indicative of its proximity to Somalia and the ongoing border dispute. Tribal disputes dominate the local mindset with turf and camel wars bubbling on in the background, enflamed by the disenfranchisement of the Samburu People, often boiling over into bloodshed and armed attack. There is without doubt a considerable minority that support Al-Shabab in this northern region and it is therefore no surprise why the KDF and County Police maintain an overt posture in the region.

Understandably, with the clearly adverse living conditions, ‘mzungus’ are often seen as a walking wallet targeted by the local populous through means ranging from direct challenge in the street for cash and employment opportunities to the deployment of half clothed toddlers to identify a personal carrying cash upon which a crowd of

locals swarm said individual or their fleet of vehicles. Within a few weeks, after an active presence in local area and considerable investment in the local economy, we saw this behaviour cease and morph into a positive and welcoming behaviour from both sides of the crossroads. Despite our progress, it is of course undoubtable that this cycle restarts every time a new team arrives.

Our camp itself was established 15 minutes drive into the training area from the back gate to the School of Infantry and about 40 minutes drive from the centre of Isiolo. I am sure that readers are conjuring up the image of a Brecon Harbour area but, I can assure you this couldn’t be further from the truth: we lived in a relatively Rudimental safari style camp consisting of a two-storey iso-container building and an 18 x 24 tent. The accommodation was arguably better than our isolation hotel given each Service Person was issued a standalone Safari tent and the camp itself was situated in close proximity to Samburu National Park.

It was not uncommon in our downtime to encounter regularly aspects of the remarkable Kenyan wildlife. Not to mention the howl of Hyenas each night as we sat around our protective

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Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 31

fires laid by our Masai Mara guardian Joseph. With teaching and activity limited at night due to the extreme dislocation of the team from the nearest Role 3 Hospital, 168 km south in Nairobi. We found the best use for our thermal sites and optics was picking out the different silhouettes of the local wildlife and admiring the remarkable skies and constellations given the absence of air and light pollution. Initially, the camp was very open to the elements with constant incursions by the likes of goats, snakes, giant millipedes and even a particularly necky hyena. By the time we left, a Barbwire fence had been erected which, despite looking like something out of Stalag 122, did a good job of keeping unwarranted visitors out.

Each morning was met with a biblical sunrise and the so nicknamed KDF 0600 Alarm Clock comprising of either the Duty Battle Groups chanting on PT or the sudden eruption of small arms firing on the live ranges just 200m from the camp gate. The weather was unsurprisingly very warm but, what was not expected, especially during the season, was very high winds accompanying the regional the drought. It was not uncommon to wake up in the morning covered by a substantial layer of blood red sand typical of the area and traditionally said, by tribal leaders, to derive its colour from the blood of Warriors past.

The altitude is a factor that I personally was not considered before arrival. With Isiolo sitting in close proximity to Mount Kenya, the STTT really felt the effects of working at 1300 m above sea level and in temperatures soaring up to 30°.

Upon arrival, and with camp established and occupied, we conducted a series of SERE Exercises and Medical Rehearsals to ensure we could focus on our task in safe knowledge that we were delivering the best training possible. The STTT organised a barbecue and football match on the Sunday evening before the course in order to provide a focal point for the upcoming students to get to know us and each other in an informal setting. This was the OC STTT’s ploy to convince the KDF students to arrive on time for the start of the course at 0800hrs on Day One. This was extremely well received by the School of Infantry and saw 30 KDF SP join us for dinner in our camp. Football wise we unashamedly drew 2-2 with the draw only facilitated by brute force, ignorance and a couple of fantastic locally sourced players given our clearly evident inferiority in skill.

Following the resounding success of this event, we were expecting an excellent turnout at first parade on Monday.

32 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

Lance Corporal of Horse Muirhead LG, Lance Corporal Mclaughlin RHG/D and Trooper Teasdel RHG/D dig a demo sub-surface OP

Instead, only four KDF SP arrived and we swiftly discovered that our heralded barbecue and football match ploy had simply been taken up by the Officers’ and Warrant Officers’ messes. After considerable friction, the course truly began the following day despite the full complement of students not being ready until Thursday afternoon.

The training itself consisted of three clear phases. Phase 1 which was the Reconnaissance Theory and Knowledge Baselining. This saw Corporal Robinson (3 Rifles) take the lead on the delivery of CTRs, Lance Sergeant Swindle (1SG) delivering basic infantry training and a condensed DTTT package and Lance Corporal of Horse Muirhead (HCR) delivering the rural and urban observation post TEWTS. These activities were supported by Lance Sergeant Peters who not only provided our RLS but delivered a comprehensive module on Care Under Fire enhancing the medical knowledge of students. The delivery of this medical training, despite being outside of our official remit, turned out to be the KDF’s most highly valued part of the training. This is understandable with KDF personnel deploying to Somalia roughly every 18 months. The greatest aspect of teaching the KDF was that they were desperately keen to learn as much as possible despite the limited time and scope of the STTT. It was for these reasons we chose to created a personalised med kit for every student with the hope it will support them directly on future operations. This did not stop us finding a few combat application tourniquets for sale in the local market towards the end of our time in Kenya.

The second phase was a Reconnaissance

Validation in the form of a battle exercise. This saw the course splitting into two independent call signs with one occupying rural, subsurface and urban OPs and the other providing CTR and a raiding capability on call to the SubUnit Comd. The exercise scheme of manoeuvre saw the first multiple occupying their observation posts and conducting the FIND into a selection of NAIs. The Enemy objective, comprising 4 members of the STTT, were based in the urban village (an ISO city built by the Royal Engineers in 2014). Once identified and soaked to understand the Enemy’s routine and intention, the multiple commander would send an OP report to trigger the launch of a CTR onto the specified enemy target. The second multiple wouldn’t be launched until after the conclusion of their Recce Orders and, post CTR, deliver a Comds BB to the Sub-Unit commander and executing a hasty raid on the enemy objective. This raid was then subject to an enemy follow-up attack and IDF strike where the KDF School of Mechanical Engineers provided invaluable support to the exercise by enhancing realism through the use of BATSIMs. Of course, an IDF strike had to be accompanied by the dreaded Brecon style casualty evacuation customary at the end of every Battle Lane. This gave them the chance to put their newly acquired care under fire skills to good use.

At this point, the multiples then switched to ensure that all students are assessed across the full spectrum of experiences. Initially, this exercise was due to be carried out with the KDFs newly acquired M4 rifles. However, the lack of any 5.56mm ammunition in the

this was the discovery that animals and insects in the savanna hate mid tan boot polish and that the simple way of preventing your observation post or trench filling up with scorpions was to put a thin layer of boot polish on the framing sandbags.

During our time in Kenya, we were extremely lucky to obtain support from both the Household Cavalry Foundation and all four parent units enabling the STTT to have two days on safari and one night in a game lodge in the guise of a team cohesion event. This was an opportunity often price prohibitive to soldiers and the financial support in subsidising this event was hugely appreciated by all the deployed SP. Our two days in the Samburu National park saw us encounter the likes of elephants, zebra, crocodiles, oryx and baboons.

A family of Elephants in the Samburu National Park

entirety of northern Kenya saw a lastminute switch onto their rudimental AK variants. Alarmingly these did not come with blank firing attachments and it was not uncustomary to discover live rounds mixed in with blank.

The final phase saw a shift towards the T3 package. Each of the nine SP take a syndicate of prospective KDF Reconnaissance Instructors developing their individual skill sets and enhancing their ability to provide the positive multiplier effect of the KDF’s Operational capability. Within each syndicate, every student delivered teach backs to their syndicate lead. These teach backs, built on Lance Sergeant Swindle’s DTTT course, started very simple such as teaching something non-military and generic such as the making of a paper aeroplane or tying of your boot laces.

The aim of these teach backs is to focus

student attention on the characteristics of an instructor and the Army’s much loved EDIP process. This phase went on to deliver 5 minutes med lessons, 20 minute field craft lessons and finally culminated in a final assessment delivering a 45 minutes Reconnaissance or Fieldcraft lesson. All students passed the course but only seven were awarded an Instructor Recommend signalling the rising talent within the KDF Reconnaissance Wing.

It is important to note that the learning was certainly not only a one-way stream of knowledge. As a group we certainly left as much better reconnaissance soldiers compared to arrival picking up not only fantastic vignettes and lessons from AMISOM but even some small tips that will shape are SOPs if we are ever operating in a similar environment in the future. A great example of

On return to Nairobi, we are unfortunate to be involved in an RTC with a Kenyan Boda Boda rider. The individual was not wearing a helmet driving on the wrong side of the road with failed brakes and 70 kg worth of potatoes straps to the back of his motorbike. He was lucky not to be more seriously injured after hitting a long wheelbase Land Rover at a combined speed of nearly 70 mph on a downward slope of nearly 30°. Thanks to Lance Sergeant Peters fantastic onsite care, the individual was swiftly evacuated to Meru Hospital with his broken femur splinted in.

Overall, this was a hugely successful trip which saw the qualification of a strong cohort of KDF Reconnaissance Wing instructors and provided a unique and hugely enjoyable opportunity to all deployed service personnel.

Patrolling and Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL

by Lieutenant Sholto Hanson, The Life Guards, and Lieutenant Harry Stone, The Blues and Royals As armoured vehicles evolve to ever greater levels of lethality, survivability, and omniscience, some of our Cavalry brethren have taken to a doctrine of ‘Death before Dismount’. This is not The Household Cavalry way. Indeed, our greatest reconnaissance asset remains our soldiers and to that end our soldiers must not be restricted to the vehicles from which they operate. The value of simple dismounted patrolling cannot and must not be over emphasised. This year the Regiment has invested time and effort into the art of the dismounted.

Delays with AJAX provide opportunities as much as they do frustrations,

and mounted limitations have served as a catalyst for a regimental focus on dismounted patrolling. This focus was manifest in four distinct and progressive phases commencing with a regimental patrols competition and culminating in the 2021 Cambrian Patrol.

Famously mild and forgiving, Dartmoor was selected as the testing ground for the Regiment’s internal patrolling competition. Unpleasant enough to make it the favourite son of the Commandos, the soggy moors were the perfect place to hone our soldiers’ basic fieldcraft skills and wet dry (or occasionally wet wet) drills. The route, cross country

across 10s of kilometres and over an assortment of tors and rivers proved challenging. The physical test equally matched by the mental strain of a series of mission-based scenarios which ranged from battlefield casualty drills to counter explosive ordinance. Whilst a tough teacher, the hills and valleys of Dartmoor provided invaluable training.

Heavy bergens reminding all that when soldering on your feet, necessity not nicety rules supreme.

Seemingly comfortable with ‘Commando Country’, attention turn to sunny Brecon and the home of the Infantry.

Over the next two weeks, Sennybridge

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 33

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training area would act as the staging base for a two-week battle camp which saw the transformation of a diverse group of soldiers into two credible patrol teams. The period involved hard physical training including the Brecon 3 Miler and a 20 km insertion into a Close Target Recce. But importantly it created a unity of purpose and sense of team which would set both patrols up for future success.

The first real test was a return to Dartmoor for the Brigade Patrols Competition. A step-up from Regimental Patrols, the competition was a brilliant chance to see the effects of our training in South Wales and to burgeon confidence for Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL. After 24 hours of testing reconnaissance action, both teams finished with distinctions and placings which proved once again the Household Cavalry Regiment’s elite standing in 1 Brigade.

Before starting the final test of Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL, the Regiment had the privilege of hosting the Indian

Army’s patrol team from The Fourth Battalion the Fifth Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force). A unit with a history to match our own, the chance to work alongside this group of soldiers was a unique and special honour. Winners of their Brigade, Divisional, Corps, Command, and Army competitions, the Indian soldiers quickly embedded themselves with our team resulting in an exchange of skills and knowledge that would benefit all parties moving forwards. The chance to work at the tactical level with our allies was a great experience and helped to improve interoperability at the lowest level.

With the final bits of preparation complete, The Household Cavalry patrol teams set off for the Black Mountains and Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL. For those less familiar, Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL is the British Army’s premier patrolling competition. It consists of a 70km route, over some of the toughest terrain in the UK, interspersed with a series of task orientated checkpoints.

Despite the challenge that lay ahead,

both teams set off with plenty of confidence and progressed quickly along the course. Even the onslaught of babies’ heads and river crossing (no doubt included to prevent overheating), couldn’t sink morale. The importance of attitude in overcoming adversity should not be dismissed, and the spirit of both teams ensured impressive finishes. Indeed, The Household Cavalry was one of only two regiments across the entirety of the British Army to achieve two medals in Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL 21.

To close, much of our Regiment’s allure lies in its ability to be elite on parade, on foot, and under armour. The credit for which lies entirely with our soldiers whose adaptability is unmatched across the Army. So, whilst ongoing delays to AJAX will no doubt have their frustrations, we must also recognise that they provide the Regiment with an unparalleled opportunity to improve its dismounted capability and become a more complete reconnaissance unit.

The Household Cavalry Regiment patrols celebrate the end of their Battle Camp at ‘Sunny’bridge Training Area

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 35

Exercise KHANJAR OMAN Observer/Mentor

by Lieutenant Fergus Lupton, The Blues and Royals

I

n October, four Household Cavalrymen took the eight-hour flight to Muscat, to participate as ObserverMentors in Exercise KHANJAR OMAN. This opportunity was secured by the Ops Offr, Captain Felix Cairns SCOTS DG from his parent regiment and I am deeply grateful to him for doing so.

The exercise was intended to signal the development of the Land Regional Hub in Oman, making use of the newish Ras Madrakah training area an hour SouthWest of Duqm. 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment were being exercised in a battlegroup context, augmented with squadrons from the SCOTS DG, Royal Omani Reconnaissance Regiment and Apache and Wildcat helicopters from the Army Air Corps.

After the delights of the civilian flight out to Oman, we settled into the acclimatisation package necessary for even the most gentle of Observer/Mentor (O/M) deployments, staying at the inexplicably named Renaissance Village, a migrant worker accommodation camp a short drive from the rocky expanse of the training area. Once acclimatised, we moved to the Forward Support Area in the desert, the rather less sophisticated equivalent of the Forward Mounting Area at BATUS. A period of exercise planning and co-ordination followed, interspersed with much more interesting recces out into the depths of the training area.

The training area of Ras Madrakah is a 50 x 40km box of flat dust and sand, carved in four by three enormous wadis extending from north to south, each

Lieutenant Lupton RHG/D featuring F-35B (minus rain cover)

nearly a mile wide. What the training area lacks in complexity, it partly makes up for in sheer size; three times the size of BATUS. The wadis provided the setting for the culmination of each mission and the gaps between provided immense space for the SCOTS DG to reconnoitre. From our salubrious position in hired white 4x4s (minifridge equipped) the suitability of the Jackal vehicles employed by the Jocks on the sandy ground and steep rocky scree slopes was evident. The Jackals were quick over the ground and their open architecture made navigation easy, a luxury not afforded to the Royal Irish in

The Omanis and Scots DG encircle the objective

36 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

their Foxhounds.

Missions 1 and 2 saw the Household Cavalry O/Ms employed observing the Scots DG as they advanced, isolated and interdicted with good effect, whilst also providing real life support for the exercising troops. The missions provided an excellent opportunity for the O/Ms and the drivers to learn about the planning and application of a combined force over a great distance as well as to analyse performance via the simulation equipment fitted to all weapons and vehicles. This analysis culminated in the delivery of a Squadron level AAR after

Lieutenant Lupton and Trooper Izard trialling the new hot weather issue shemagh

each mission. Mission 3 was instructive on the considerations of planning at battlegroup level as well as the intricacies of working with another nation. The mission’s final attack also doubled as an opportunity to display the quality of the training area and the Battlegroup’s abilities to the Secretary of State for Defence and to the Deputy Prime minister of

Oman, a lesson for the O/Ms in defence engagement.

The month-long exercise concluded with a range package which gave the O/Ms an opportunity to work directly with the Omani Army on the security of the range. This was a fascinating insight into the Omani military and a

great opportunity to share food, stories, and culture with some of its soldiers.

The exercise had one more opportunity for two of the party to be smuggled onboard for a tour of HMS Queen Elizabeth, fortuitously moored in Duqm at the time.

Turks and Caicos STTT

by Lieutenant S Hanson and Lieutenant J Bushell, The Life Guards

T

hose less acquainted with the intricacies of Caribbean geography could be forgiven for not knowing much about the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The islands do not loom quite so large in British culture as the keen cricketplaying islands. News, therefore, of The Household Cavalry Regiment’s upcoming Short Term Training Team (STTT) to this mysterious location was meet with much anticipation and excitement.

The Turks and Caicos Islands is an archipelago consisting of some forty-eight islands, eight of which are inhabited.

Its tropical weather fluctuates from 26 to 30°C, perfectly suits the needs of armoured reconnaissance soldiers, and with a population of just over 50,000 felt quite homely to those who still harbour memories of Windsor. Its turquoise waters are nevertheless troubled by two particular threats: one natural and one man-made, both the consequence of the islands’ location. Just over 100 nautical miles from Haiti and close enough to be a weekend destination for wealthy Americans, Turks and Caicos is a prime destination for migrants seeking the American Dream. The tropical climate which delights visitors during much of the year unfortunately subjects inhabitants to great violence during the hurricane season. The Government of the Turks and Caicos, in response to these threats, determined to establish its own defence force in the guise of the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment; HCR was tasked to train and mentor the force from scratch.

Rarely have British troops received the sort of warm welcome which greeted our soldiers upon arrival to the Islands.

Indeed, immediately after disembarking we were welcomed for photographs with the Deputy Governor and found ourselves splashed across the front pages of the national newspaper the following day. With niceties exchanged, the team knuckled down to the task of preparing for an intense training course which would transform 40 of the Islands’ most eligible civilians into their first soldiers. During this process, we had the pleasure of working alongside

Drugs Bust: B Squadron group shortly after supporting the Turks and Caicos Marines in the seizure of a $500,000 haul of narcotics and detention of fifteen unfortunate illegal migrants

the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment’s permanent staff. Much must be said for embedding with host nation forces and this period of integration prior to the start of the main training package proved invaluable for understanding the cultural intricacies, ethnic dynamics, and suffrage tensions unique to this amazing location. It also allowed our team to begin to mentor and coach the TCI Regiment’s leadership, passing on military experience that would set the foundations for the Regiment’s future.

With the team primed, we welcomed the Islands’ recruits into their own ‘Ironing-Board Sunday’, albeit with a distinctly Caribbean twist. The course incorporated the familiar tenets of British basic training - basic fieldcraft, drill and weapon handling. Over the next two weeks this potpourri of professionals, students, electricians, and plumbers were trained into an organised force, ready to conduct Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).

If the recruits had hoped the tropical climate might have mellowed the training team, the shrill drill voices of Corporals of Horse Hinchley and McClure (no doubt a future drill instructor) soon shattered the illusion. Following the predictable round of tick-tocking and learning to distinguish right from left, the TCI recruits took to drill like the native Leatherback turtles to water. The final parade was a smart affair; a public demonstration of the well-organised and professional new Regiment at readiness to serve the Islands.

Nevertheless, as a dual-role regiment, the Household Cavalry knows better than most that excellence on parade needs matching in the field. To that end, the recruits spent their early mornings running under the keen instruction of Lance Corporal Maddocks, their PTI. Their late mornings were dedicated to dismounted land navigation taught by Lance Corporal of Horse Coventry. Afternoons were invested in a wide varie-

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 37

The B Squadron training team prepare to receive recruits

ty of disaster relief subjects delivered by the redoubtable Sergeant Townshend RE and Lance Sergeant Dickson RE. Lance Corporals of Horse Marchant and Munoz-Hermosa were omnipresent; allseeing and all-knowing Section Commanders, making sure that fieldcraft was learned thoroughly. B SHQ provided the headquarters for the training team, consisting of Major James Heath RDG, Warrant Officer Class 2 (SCM) Ridge, Staff Corporal Jacques and Lance Sergeant Osei. They devised an unexpect-

edly immersive final exercise. Over the course of the next 48 hours, the recruits put all they had learnt into practice to safely detain 15 illegal immigrants and seize $500,000 in narcotics. The maturity and professionalism demonstrated by the TCI soldiers in these ‘No Play events are testament to the hard work of the STTT and indicative of the bright future of the TCI Regiment. The whole training team remains immensely grateful to His Excellency, Nigel Dakin CMG, Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands,

The training team provide gentle encouragement as the recruits dig deep.

From the left, standing: Staff Corporal M L Jacques RHG/D, Corporal of Horse J E McClure LG, Lance Corporal of Horse J Marchant LG, Corporal of Horse J A Munoz-Hermosa RHG/D, Sergeant T P D Townshend RE, Captain Glinton Turks and Caicos Regiment

and to the citizens of the TCI, whose warm welcome and kindness made the deployment a privilege and a pleasure.

Household Cavalry Cadets Melton Mowbray Detachment

by Lieutenant Green, The Blues and Royals

M

elton used to be badged as a REME Detachment but was re-badged

by HRH The Princess Royal around 16 years ago to be The Blues and Royals. I came to the Detachment just over four years ago as a new adult volunteer. At the time, we were parading around 15 cadets. Around three years ago, SMI (Sergeant Major Instructor) Neil Skivington, a former Royal Engineer, took over as detachment commander.

At the time I had just commissioned and was a second lieutenant. We worked together well and were awarded the best detachment in our County on annual camp in 2019. I was made Detachment Commander about two years ago.

Detachment has had two Master Cadets and two Company Sergeant Majors and, most recently, Cadet Sergeant Sharp was awarded the position of the Lord Lieutenants Cadet for Leicestershire, the first time we have had an LLC at the Detachment. The Detachment now has three Staff Cadets, going to four when Sergeant Sharp turns 18.

The detachment currently has three instructors: myself, SI (Sergeant Instructor) Paul Warrington and PI (Potential Instructor) Skivington, the previous DC’s wife!

The Detachment sponsors two exCavalry horses at the Horse Trust, Commando RHG/D and Yeti LG, each month and we plan to visit there next year.

Cadet Sharp meets the Lord Lieutenant for Leicestershire on becoming his County Cadet

What has Melton achieved in the last four years?

During Covid our numbers dropped dramatically, although we did continue to parade virtually. One of the highlights of this was two videos sent in by the previous Commanding Officer

of the Mounted Regiment, Paddy Williams, promoting some of our cadets, which they were over the moon with! The RCM Chris Douglass also sent in a message. This sort of input from the

Pre-Covid, the Detachment went from parading 15 cadets a night to over 70! The

38 ■ Household Cavalry Regiment

We have taken the cadets on visits to the National Army Museum and to the Royal Hospital Chelsea for the day to meet some of the residents. This trip was a great success, and I am always asked when they can go again which is great to see.

Regiment really spurred on some of our cadets to do some really great things and continue parading through Covid.

Post Covid we started parading again in March and the cadets returned to a whole new environment. We had to totally change the way we parade; luckily Melton is in an old TA centre, so we had the room to do this. As expected, numbers dropped, and we were down to around 10 cadets. We were not allowed to recruit more until the new term year. September came around and we arranged for the Regimental Engagement team to join us for the first evening lead by Lance Corporal Luetchford. The new and old cadets really enjoyed the evening getting a great look at what the regiment is about.

We are now parading up to 40 cadets an evening with more joining weekly, so the future looks strong for the Detachment. Hopefully in the new year we will be able to get down to London for a visit which has been on the cards since pre-Covid.

Household Cavalry Regiment ■ 39

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Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment Foreword

by Lieutenant Colonel T J Armitage, The Life Guards Commanding Officer, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

A

t the beginning of 2021, the year ahead for the Regiment was uncertain, and whilst Covid induced unpredictability has continued to overshadow activity throughout we have nonetheless been able to deliver a huge amount for Defence and the Nation. From the start of the year my main effort was to get the Regiment back into the routine of delivering State Ceremonial and Public Duties – a daunting task on the basis that by the summer eighty percent of junior soldiers and officers would not have completed a State Ceremonial parade, and due to the requirement to pass out fifty-six remount horses.

Despite uncertainty over the ceremonial forecast the Regiment brought all horses in from grass at the end of January to begin a twelve week build up programme ahead of a Major General’s Inspection planned for late March. However, Covid restrictions on public gatherings meant that the Major General could not inspect in Hyde Park as planned and this was pushed back until early June. In the interim the Regiment focused on improving standards of equitation with a series of small training camps and day excursions, including at Cirencester Park, Burghley and Bramham Park.

With the exception of the Major General’s Inspection all our ceremonial events have been near to unique: the incredibly poignant funeral of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, a Queen’s Birthday at Windsor Castle, and a small parade taking the 105 Eagle from the National Army Museum to the Household Cavalry Museum to help with the relaunch of the latter. The delivery of Queen’s Life Guard has been different too, with a gradual move back to daily guard changes and a return to full guard changes only in July 2021.

There have been some close calls too as a result of Covid: almost the entire Musical Ride was forced into isolation just days before the Royal Windsor Horse Show, but some fast work by Lance Corporal of Horse Drummond LG created a new Ride almost from scratch; and Regimental Training was nearly scuppered by ‘pingdemic’ that required the rapid movement of horses to grass

and for the LG and RHG/D Squadrons to rotate through Bodney Camp in turn.

Another focus has been the re-energising of Defence Engagement activity.

Opportunities for overseas engagement have been limited, but a small group of us managed to visit the Swedish Life Guards in September, a Musical Ride team visit Seville in November to scope participation at the SICAB Horse Show in 2022, we participated in the Hungarian National Gallop and rode with the Swiss Army. Inward engagement has been easier and particular highlights were having the India Military Adviser Brigadier Vikramjit Singh Gill as the Kit Ride Inspecting Officer, hosting the Danish Guard Hussars as they participated in the Lord Mayor’s Show, and running a riding course for Defence Attachés. This inward activity should set conditions for further outward engagement in 2022.

At home, the Regiment has also played its part in supporting UK operations, with small numbers deployed in support of the vaccination task force, as fuel tanker drivers and on standby to support the police. We have continued to support a steady drumbeat of engagement in London and the Musical Ride also performed at Guards Polo Club, Belvoir Castle, Horse of the Year Show and the London International Horse Show. Additionally, our Cambrian Patrol Team won a very credible bronze medal as one of only four HCav/RAC patrols in the competition, finishing ahead of a number of regular Infantry battalions.

I am also pleased to report that we are making progress on our infrastructure following confirmation that Hyde Park Barracks will be retained in full for the long term. There are small, but visible ongoing improvements around the barracks, but most significantly it will be one of thirteen Army sites prioritised for large scale capital investment to improve both living and technical areas including the stables. There will also be improvements to facilities at the Household Cavalry Training Wing.

In May, the Regiment received the tragic news that the next Riding Master

Captain Adam Betts RHG/D had died after a short battle against cancer.

Following the departure of Captain Sean Nicholls RHG/D to new employment in America, Warrant Officer Class 2 Karl Scholes RHG/D has been accelerated into the role of Riding Master as an acting Warrant Officer Class 1 and he will commission in January 2022. Despite this Riding Staff turbulence, it is great to see four Household Cavalrymen in the top eight at the Services Jumping Championships at the London International Horse Show, including Corporal of Horse Mancey LG in third place.

There is a huge amount for the Regiment to be proud of this year, but I am extremely conscious of how hard all our soldiers and officers have worked to overcome the frustrations and complications of Covid and that many professional and personal aspirations have been dashed by it. The claustrophobia of Covid has also had an impact on the mental health of some and has undoubtably placed strain on families and relationships. I am hugely grateful for work and sacrifices made by all, including our families, to ensure the Household Cavalry continues to deliver ceremonial excellence, along with a wide range of other outputs.

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 41

Diary of Events

by Captain E Keith, The Blues and Royals, Adjutant HCMR

T

he previous Adjutant of HCMR, Captain James Faire, wrote in the diary of events for 2020 how strange the year had been for HCMR. I sense that in December 2020, very few could predict how equally strange the next 12 months would be.

In the early part of 2021, The Mounted Regiment was attempting to form the phoenix out of the ashes of the pandemic. The backbone of the daily unit routine and the core output, Queen’s Life Guard, had been radically adapted to minimise crowd formation in the previous year. This had included month long guards, omission of guard changes and no dismounted duties.

January through to March saw the resumption of daily guard changes (albeit in daily riding dress) and an increase in the number of Military Working Horses (MWHs) returning to Hyde Park Barracks (HPB). The Regiment began to prepare for the Major General’s Inspection which was forecast for April. However, on 9th April 2021 we learnt of the sad passing of His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh. With the eyes of the world looking to Windsor Castle, HCMR went

Headquarters Household Cavalry debate who is the best jockey

about preparing for the parade. The Regiment had two main parts to play in the revised funeral, the first was a staircase lining party- relatively routine for HCMR. However, the second was to provide two dismounted divisions to line the quadrangle. The two divisions were required to head off to Pirbright and translate Infantry Drill into Cavalry Drill. No easy task! The linguistical challenge was met by Staff Corporal Baksh and Staff Corporal Saurara who turned

in an excellent performance preparing the dismounted divisions.

Whilst Operation FORTH BRIDGE was an incredibly sad moment for the Nation, it did provide the Regiment with an opportunity to return to providing State Ceremonial and Public Duties, something which had been distinctly missing from the past year. With the world unlocking from pandemic prohibiting measures a super series of

Lance Corporal Brown was glad that the camera caught his ‘good side’ whilst rehearsing at Pirbright

42 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

to the Household Cavalry Museum and a combination of a short parade on Horse Guards with the return of Queen’s Life Guard.

The final line switch then came in the form of a deployment to Bodney for the annual regimental training. However, as had been the way throughout the year, a complexity was thrown in at the end, with the Regiment suffering its own pingdemic. In the week running up to the deployment, the Regiment had one hundred and fifteen personnel in isolation. This represents nearly half of the mounted trained workforce. With little time to solve the problem, all horses were ruffed off and a circuit breaker was called.

The artist in residence, Rob Pointon, paints the Regiment on the Major General’s Inspection

parades began to form in the forecast of events.

A new date for the Major General’s inspection was agreed and for the first time in a long time, the Major General was to inspect the Regiment in June.

The last mounted State Ceremonial event had been the State Opening of Parliament in September 2019. This meant that this year’s Major General’s Inspection saw eighty percent of the troops on parade had no ceremonial experience. The Regiment also had fiftysix Remounts to pass out.

The parade was a roaring success and the Major General gave HCMR the green light to conduct mounted ceremonial parades in 2021, this was warmly welcomed as the Regiment had just nine days from dismounting at the end of the inspection to remounting for the Queen’s Birthday Parade.

Parade week saw all mounted elements involved deploy to Cavalry Barracks in Hounslow for a full-scale rehearsal.

The soldiers and horses were then packed up and moved to Combermere Barracks. Wednesday saw the full dress rehearsal before Saturday being the day of execution. Despite the short rehearsal time, the performance by all on parade was outstanding and showed off what the very best of mounted ceremonial excellence looks like.

Another short line switch saw soldiers and horses recover from Windsor and set up to learn, rehearse and execute the ‘Eagle Escort’, a short escort of the 105 Eagle from the National Army Museum

The effect of this meant that to ensure isolation capabilities as well as social distancing compliance, each squadron would deploy to Bodney sequentially, with LG going first and RHG/D going second. Whilst this was a sub-optimal plan, it did achieve the required effect in terms of giving as many personnel as possible the chance to deploy to Norfolk.

After a successful deployment to Norfolk, the Regiment took some wellearned summer leave. With no major events being conducted in the autumn, these months provided a good opportunity to get back to honing the production of Queen’s Life Guard. The Major General asked HCMR to undertake Project MONCK, a concept to improve the lived experience of our soldiers.

Many of the results of these will be seen in the new year.

This year’s Queen’s Birthday Parade saw a complete rewrite of the plan for HCMR. The mounted elements of the parade were to be loosely based on a Windsor state visit. However, due to social distancing measures, the size of the commitment for the Queen’s Birthday Parade was reduced to be only two divisions and a standard party. The divisions themselves were hollowed out to be only sixteen strong, not the ‘full fat’ twenty-four that both horses and soldiers were accustomed to. Equally challenging, was the fact that the Regiment had only two runs at rehearsing the parade to ensure it was able to deliver with panache.

The Monday of Queen’s Birthday

The subaltern’s delay… Captain Edwards trades patience for time as he seeks inspiration during the Brigade Major’s questions to young officers

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 43

The Life Guards Squadron

by Major R Bond, The Life Guards

T

he year of 2021 has been a triumphant return to ‘normality’ for The Life Guards. Supported by resilient and resourceful soldiers, the Squadron has, as ever, hit the high standards required for ceremonial duty.

After a year of no ceremonial guard changes for Queen’s Life Guard (QLG) being performed on initially monthly, then subsequently, weekly basis. It was an honour for the Squadron to be chosen as the first unit to conduct QLG in Mounted Review Order on 14th April.

This was a moment which signified that London was ready to move on and leave Covid restrictions behind us, for now at least. This was the first guard of its kind for 18 months and only one of the troopers had conducted the duty before; for the rest, it was a very new experience indeed. All troopers are now well on their way to becoming seasoned pros’, regularly exhibiting a standard our forebearers would be proud of.

With 85% of our soldiers having never been on a State Ceremonial occasion, it was deemed imperative that all were to conduct Operation TRYOUT, ahead of the impending ceremonial season.

Testing the resolve of both solider and military working horse (MWH), Operation TRYOUT sees the Regiment react to a plethora of scenarios which

The Squadron show off their dressing at close range

could occur while conducting our ceremonial duties. Kudos must be given to the MTWO, who’s greatest challenge occurred prior to departing Hyde Park Barracks, moving all 120 soldiers and 120 MWHs in one lift, a first in living history. The Squadron formed divisions on a windswept and extremely ominous, undisclosed airfield north east of the city. All felt a long way from the safety and comfortable surrounds of ‘the bridge’. The Squadron proceeded

The division sit deep as the Red Arrows tear overhead

44 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

through multiple scenarios and with the CivPop providing a realistic threat, the exercise reaffirmed the Regiment’s purpose as the last line of defence for The Royal Family. Senses sharpened and skills honed, all were eager to get back to London, looking forward to the season ahead.

9th April 2021 saw the world turn its attention to Windsor with the heartbreaking news of the death of HRH The

HRH The Princess Royal meets 2 Troop, The Life Guards

Textbook dismount as demonstrated by Captain Edwards

Duke of Edinburgh. Cutting leave short, on 17th April after only a weeks’ notice, The Life Guards deployed to pay their respects in this unique occasion. A monumental day saw Captain Leishman, 2 Tp Ldr, lead The Life Guards, followed by the rest of the dismounted procession, into the quadrangle of Windsor Castle, whilst Major Bond and Warrant Officer Class 2 Stafford lined The West Steps of St George’s Chapel. Our small part in ensuring His Royal Highness receive the farewell he deserved.

passing with flying colours. The short turn around left us with little time to dwell on the achievement, the Squadron deployed to Combermere Barracks, Windsor, to conduct a unique and intimate parade to celebrate Her Majesty’s birthday. Captains Long and Edwards led The Life Guards superbly, with the Queen specifically mentioning the Squadron’s superb equine skills when reacting to the noise of the Red Arrows flying above; Her Majesty’s delight was clear for all to see.

and much needed. The Squadron were even fortunate enough to receive HRH The Princess Royal in Norfolk on 13th July before then, in very short order and true to form, the Squadron escorted Her Royal Highness on 20th July to the ‘Sword and Crown’ extravaganza back in London on Horse Guards Parade.

All went without a hitch, not bad considering there was only time for a half rehearsal, whatever that may be - a true testament to the now well drilled soldiers and MWHs.

With the Queen’s Birthday confirmed for 12th June, the Squadron had to show it was ready to conduct mounted ceremonial duties, looking to obtain the seal of approval from the Major General on The Major General’s Inspection (MGI).

Taking place very late this year on 3rd June, the stakes were incredibly high with very little time to adjust had we fallen short of the mark. In contrast to previous years, soldiers and MWHs were lacking in experience, but this was countered by their skill and hard work,

After the Queen’s Birthday Parade, there was just enough time for The Life Guards to form part of the escort for the 105 Eagle parade before turning their attention to preparing for Summer Camp. Once again, Covid managed to drive a coach and horses through the original plans for Summer Camp; this time, in the form of the pingdemic.

Although this proved a logistical challenge for the Officers and SNCOs, it allowed soldiers time to relax in a unique environment and enjoy being away from London.

Trips to local water parks, paintballing and a BBQ made it an incredibly busy week, but one which was deserved

In September, Lieutenant Muir proudly led The Life Guard step liners out onto the red carpet of the Royal Albert Hall for the world premiere of the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die. Remembrance weekend saw members of the Squadron deploy on the Lord Mayor’s Show on the Saturday before step lining at Westminster Abbey on the Sunday. Both proved memorable with the former providing a sobering reminder of the many sacrifices made by the many men and women that have served for our country.

The Life Guards take centre stage at the World Premiere of No Time To Die

Sport and new challenges have always been important to the Squadron.

Trooper Jackson has made an impressive start within the RAC Rugby team, whilst Troopers Naylor, Burt, Graham

The Life Guards at Burghley

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 45

and Benterman-Snell impressed on the boxing team. The latter three, alongside Trooper Cashman, also competed in the Cambrian Patrol. An amazing effort saw the team return with a Bronze Medal.

The Squadron demonstrated their deitylike fitness by winning the Regimental CrossFit and Rugby competitions before offering an olive branch to our sister Squadrons by nobly coming last in inter-Regimental football... how kind!

There were also a few obscure moments; Captain Long decided to conduct an ‘Everesting’ (climbing the same object repeatedly until reaching the accumulated height of Mount Everest) within Peninsular Tower. This was conducted as a team of nine as part of a World Record attempt (ratification in progress) before completing the challenge again as individuals. When speaking to Captain Long, he confirmed that climbing the tower 134.4 times was a bad idea but also, that the 24 hours it afforded him away from the yard was ‘a nice break’. Equally impressive was Major Bond coming third in the Regimental Endurance Race and, more importantly, beating Blue Leader in the inaugural Squadron Leader Point to Point. Well done MWH Invader LG, who’s pace from the off absolutely obliterated poor MWH Pretoria RHG/D. As with every year, we have also said our farewells to several soldiers.

Two successful drafts occurred which

Life Guards Squadron Cricket, Norfolk

provided HCR with professional and intuitive soldiers, whilst several NCOs and Officers have moved on to pastures new. Lance Corporal of Horse Tego Tange moved to Bulford whilst Staff Corporal Healey took over at Household Cavalry Training Wing.

Corporal of Horse Perkins transferred to FTRS whilst Warrant Officer Class 2 Stafford finished his time as Squadron Corporal Major. Additionally, we said goodbye to Captain Edwards and Captain Leishman who both moved on to pastures new, outside of the Army.

However, these gaps were quickly filled by keen and willing replacements. Lieutenants Muir and Petit settled in quickly whilst Corporals of Horse Harvey and Semakula boosted

morale down the lines. Warrant Officer Class 2 Liburd returns to the Squadron keen and ready to make his mark and the recent return of Lance Corporal of Horse Romankiw has been a welcome relief.

2021 has seen The Life Guards return to a new normality with confident composure. Standards have been restored and exceeded whilst providing the soldiers with ample opportunity to indulge in extra-curricular activities. We are in a fantastic place for 2022, which will see the Squadron take pride of place in Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and on the Queen’s Birthday Parade, we look forward to another busy but rewarding year.

Trooper Eagelstone brings the division around on the wheel

46 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

The Blues and Royals Squadron

by Major T Mountain, The Blues and Royals

I

t is safe to say that this year has been one of the most unusual and unique in the Regiment’s history. It has seen The Blues and Royals Mounted Squadron adapt and overcome difficulties presented by the pandemic through initiative and flexibility. The restrictions within the Regiment eased as The Queen’s Life Guard stepped down in the first quarter of the year from week long guards to 72-hour guards, resuming daily duties at the end of March. The Queen’s Life Guard would not return to normal with a Four O’clock Inspection until after Regimental Training in July.

The Squadron brought all their Military Working Horses (MWH) in from grass at the end of January in preparation for what we hoped would be a full ceremonial season. The build-up for the horses after a difficult two years had to be calculated and deliberate to mitigate risk of injury whilst desensitising the horses to the hustle and bustle of London.

The Squadron prepared the yards, their uniforms and the horses to pass sequentially through Troop, Squadron and finally Commanding Officer’s Inspections. The hard work from every member of the Squadron satisfied the requirements and set the Squadron up for success moving towards The Major

The Blues and Royals and The Life Guards line The West Steps of St George’s Chapel as HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin is carried into the Chapel

General’s Inspection.

As the Squadron entered March, the Regiment deployed to a windswept airfield in Essex to conduct Operation TRYOUT. The soldiers and horses alike were exposed to a challenging set of scenarios designed to prepare them for

their primary role; personal bodyguard to HM The Queen. The Squadron rode fiercely and protected the carriage as the Squadron’s chargers rode off the rabble from The Household Cavalry Training Wing. After a long day in the saddle, the Squadron returned victorious and prepared for the ceremonial season ahead.

Immediately after Easter leave, the nation entered a state of mourning on the death of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, aged 99. A full state funeral was not to be due to Covid restrictions and public perception at the time. However, The Blues and Royals provided a dismounted contingent in The Quadrangle of Windsor Castle and a staircase party on the West Steps of St George’s Chapel.

There was to be no respite for the Squadron as preparations for the ceremonial season intensified. April saw the Squadron conduct several low-level equine exercises across the country. This included a series of open country rides at Cirencester Park, Bramham Park and Burghley House. These ventures involved jumping post and rail fences; cantering through open fields and taking the horses through rivers. The Squadron finished April on a high as Trooper Dickinson RHG/D triumphed on MWH Quetta in the Princess Elizabeth’s Cup (Richmond Cup). What was even more impressive for the Squadron was that the Squadron was placed first to sixth.

The Major General takes the salute from Squadron during his inspection

The Major General’s Inspection was delayed to May and provided the stage for the first Regimental parade in over

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 47

two years. The Squadron prepared meticulously to turn out at the highest standard. The Squadron; comprised of 54 MWHs; conducted three full rehearsals which thankfully led to a stellar performance on the day. The feedback from The Major General was very pleasing and spurred the Squadron on for upcoming events. This was the first parade for most of the Squadron as well as for our young horses, it is a testament to their character and the hard work of the training team.

After the success of The Major General’s Inspection, the Squadron’s focus moved to The Queen’s Birthday Parade. The parade was to be a scaled down and more private affair within the confines of Windsor Castle, the second time in history. Crowds gathered outside the Castle as a division from The Blues and Royals and The Life Guards rode up the Long Walk and passed into the Quadrangle to join the Scots Guards as other elements of the Household Division for what was a truly intimate and unique parade.

As June passed, the Squadron moved from strength to strength as The Blues and Royals provided the lead division for the escort to the Eagle Standard of the 105th Régiment d’Infanterie de Ligne. The Standard was collected at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and escorted through Pimlico and Victoria until reaching Horse Guards Parade. This entirely unique escort drew crowds to watch the procession as The Household Cavalry Regiment provided a Guard of Honour outside the Household Cavalry Museum. Lance Corporal of Horse Greenhow RHG/D carried the 105 Eagle, representing Corporal Styles, the man who captured the 105 Eagle at Waterloo, and Lance Corporal of Horse Greenhow wore Styles’ actual medal on his chest. The Escort coincided with the Household Cavalry Museum reopening to the public, with the 105 Eagle and Corporal Styles’ medal forming a central part of its summer exhibition.

Following the success of a reduced ceremonial season, the Squadron switched focus to Regimental Training at Bodney Camp in Norfolk. Despite some unexpected disruption caused by a necessary Covid ‘circuit breaker’; The Squadron still managed ten days of challenging equine training in cross country, show jumping and of course the infamous Holkham beach ride. Regimental Training gave members of the Squadron an opportunity to relax and unwind through a series of Troop socials and a Squadron BBQ, although the inflatable obstacle course presented a serious challenge for some later in the evening.

Trooper Jemma Dickinson meets Her Majesty The Queen after placing first in the Princess Elizabeth Cup

Lance Corporal of Horse Greenhow wearing Corporal Styles’ Medal whilst escorting The 105th Eagle to the Household Cavalry Museum, receives the Eagle from Lieutenant Gereral Sir William Rollo, formerly RHG/D

48 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Recovering from Regimental Training was completed in late July, with the Regiment then breaking for summer leave. Upon returning in early September the Squadron entered the routine of autumn commitments, though sadly lacking a State Visit.

Soldiers from the Regiment under the tutelage of Captain Lord-Sallenave RHG/D and Corporal of Horse Stock RHG/D deployed on the 1 Brigade Patrols Competition in preparation for the Cambrian Patrol, winning a bronze medal in the latter. Thereafter, members of the Squadron deployed with Captain Lane Fox RHG/D to Melton Mowbray as part of Winter Training Troop for the forthcoming hunting season. Corporal of Horse O’Carroll RHG/D led and instructed the boxing team through an intense training package, culminating with The Household Cavalry Foundation’s Boxing Night in November.

Although it has been a successful year for The Blues and Royals Squadron,

it has also been one of deep sorrow and loss. The Squadron tragically lost Trooper Patrick Needham, who passed away whilst deployed with the Musical Ride. His loss is a heavy burden and one that we will never forget. The Squadron are eternally grateful to his family for allowing our soldiers to attend his funeral and pay their respects. The Blues and Royals members of the Musical Ride now perform with his memory firmly in their minds.

2021 has been a year of mixed frustration, success and emotion for The Blues and Royals Squadron. As ever, the core of the Squadron remains the character and fortitude of our exemplary soldiers.

The closing of the year sees the challenges of next year’s Platinum Jubilee emerge. The Squadron remains confident that it is these characteristics; along with a healthy amount of spit and polish; that will enable us to make a success of the remarkable year ahead.

Trooper Needham

The Queen’s Birthday Parade 2021, Windsor Castle

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 49

Headquarters Squadron

by Major P Ireland, The Blues and Royals

H

Q Squadron’s focus has, as always, been to effectively support and administer the Regiment in its various activities. Members of the Squadron have been helping the hard-pressed sabre Squadrons, by covering many aspects of State Ceremonial and Public Duties. Lining the steps of MOD Main building and filling gaps on investitures has become a norm and regularly sees farriers, tailors, storemen and saddlers lining the different steps for various visits by dignitaries.

The funeral of his Royal Highness Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle was well represented by HQ Squadron personnel. Staff Corporal Baksh delivering drill lessons for the rehearsals, Staff Corporal Belasco leading the line of Life Guards on parade, with the majority of the steps of the St George’s Chapel covered by workforce from HQ. It was nothing but a privilege for all members of the Squadron to be part of the parade.

The support from every department of HQ Squadron sometimes goes unnoticed, things just happen. All the workforce has worked tirelessly to ensure that the Sabre Squadrons, a substantial number of trainees and all our Military Working Horses are constantly prepared and ready for all State Ceremonial and Public Duties that must be delivered.

Regimental Training was different due to Covid. What was delivered worked well for each Sabre Squadron.

Troop tests proved to be challenging due to their quality, thanks to Captain Paddy Ireland OC HCTW for taking charge of the tests and his delivery of a Battle Procedure Stand, the Medics for their realistic medical stand, Farrier Lance Corporal of Horse Murden-Wade for his slightly more visible than last time; Observation Stand and finally our PTI, Sergeant Evans, for his challenging command tasks.

The required MATTS training was planned and delivered by Warrant Officer Class 2 Lewis, HQ SCM. With all Squadrons achieving good results. The SCM also doubles up as MTWO, and with the help of the Corporal of Horse Lacey, MT is now leading the way within LONDIST. Corporal of Horse Lacey’s horse transportation knowl- Farrier Lance Corporal of Horse Murden-Wade hydrates ahead of Staircase Party duties at Windsor Castle edge has been invaluable, with what has been a hectic year they are not shoeing, bending metal of self-drive horse transportation and an and teaching new apprentices, they ever-changing list of horses to transport. are heavily into their golf and fishing.

Farrier Staff Corporal Petit and Farrier The Forge is as busy as ever, when Lance Corporal of Horse Cooney represent the RAC Fishing team. The Forge said farewell to Major Caz Bullard in September and welcomed the new RVO Major Ross Curnick. The Forge have four new Farriers Corporal of Horse Veness, Lance Corporal of Horse Marsh and Lance Corporals Large and Reuter who all passed their B3 Farriers course, their career as an Army Farrier has just begun. The Forge executed a brilliant Large Animal Rescue Stand at Regimental Training which was an eye opener for many.

The MTWO’s masterpiece, some 120 horses and soldiers lifted in one move on their way to Operation TRYOUT

50 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

This must be the fittest bunch of Saddlers we have ever had, always having the greatest presence on PT and entering the 16 Air Assault Brigade’s X-Country event and all of them doing remarkably well! As part of the permanent cadre, they are well qualified to instruct MATTS training with Lance Corporal Andreev becoming the latest instructor in Small Arms. Staff Corporal Belasco the Master Saddler, is the first to become a fully qualified civilian Master

enormous amount of equipment needed by the two sabre Squadrons.

The Welfare Team of Welfare Officer Suzy Gould and Corporal of Horse Jones hosted the HCMR families for what was a brilliant Families Day. The Parade Square was packed with various stands, a tombola, free virgin cocktails from a local hotel, the Police and Fire Brigade and the many others were very popular. The Riding School provided indoor ranges of soft archery and Nerf guns, which as you can imagine was well received by the youngsters and parents alike!

The then HQ Leader, Major Fry, demonstrates how to break into a car while trying to clear the Parade Square

Saddler, showing off his skills by winning a class at the Society of Master Saddler’s National Competition. Lance Corporal of Horse Collins has become the latest to join the ‘Shop’ and has settled in well.

More than 350 medal boards for the Platinum Jubilee Medal are being prepared in the Tailor’s Shop in preparation for the medals to be issued in midFebruary. The Master Tailor Corporal of Horse Morrison and the latest apprentice

Lance Corporal Hinchcliffe sourced the new Life Guard tweed, which is selling well, with all proceeds going to the HCF. Lance Corporal of Horse Scheepers completed yet another sailing qualification and is the current regimental sailing officer’s second-in-command.

Led by the new Quartermaster, Captain Steve McWhirter, the department has continued the theme of passing all mandated inspections with flying colours.

It continues to provide unabated the

The Squadron bid farewell to the everpopular Major Shaun ‘Sizzler’ Fry MC. We wish him well as Garrison QM in Bovington. A special mention must be given to Staff Sergeant Agyi Owusu RLC, the Master Chef. He is probably the hardest working catering Manager ever to be posted to us. He has done a phenomenal job keeping everyone fed and watered to an impeccable standard, which saw him deservedly get a Commanding Officer’s commendation.

We bid him farewell as he continues his journey with the RLC at 27 RLC in Aldershot.

Quartermaster’s Department

by Captain S McWhirter, The Blues and Royals

2

021 Has been a strangely busy year for the HCMR Quartermaster’s (QM) Department. Within the first quarter, whilst most in the Army have witnessed much reduced activity due to the reemergence of the pandemic, it was business as usual for HCMR. The lack of ceremonial activity in 2020 meant many key roles that had changed over in that period had experienced very little in the way of major parades due to the Covid turbulence; that meant that with the new Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Armitage now firmly in post and with a large gap in G4 experience, the department was put to task.

the perception) and becoming the new HCMR HQ Squadron Leader; Pete had been in role for two years and did a great job. He handed the baton as QM over to Captain Steve McWhirter who had recently returned from being the

RCMO at HCR, but no time to reflect and he was straight into the preparation for the Queen’s Birthday Parade, The Garter Service and then Summer Training in Bodney. Soon after the QM’s appointment there was a change of the

The second quarter of the year brought about the Major General’s Inspection.

The QM Department was pivotal in the build-up preparations and even more so this year due to the fact the parade had not been conducted since 2019. The day itself was a huge success and all within the department played a big part delivering the parade to the required standard, a great achievement.

The end of April brought closure to the Quarter Masters tenure. Captain Pete Ireland now moving on to grasses greener (or at least that was

Staff Sergeant Owusu (left) and his team at Bodney Camp

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 51

Summer Camp in flat pack form

RQMC role. Warrant Officer Class 2 RQMC Warren handed over and began his transition out of the Army at the end of his service. He was replaced by Warrant Officer Class 2 RQMC Ottaway who had recently handed over the post of C Squadron SCM at HCR. As he arrived mid-season, he was immersed in his role very quickly, but little phases him and he performed impeccably.

The Master Chef’s (MS), SSgt Owusu, contribution throughout this year has also been nothing short of outstanding.

With Aramark chefs and no military chefs under my command (CAT PL), at times stretching it to its very limit, he performed miracles. The period has seen him aid State Functions, Operation FORTH BRIDGE, TRYOUT, Exercise COPPER HORSE 21 deployments, Royal Logistic Corps commitments, LONDIST short notice tasking, Queen’s birthday celebration, Charity work in the local community, numerous Div and GOC`s residential high-profile functions and all in the backdrop of a global pandemic.

At one point during the Pandemic, the Master Chef made breakfast buns at 0200hrs for 250 people three times in a week on his own. He went on to say afterwards “that was the most

The calm before the storm. A civilised start to the QMs BBQ, before the games...

demanding breakfast I have ever done within my 18 years as a chef”, a commendable effort.

The autumn brought the annual inspections for the department in the form of a LEA, H&S Audit and the dreaded LSA&I. The department passed all the inspections with a solid green across the board with our LSA&I being singled out

by SO2 Log Sp as being the best out of all those carried out within LONDIST. A fantastic achievement considering the department is not at full strength and I congratulate all within it for their dedication and diligence in achieving this accolade, particularly Corporal of Horse Elder who went above and beyond with his dedication to role.

The department welcomes Corporal of Horse Savage from HCR and Corporal of Horse Orr but also bids farewell to some familiar faces that have been part of the QM makeup for some time. Corporal of Horse Solis moved on from the department to the Welfare SNCO and Lance Corporal of Horse Pemberton is also soon to depart the Regiment; I thank

Lance Corporal of Horse Pemberton and Trooper Dwight blow the cobwebs away for the QMs BBQ

both for their thankless and impeccable service towards the G4 fight whilst in role, both were exceptional, and I wish them the very best for the future.

The Riding Staff

by Warrant Officer Class 1 Karl Scholes, The Blues and Royals

A

s is the case for everyone, Covid19 made for interesting management. The Riding Staff, as ever, did its upmost to serve for the continuation of Household Cavalry Equine Stock and training of its Service Personnel. The options for change process, released some of the senior JNCO’s across to HCTW to take up management roles and to deliver the Mounted Duty Class

Three course independent of remounts, and meanwhile younger members of the staff could focus entirely on Military Working Horse training.

Concurrently 29 Remounts made their way to London’s HPB to commence their kit ride training in preparation for Major General’s Inspection.

In March, the Riding Staff held an Instructors Cadre for candidates to join the department. Lance Corporal Twidale and Lance Corporal Spencer were successful in joining the team.

This led to a successful pass out on The Major General’s Inspection and a lot of time has been spent assisting the Regiment with a younger herd. We also put together a programme for coaching

52 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

riders who had not done a full season of State Ceremonial events due to the cancellations around the pandemic. This proved very effective in raising the lost corporate knowledge at HCMR. After which we said a very sad farewell to Captain Adam Betts RHG/D following his unfortunate passing, and a farewell to Captain Sean ‘Skip’ Nicholls RHG/D as the outgoing Riding Master to work across the pond in sunny USA, whilst welcoming Warrant Officer First Class Karl Scholes RHGD as the new Riding Master.

After a successful season passing out 37 Remounts into the Squadrons the Regiment deployed to Exercise COPPER HORSE where we changed the output of training to a progressive build up to support some of those lost skills during the pandemic, this was hugely successful and saw it culminate in low level competitions for both the LG and RHG/D Squadrons and a feeling of fulfilment for those that missed some training during the restriction earlier in the year.

Post exercise the department had a re-shuffle of appointments with Staff Corporal Michael McGrath RHG/D promoting to Warrant Officer Second Class and taking up the role as Chief Instructor at the Defence Animal

Welcome to the Staff Lance Corporal Twidale

A farrier party full of remounts

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 53

Ed being put through his paces

Training Regiment, Staff Corporal Daniel Evans RHG/D to Warrant Officer Second Class to take up his role as Equitation Warrant Officer and Corporal of Horse Stephen Heeley LG promoting to Staff Corporal as the Equitation Staff Corporal for Training Wing. Corporal of Horse Antony Glass LG promoted to Staff Corporal and

is now in command of Household Division Stables. Also, later during the year, WO1 (RM) Karl Scholes RHG/D was successful on the Army Officer Selection Board so will now promote to Captain on 1st January 2022.

new attitude and new ideas. In the second half of the year, we then welcomed Lance Corporals Harley Reece RHG/D and Regan Agnew RHG/D to the remount training team to start their careers on the Riding Staff.

A lot of changes in a short space of time made for a difficult honeymoon period but all are now settling into their roles with a

With a brand-new team, we head into Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee Year with some hope in getting back to normal and, as always, stand to support HCMR with anything it throws at us.

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Warrant Officer Class 2 Evans back in the saddle

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 55 22/01/2021 15:44

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The Forge

by Lance Corporal of Horse Forster, The Blues and Royals

T

he beginning of 2021 didn’t have the best of starts as the country entered a third national lockdown; however, life in the Forge was slowly starting to go back to normal as horses started heading back to London from their extended holiday in Leicestershire. Farrier Major Staff Corporal Jones and his team of qualified and apprentice farriers were on hand to start the gruelling process of shoeing all of the 200 plus horses. This is vital before a build-up exercise programme can be implemented, ensuring the horses are fit and ready for the year ahead.

As a part of Headquarter Squadron it is important that the Forge is there to assist the remaining squadrons should we be needed. That is when Lance Corporals of Horse Chew and Hansford were called upon to help pass out two Remounts on the Major General’s Inspection in Hyde Park. These two young horses needed a more experienced rider and as Lance Corporals of Horse Chew and Hansford are not only apprentice farriers, but are also qualified riding instructors, it was a no brainer. Their expertise and horsemanship allowed them to take the task of riding the young horses in their stride and the two horses successfully passed out ready for a career at HCMR. It wasn’t all hard work as the year pushed on. We had a number of Forge

members representing the Regiment at sports competitions in golf and RAC fishing. In the golf we had Farrier Major Paul Jones, Staff Corporal Pettit (2ic), Floor manager Lance Corporal of Horse Cooney, Lance Corporal of Horse Forster and Lance Corporal of Horse Blake, competing with their partners from other departments in the Regiment, in the pairs and singles HDiv Championship competition. This consisted of 18 holes in the morning and another 18 holes played in the afternoon. Lance Corporal of Horse Cooney came close to being singles champion after playing the best golf of his life, only to lose out by a couple of points.

He did, however, scoop a prize for closest to the pin on one of the holes. Lance Corporal of Horse Forster’s partner, Private Sutton from the AGC, had a bad back after the morning holes as she carried Lance Corporal of Horse Forster to the win, winning the best serving military pair to ensure HCMR and the Forge put on a worthy display.

The fishing saw Staff Corporal Pettit and Lance Corporal of Horse Cooney represent the Regiment at the RAC qualifiers. Even though it seemed Lance Corporal of Horse Cooney hadn’t ever experienced catching a fish, it wasn’t for the want of trying. He did however have his work cut out reeling in a whopper, pulling off a 1st place in qualifying.

Colonel RHG/D looks cool in the heat of the Forge

56 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Staff Corporal Pettit’s previous catch, however, was a monster in comparison.

Farriery training finally started again and after a three-and-a-half-year apprenticeship, Lance Corporal of Horse Forster, Lance Corporal of Horse Murden-Wade and Lance Corporal of Horse Jackson were put to the test.

They finally qualified as farriers, not letting nerves get the better of them in their exams as they were overlooked by world champion farrier Steven Beane as the external adjudicator. They walked away with the qualification of Diploma of the Worshipful Company of Farriers after successfully completing their B2 at DATR’s Army School of Farriery.

We also welcomed four new apprentices to the Forge. Corporal of Horse Veness, Lance Corporal of Horse Marsh, Lance Corporal of Horse Reuter and Lance Corporal Large finally joined the Forge after a 12 month wait to complete their basic military farriery course due to the 2020 lockdown.

More vital training took place as Lance Corporal of Horse Murden-Wade organised a large animal rescue course at Lyndhurst Fire station. Members of the Forge, riding instructors and members from Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery attended the internationally recognised course gaining valuable expertise,

Forge members prepping Major Bullard for a dip

Lance Corporals of Horse Steer and Murden-Wade hone their rescue skills

enabling them to teach the vital skill to other soldiers at their respective units.

Summer camp was fast upon us and although it wasn’t our normal camp, it was time for a bit of down time and a bit of fun. The timing was perfect as the Euros were on at the same time. A Forge full of football fans meant the Mess on match day was a lively event. Lance

Corporal of Horse Blake was on form as he took centre stage with his football chants making sure everyone got involved, lifting the roof off the Mess until the final whistle was blown.

The end of summer camp meant saying a farewell to Major Bullard. In true summer camp fashion, she took a little dip in the horses’ troughs with a little helping

hand from the Forge to say goodbye.

We then welcomed Major Curnick as our new vet and look forward to working with him.

As the end of the year draws near and life as we know it is now back to normal, we can look forward to the new year and the prospect of four new qualified farriers to the ranks.

Veterinary Department

by Captain Emma Peal, RAVC

O

ver the last year the Department has seen a number of changes. We have said goodbye to Major Bullard, who has moved on to ICSC, and also to Sergeant Moore, who has been promoted and moved on to a role in Aldershot. Major Curnick has now taken over as the new RVO and we have also welcomed back Sergeant Fort from maternity leave. We look forward to welcoming another Vet Tech to the team, hopefully early in the new year.

As always, we have said a fair number of hellos and goodbyes to horses as well.

The ‘V reg’s’ have proved a fine batch of horses and generally they seem to have integrated well into Knightsbridge life, with a few requiring turn out to kick their heels up and remember that they are still very young; some will have a long career in the Army ahead of them! The rehoming process has been undergoing review from the team at the Defence Animal Training Regiment (DATR), with the aim of updating the process so it is mostly electronic and can be more easily passed between the parties involved. We are also seeing a move away from the term ‘casting’ towards the use of rehoming, which seems appropriate. The current Estate Manager at the Equine Training Squadron has been working hard to ensure that the horses

Team Vet, right to left: Captain Peal, Major Curnick and Sergeant Fort

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 57

go to good homes, with full awareness of any quirks, veterinary requirements or habits that a new owner needs to know about.

We were thrilled to see MWH Empress taken on by the Horse Trust after The Major General’s Inspection earlier this year. The Horse Trust is a brilliant organisation that is keen to take on our horses that have an illustrious history and provide exemplary care for them during retirement. Empress has certainly served her time and is a happy addition to their herd there. As a veterinary team we are always happy to see horses accepted by the Trust, because we know they receive excellent care from the staff there, headed up by Vet Nicky Housby-Skeggs, a previous RVO of HCMR. We will often request that the Trust takes on particular cases that cannot be safely rehomed for veterinary reasons, due to heart conditions for example, or if the case is complicated and it isn’t sensible for them to go to a civilian home.

Another rehoming success story this year is of MWH Sinnington, previously a charger here at Hyde Park Barracks.

He had been the apple of the previous Adjutant’s eye, but after a long stint

MWH Sinnington

at the DATR following investigation into weight loss, it was deemed that it would be unsuitable for him to return to Knightsbridge. He has now gone on to pastures new and is living the high life in Suffolk with grass galore.

With fewer horses in the Barracks due to a reduced ceremonial output, we have been able to concentrate on some of the preventative aspects of care, but we look towards busy clinics in the coming year.

Household Cavalry Training Wing

by Captain Martin (Paddy) Ireland, The Blues and Royals

2

021 has been another busy year for the Household Cavalry Training Wing (HCTW), getting back to normality after Covid and producing the appropriately trained personnel for the Squadrons in London has been the main effort, but also to continue to develop new methods of instruction, in turn improving the trainees who progress through the Training Wing. I am pleased to say I feel my team and I have achieved this remarkably well and continue to produce a very good standard at the finish point for State Ceremonial and Public Duties.

and had our first members of the team qualified in Large Animal Rescue (LAR): Staff Corporal (SEI) S Heeley LG, Corporal of Horse Baker (Coach Tp CoH) LG and Farrier Lance Corporal of Horse C Murden-Wade RHG/D being the first recipients of the qualification, not just in the event of the need in Windsor but to develop the competency

around the Regiment and incorporate the skill as part of the trainees syllabus in the long term.

The main conundrum we faced was over the summer period when Covid decided to make a reappearance was ‘Do we go to summer camp?’ The first answer would always be yes as the

After catching up with the Covid inflow of trainees we thought our numbers would greatly reduce, this was, however, a false assumption. We have consistently had high numbers in HCTW over the last year which has been very positive for regimental manning and shows the recruiting system is working well. It did however, mean our instructors have been running hot for a long period of time and after sterling work over the last 18 months are due to be rotated.

HCTW has found and developed a new opportunity through the Fire Brigade

58 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Corporal of Horse Baker and Farrier Lance Corporal of Horse Murden-Wade conducting Large Animal Rescue

HCTW Permanent Staff, Liquid Leisure Dachet

benefits of soldiers learning to ride in open country is greatly amplified than just riding in a school, but we had to make the decision based on protecting the health of our permanent staff and trainees. The decision was made to not attend summer training and remain in our bubble, to the great disappointment of all.

During the period when we would have deployed to Bodney, the permanent staff dreamt up ways to have fun and conduct some team building, using the Training Wing facilities and opportunities in the Berkshire area. These included command tasks in the outdoor and indoor riding school, mountain biking in Swinley Forest, Liquid leisure water park in Dachet, beach rides at Hayling Island, pub rides to the Fox & Hounds in Windsor Great Park, culminating with a Training Wing BBQ, and permanent staff trip to the races at Royal Windsor Racecourse. All in all, the staff and trainees (just) made up for not deploying to Bodney.

This year has seen some of the staff continue to engage with other opportunities both in and outside of their equine roles.

Lance Corporals of Horse Nicholas and Drummond came to the Musical Ride’s rescue at short notice and ensured they could perform even with a reduced ride

at the Royal Windsor Horse Show after a Covid outbreak within the Regiment.

Corporal of Horse Baker continued to develop the regimental shooting team, competing in clay shooting at the West London Shoot and days at the Bulford Garrison Shoot. Lance Corporals of Horse Pinder and Drummond have both represented the Royal Armoured Corps at Carp Fishing and Staff Corporal Heeley and Lance Corporal of Horse Drummond both represented the Regiment in Hungary, competing in the Hungarian Gallop horse race.

The latter part of the year saw the usual Armistice period remembrance activities including our own small service in the indoor riding school. With the Last Post played brilliantly by our current HCav Band ride. Staff Corporal (SQMC) A Saurara LG who was selected to represent the Army at the Royal British Legion 100th Centenary at Westminster Abbey.

Lance Corporal of Horse Drummond, Hungarian Gallop

meaning our brand is as strong as ever.

We are increasingly seeing young individuals with many talents, from fluency in a variety of different languages to some remarkable sporting achievements. It would seem we are continuing to recruit a very talented and diverse cohort from across the UK and the Commonwealth, all keen to establish a career in the Household Cavalry. Good news for the future!

In conclusion, the Training Wing has returned to a feeling of normality with reassuringly consistent numbers coming through the door,

Corporal of Horse Baker at the Bulford Shoot

Staff Corporal Saurara at the Royal British Legion 100th Centenary in Westminster Abbey

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 59

Adjutant General’s Corps Detachment

by Captain M Hockram, Adjutant General’s Corps

T

his year has been a busy one for all involved in the day-to-day administration at HCMR. The AGC Detachment which has adapted to the changes and continued to deliver high standards of administration to the soldiers of HCMR – hopefully so they have one less thing to worry about on their rather long ‘todo’ lists!

A highlight for the Detachment was taking part in Operation TRYOUT, which is the confirmation of HCMR’s ability to deal with unpredictable situations involving riotous civilians, horses and the Sovereign’s carriage; and things were certainly made unpredictable when Corporal Sana Manka and Private Niki Sutton arrived on the scene. I believe the Commanding Officer even commended them for such a natural display of civil disobedience; little did he know Private Sutton was just out to settle old scores with Troopers who had appeared in her office on Friday afternoon with last-minute problems only she could fix!

Corporal Manka continued his involvement with the ‘Green stuff’ alongside Private Ruth Boison by taking part in Exercise DYNAMIC VICTORY, which is the final training exercise for Officer Cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

The proactiveness and enthusiasm they displayed received comment from many of HCMR’s paragons, with Warrant Officer Martyn Privett saying how impressed he was at

the Detachment’s members’ ability to familiarise themselves with ever changing scenarios and add value all along the way.

Not to be out done, Captain Mark Hockram and Corporal Charlotte Whelby saw an opportunity for riding lessons within the Regiment with some of the best riding instructors that the Army has to offer. Tumbles aside, they persevered with grooming and getting ready for their participation in the Major General’s Inspection; a yearly parade which validates the HCMR’s ability to conduct State Ceremonial and Public Duties.

The showcase of talents within the Detachment is far and wide. Staff Sergeant Lorraine Money represented the AGC at the Captains’ and Subalterns’ Polo Tournament.

Private Sutton also took first place in the Household Division golf tournament and AGC golf

Corporal Sana Manka and Private Niki Sutton on Operation TRYOUT conducting an interview

60 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Captain Hockram on MWH Doncaster ready for The Major Generals Inspection

Private Niki Sutton with all the trophies

tournament earning herself a spot on the Army Sport Scholarship Scheme, she was awarded Army Ladies Player of the year for her efforts and has been named female player of the year by the Army Golf Association; well done!

Sergeant Daniel Kodi has taken time off from lifting in the gym and represented the AGC in athletics, focusing on the 100m & 200m disciplines. He has also been on numerous fixtures as a key member of the AGC Corps Football team. This year was particularly special as the team was afforded the rare opportunity to play at St George’s Park in July 2021, which is the historical home of the England’s Men’s Football team.

As we look forward to 2022, we will take lessons from 2021 with us and continue to strive for excellence collectively as a Detachment whilst maintaining the highest standards of professional and personal discipline.

The AGC detachment visiting Horse Guards

Warrant Officers’ and Non Commissioned Officers’ Mess

by Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) C G Douglass, The Blues and Royals

W

ith the Regiment returning from a short Easter sabbatical under the restraints of Covid-19, the Mess tried regaining some traction from the Serving Mess Members under the direction of the Regimental Corporal Major, Warrant Officer Class 1 Douglass. The calendar was filled in anticipation, as we eagerly awaited restrictions to ease for a traditional Mess Social. However, this wasn’t to be just yet.

Unfortunately, on 9th April 2021, the Regiment and the Country received the very sad news of the passing of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.

Serving Mess Members formed part of the of the staircase party street liners to honour the Duke at his Funeral Ceremony being held at Windsor Castle.

The Regiment then focused on a later than scheduled Major General’s Inspection, and the promise of a scaled down Queen’s Birthday Parade as something to sink its teeth into.

The Queen’s Birthday Parade was a huge success and for the first time in recent history took place at Windsor Castle on a reduced scale with The Blues and Royals carrying the Standard under the controlled arm of Warrant Officer Class 2 Salmon.

Due to the pandemic, the Regiment couldn’t deploy in its entirety to Bodney Camp and as a consequence the camp

The WOs and NCOs mess members form the majority of the staircase party

was cut down to two weeks. A week each for the sabre squadrons and HQ providing a minimal but crucial support element, enabling camp to go on as we know it. The WO’s and NCO’s mess were kept busy hosting every match on the big screen as the Regiment got behind the England football team which added to the festivities and brought everyone together in good spirits.

After a long run of socially distanced Mess Meetings and cancelled events,

the Mess finally reopened its door to Mess Guests and a decent mess function which came in the form of the Generations Dinner held at Hyde Park Barracks on 17th September. With the success of the dinner being evident, it was nice to see some normality returning the Mess establishment and the members within it.

‘Let’s get ready to rumble’, boxing night at the Royal Leonard Hotel in St Paul’s.

Senior Mess Members from both Messes

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 61

of HCR and HCMR came together for one evening to cheer on boxers from the Armoured and Ceremonial Regiments.

Trained on the mantra of Rocky himself, Corporal of Horse O’Carroll showed great enthusiasm to establish a boxing cohort from HCMR considering the time limitations set on him, and this was echoed by special guest, former light

welterweight champion, Amir Khan who congratulated all on their exceptional efforts in the Ring.

The Mess now sets its sights on the upcoming Brick hanging being held in the Warrant Officer’s and NonCommissioned Officer’s Mess on Friday 3rd December.

Rowdy showing of the Euros at Bodney

Generations Dinner 2021

The Band of the Household Cavalry

by Corporal of Horse Wootten

T

he ongoing suspension of musical support to public duties owing to the pandemic meant that the band’s return to work in the New Year was far from normal. The band’s PTI, Lance Corporal of Horse Sherriff continued to provide exhausting HIT workout sessions via Zoom, which, along with small ensemble and sectional rehearsals kept us in a state of physical and musical readiness. However, we were of course, able to support socially-distanced ceremonial events ‘behind the wire’ including passing-out parades at HCMR and ATR Pirbright.

The cancellation of the Queen’s Birthday Parade meant that the Household Division Beating Retreat was also cancelled, so, although equitation training continued, the band faced a second spring and summer without a mounted engagement. Fortunately, the Major General’s Inspection of the Mounted Regiment went ahead in early June and

gave us a chance to demonstrate our readiness for role as well as trialling several potential ‘band’ horses (we’re pleased to say that most passed with flying colours!).

episode of Who Do You Think You Are (broadcast in November). Pixie’s great, great grandfather, John Martin served for 26 years in the Band of the 2nd Life Guards.

Within a few weeks of the Major General’s Parade, Lance Corporal Hicks and Musicians Ballard, Boswell and Buchan travelled to Gibraltar to provide assistance to the Band and Corps of Drums of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment for the Queen’s Birthday Parade. They also took part in a parade through streets lined with people in support of Gibraltar’s Armed Forces Day and gave a concert in the Governor’s Garden, but also managed to enjoy some adventure training, taking part in paddle boarding, sailing and power boating.

In July, the suspension of public duties was lifted and the band was very quickly back in front of the general public supporting guard changes in Windsor and London, as well as performing at Guards Polo Club and supporting Metropolitan Police passing-out parades in Hendon.

Later in June, a BBC film crew visited the band to film a performance of Mama Do with singer Pixie Lott on the parade square at Combermere Barracks for an

62 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

The Lord Mayor’s Show in November gave the band another opportunity to parade on horseback as well as trying out a few more potential ‘band’ horses.

On the parade, Warrant Officer Class 2 Evans rode the remount drum horse (currently known as Harry) in front of the band alongside the very experienced team of Lance Corporal of Horse Ballantine and Perseus, and we’re glad

Left to right: Musicians Buchan, Ballard and Buswell and Lance Corporal Hicks in Gibraltar

to report that he looks very promising. As always, on the same day, the band provided eight State Trumpeters for the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall.

Later in November, twenty members of the band along with Director of Music,

Major P Collis-Smith, joined musicians from across the Household Division for the annual Scarlet and Gold concerts at Cadogan Hall in London. This year, for the first time, there were two completely different concert programmes - the first performance titled ‘Planet Earth’, and the second titled ‘When The Guards Are

Lance Corporal Ballantine and Perseus at The Lord Mayor’s Show

On Parade’.

Lance Corporal of Horse Witter and Lance Corporals Robinson and Laurie deployed during 2021 as part of the Household Division Bands’ support to Operation RESCRIPT at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with duties including

Perseus (left) and Harry (right) lead the band at The Lord Mayor’s Show

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 63

Staff Corporal Danckert and Onyx at The Lord Mayor’s Show

the very important weekly PCR testing of in-pensioners and staff. During their time at the hospital, Lance Corporal Robinson’s team were able form an ‘adhoc’ musical quartet and gave a short afternoon concert for the pensioners, and Lance Corporal Laurie got to know an ex-RCM of the Royal Horse Guards, John Kidman, and arranged a trip for him to visit the stables at HCMR. Despite the restrictions presented by the pandemic, members of the band have continued to excel in sport cycling.

Lance Corporal Robinson has been selected for the Army Cycling Gravity Enduro team, whilst Staff Corporal Danckert, Corporal of Horse Sandford, Lance Corporal Robinson, both Lance Corporals Marshall, and Musicians Lamstaes and Moore all represented the band at the Army Cycling Road Race Series. Not to be outdone, Musician

Porter continues to play loosehead prop for Windsor 1st XV, whilst Corporal of Horse Kitchen, Lance Corporal of Horse Hubbard, Lance Corporals Diggle and Fuentes-Moreno and Musician Buswell represent the band in the Royal Corps of Army Music football team. Last, and by no means least, Corporal of Horse Irvine ran the Virtual London Marathon and Cambridge Half-Marathon, and Lance Corporal of Horse Swindles, who ran the Virtual London Marathon in 2020, finally got to run the real London Marathon in 2021.

Congratulations are in-order for the members of the band who passed the Household Cavalry Equitation Course in 2020: Staff Corporal Evans, Lance Corporals Fuentes-Moreno and Hicks, and Musicians Ballard, Buchan, Lamstaes and Robinson. We welcome and wish good luck in riding school

Lance Corporal Laurie dressed for PCR testing at the Royal Hospital Chelsea

to the newest members of the band: Warrant Officer Class 1 (BM) Shave and Musicians Blackmore, Burrows, Chan, Kinch, Moore, Namugera and Ssegawa.

As always, with new arrivals to the band, there are inevitably some departures. In 2020 we said farewell to Warrant Officer Class 1 (BM) Ruffer, Staff Corporal Mason, Staff Corporal Roberts, Lance Corporal of Horse Hinchliffe, Lance Corporal LamertonReece and Musicians Robinson-Plain and Wheeler; we wish them all well in their future endeavours. Fortunately, in November of 2021 we were able to give them the send-off they rightly deserved at a wonderful and very well-attended black-tie band ‘leavers’ function at the Castle Hotel, Windsor.

As we approach the year-end and Christmas leave period with morale remaining high, we can only hope and prepare for a more normal 2022.

Musician Lamstaes performing on soprano saxophone at Scarlet and Gold

64 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

HCMR Medical Centre

by Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Jedge Lewin OBE, The Blues and Royals

A

stute readers may have picked up that there has been a bit of a virus doing the rounds and it should, therefore, be of no surprise that the Medical Centre has been somewhat preoccupied with dealing with this, at the same time as conducting normal activities.

Our staff, including our Practice Nurse, Jane, stepped into the breech and got involved as volunteers with mass NHS vaccination clinics, mainly at Lord’s Cricket Ground: this became a regular norm for a significant part of the year, although the lure of free pizza and an almost carnival like atmosphere made it a far from unpleasant task. And not many people get the chance to vaccinate CDS’s mother-in-law!

Lance Sergeant Hamilton deployed under Operation RESCRIPT to assist on the Intensive Care Unit in Hammersmith Hospital. Exposed to some of the sickest Covid patients, some with very sad outcomes and with all of the anguish involved, it was a testing time for all of the CMTs put into such a demanding situation, but he learned a huge amount from this experience. Similarly, Lance Corporal Kilbey was deployed on Operation RESCRIPT as well, going to Northern Ireland to assist with the vaccination effort, jabbing the masses for weeks on end.

Some may recall advice not to feed gremlins after midnight, but clearly this advice wasn’t followed with regard to

the GDMOs and they appear to have started breeding. HCMR is now blessed with two Assistant Surgeons, although this may be an illusion as they never seem to exist in the same room at the same time. Captain Loyn has been the new arrival to the team, joining Captain Cumpsty. With his newly acquired mantle of Senior Assistant Surgeon, Captain Cumpsty deployed to Morocco to conduct a recce on a five-star hotel for an exercise that was cancelled, but still grumbles as his junior counterpart went consecutively out to both Kenya on exercise, and Uganda on a Short Term Training Team tasking, with an operational tour to Nigeria on the cards for next year. Let the nail biting commence for tales of derring-do in next year’s Journal: book your copy now!

Sergeant Qarau and Lance Corporal Kilbey both assisted with a JFHQ exercise, with Sergeant Q relishing the chance to give some suitably robust debriefs to a host of senior officers who had just had to deal with a horde of simulated casualties. Lance Sergeant Hamilton also gritted his teeth to deploy to Kenya to provide medical cover on a Tracking and Information Exploitation course Train the Trainer package, whilst coincidentally improving his suntan.

The Surgeon Colonel on the other hand gained huge brownie points at home for declining a deployment to the Maldives on a Short Term Training Team tasking.

Jane in her element at the mass vaccination centre

dragging the staff off to the far ends of the world (including Bolton in Captain Cumpsty’s case), Mrs Epi Addison has held the fort back in Barracks, keeping Reception running, albeit with her smile kept hidden by a mask for the majority of her time.

Thankfully, with all of these tasks

Lance Sergeant Hamilton teaches Kenyan soldiers

Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Lewin OBE looking the part while remaining Covid compliant

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 65

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Padre to the Household Cavalry

by Reverend Major Gary Scott CF

I

was probably naïve to think that once we were all vaccinated and everyone returned from dispersal, things at Hyde Park Barracks would return to normal.

The last year has made it abundantly clear that ‘normal’ doesn’t really exist and, I suspect, never did. A steady flow of people have come into HCMR and an equal (ish) number have left. Within the Regiment there has been the usual rotation of roles. As someone who is not in barracks every day, it is often difficult to keep up with this constant change. One soldier was in three different jobs over an 18-month period and, at one point, I was convinced there was a twin brother lurking about just to confuse me.

One focus towards the end of the year followed the relaxation of Covid restrictions. The Regimental Associations had their activities curtailed during the lockdowns. Most challenging was the fact that marking the death of serving soldiers and association members was simply not possible. Once restrictions eased in September, a service of thanksgiving was held at The Garrison Church in Windsor. This proved a fitting and formal recognition of those who served their country in the Household Cavalry

HCMR Padre - Reverend Major Garry Scott RC

and who had died during this period. I am always touched by the efforts made by the Associations to look after members. This is an enormous strength of the Regimental family and we must never take for granted the value of the support they provide.

While thinking about the Associations,

I should say that I always enjoy being involved in their various activities. This is mainly because members are unfailingly enthusiastic and always welcoming. Also, of course, because while I may be the oldest person attached to HCMR, in Association company I am still just a youngster!

The Funeral of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh

by Lieutenant Colonel T Armitage, The Life Guards

O

peration FORTH BRIDGE was activated on 9th April just minutes after Captain James Faire RHG/D handed over the reins of Adjutant HCMR to Captain Edward Keith RHG/D. A Royal funeral is a daunting prospect for any Adjutant, but at least the new incumbent was stepping off with a well understood plan that was without the added complexities of mounted troops.

RHG/D, both tasked with street lining in the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle, and a Step Lining Party at Saint George’s Chapel comprised of 2+8 Life Guards and 2+8 Blues and Royals commanded

by Lieutenant Colonel Tom Armitage LG and Major Tom Mountain RHG/D. In addition, Colonel Crispin Lockhart RHG/D was given the role of Horseshoe

Cloister Marshall and the Queen’s Life Guard was directed to turnout at Horse Guards under the command of Captain Charlotte Lord-Sallenave RHG/D. With troops set to task, the rehearsals began with the street liners conducting initial rehearsals in Hyde Park Barracks and then at Pirbright, and the Step

The news of Prince Philip’s death and the knowledge that HCMR would play a major role in the funeral resulted in an immediate buzz around Hyde Park Barracks and a sense of purpose that had been hitherto absent under the cloud of Covid restrictions on State Ceremonial and Public Duties.

After some lobbying and considerable deliberation, the force elements for the funeral were carefully selected and comprised of: a dismounted Division of Life Guards commanded by Captain Bruce Leishman LG and a dismounted Division of The Blues and Royals commanded by Captain Bryce Titman

Street lining in the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 67

Saint George’s Chapel

Lining Party practiced at Wellington Barracks. A final dress rehearsal took place at Windsor Castle on Thursday 15th April and a Regimental Drum Head service was conducted the following day. All the while those involved went through the rigorous Covid Lateral Flow Testing.

Despite rehearsals, it was impossible to be fully prepared for the funeral itself, but a largely very junior cohort of Household Cavalrymen delivered an immaculate performance in front of our Colonel-in-Chief and the eyes of the world. The Step Lining Party was amongst the most prominent military

The view from The West Steps

elements of the funeral and allowed us to pay our full Regimental respects with almost every rank and trade represented: CO, RCM, LG Sqn Ldr, RHG/D Sqn Ldr, LG SCM, RHG/D SCM, HQ SCM, QM, LG SQMC and other SNCOs and JNCOs. It also included several Commonwealth soldiers, representation from England, Scotland and Wales, and from our Permanent Cadres.

Although the Household Cavalry did not have a ‘Special Relationship’ with Prince Philip, all of us were aware that we provided the Escort for his first State Ceremonial experience in 1947 and the many Escorts that followed, so it was a remarkable privilege to take part in this quite extraordinary day and Prince Philip’s final Ceremonial event.

The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals line The West Steps of St George’s Chapel as the HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin is carried into the Chapel

68 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Musical Ride 2021

by Captain William Long, The Life Guards

2

021 was a blank canvas for the Musical Ride. Unlike previous years where experience provided the backbone of the team, this season was unique with none of the Troopers having been part of the team before. The year proved exceptionally demanding with performances being cancelled and rescheduled at short notice whilst also providing opportunities for our soldiers to demonstrate why the standards of the Household Cavalry are second to none.

The Ride formed in April and all involved began to look forward to the return of a staple of the HCMR calendar, the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

However, after six weeks of preparation and only days until our first performance, Covid-19 caused 20 of our 28 strong team to enter isolation.

Nevertheless, like with any calamity it also provides opportunity. With less than 72 hours’ notice the Ride reformed in a unique format with a new team and routine led by Lance Corporal of Horse Drummond and Captain Leishman.

Although in a reduced capacity, the Ride was able to live up to the exacting standards and served as a fine example of the flexibility and skill of our soldiers.

Soon after, and with the Ride reformed, the team travelled to Summer Camp where they were expected to conduct their annual performance at Families Day before travelling to the Defence

Warrant Officer Class 2 Evans and Lance Corporal Lloyd discussing how best to borrow horses from the military stud

Animal Training Regiment (DATR) for a similar show. Once again, Covid proved disruptive which saw both events cancelled. Regardless of this, the team still deployed to DATR to conduct a successful training serial setting the team up well for a very busy autumn period.

After a month off the Ride returned to the Major General’s Cup at Guards Polo

Club. A fantastic day that saw the ride perform at the club for the first time. In a unique arena which did not allow for any hiding places, this event permitted the Riders to demonstrate their abilities and provided a confidence boost ahead of the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).

Credit must be given to Trooper Sefton whose ability to sit comfortably whilst her horse assumed that the lines on the

Musical Ride performing at the Horse of the Year Show 2021

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 69

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Seville 2021

polo pitch were indeed jumps, highlighted the skill required to adapt and overcome all manner of mishaps.

This performance was quickly followed by a deployment to Leicestershire which involved a ‘meet and greet’ event at Belvoir Castle as well as a rescheduled show at DATR. The week will live long in our memories.

Without doubt, a highlight of this year was HOYS. After its cancellation in 2020, the 2021 show returned with a bang. Daily performances with crowds of up to 10,000 saw the Ride graduate from a group of inexperienced soldiers who had to continuously react to the pandemic that caused cancellations to a team who relished the big stage.

The team proved exceptionally popular and were a credit to the Regiment.

Quantock’s nightly buck whilst

Spanish Police conduct search and rescue rehearsals

galloping out caused Lance Corporal Twidale and his fellow monkey men to become minor celebrities; a theme that both he and Lance Corporal of Horse Gerrish were not afraid to exploit. In addition to this, the week also proved as a coming of age for Perseus. The Ride’s new drum horse had been unexpectedly thrust into the limelight earlier in the year and HOYS was an opportunity for both he and Lance Corporal Diggle to prove that he was ready to become the new focal point of our performance.

Fortunately, thanks to the training conducted by Warrant Officer Class 2 Evans and his team in the weeks beforehand, combined with Perseus’s growing confidence, he passed with flying colours.

Whilst the Ride sought to end its year on a high at the London International Horse Show, there was also an opportunity to visit the Cavalry of the National

Police Corps in Seville. This built upon the relationships forged by the Ride in Morocco 2019 and presented the opportunity for nine of our members to visit, exchange ideas and learn about how the Spanish Police deploy their mounted units. This was a very special week which saw our team visit SICAB (where we hope to perform in 2022), join a patrol around the streets of Seville, observe how horses are used alongside helicopters in search and rescue and visit the Spanish military stud.

In total the Ride performed at nine events, had two cancelled performances and one rescheduled. It has been a busy year which has borne witness to the successful resurrection of the Musical Ride and we look forward to an equally busy 2022.

The HCMR Families Day

by Mrs Suzy Gould, Unit Welfare Officer The Covid-19 pandemic has made things challenging for everyone and that’s why it was important to provide HCMR families with a way to spend quality time together.

At the end of July, we picked a date for the HCMR Family Day 2021 and from that point my obsession with London weather forecasts began. I was keeping my fingers and horseshoes firmly crossed for good weather with the hope that the sun would shine and that rain wouldn’t fall on the Parade Square.

Luck was on our side and there was a ‘decisive victory’; the sun unwaveringly shone all day through a cloudy Knightsbridge sky.

I spent plenty of planning hours working on my first-ever Army Risk Assessment with three words ‘Force

A little hot under the collar, you’re in safe hands

Boys will be boys

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 71

to get involved.

A big hit on the day was the Berkeley Hotel beach hut which promised all the charm, glamour and pizzazz of a jaunt to the French Riviera by serving complimentary cocktails and mocktails.

The other big hit was the raffle stall which had a real cross section of prizes to meet the needs of all ages. The fact that it was free guaranteed that there was a continual queue of people all keen to go home with a prize, or two or three.

Live music was provided courtesy of BFBS which gave the event energy and a buzz.

The BFBS band provide some melody to Families Day

Health Protection’ repeatedly running through my head whilst simultaneously exploring school fete stall ideas that could be modified into horse themed activities. In addition to my fixation

with the weather, I also managed to fit in regular planning meetings with local five-star hotels, world-famous department stores, private businesses and military charities who were really keen

The HCMR Family Day 21 couldn’t have taken place without the backing of the entire Regiment and I would like to offer my thanks to everyone who supported both myself and Corporal of Horse Jones, Welfare SNCO.

Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL 21: HCMR

by Captain Charlotte Lord-Sallenave, The Blues and Royals

T

he internationally renowned Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL (CP) sees sections navigate 60km carrying loads of up to 40kg over Brecon’s infamous Black Mountains in a 48-hour period; a welcome challenge for the QLG-hardened Mounted Dutymen of Knightsbridge.

While other units were preparing to overcome the crafty enemy of the Arianan Armed Forces, our hardest fought battles centred around navigating the duties plot and insisting that our ‘camping holiday’ wasn’t as relaxing as those left in the yards might claim. Appreciating that the famously

undulating plains of Hyde Park might not serve as the ideal conditioning ground, we deployed to Sennybridge, the home of the Infantry, on Exercise CAMBRIAN SCOUT for a week in September to remind ourselves of the basics. Contrary to the anticipated feeling of dread synonymous with crossing

The team enjoy the views from Pen y Fan after testing their navigation on the Brecon Horseshoe during Exercise Cambrian Scout

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Captain Lord-Sallenave sends a replen demand for morale during a scenario on Exercise Cambrian Patrol

the notorious cattle-grid onto the area, the faint silhouettes of the SENTA’s woodblocks scattered through the clag and their promise of no full cleans were warmly embraced. Skills and drills were revised, finessed and SOPs established, priming us to launch us onto Exercise IRON TOR (IT), the 1 Brigade Patrols competition in Dartmoor, three days later.

Exercise IT saw the team conduct a 36km long range recce patrol through various TAIs that tested our ability to operate in a CBRN and C-EOD environment, conduct a CTR, and practice our CPERs drills and section attacks, each with healthy (or rather unhealthy) doses of BCD and CASEVAC. By far our greatest achievement was surviving 5 hours of painstakingly slow passage through a 3km boulder field in the dark

Patrol: Captain C C Lord-Sallenave (Patrol Commander), Corporal of Horse M Stock (Patrol Manager), Lance Corporal Chivers (Patrol 2IC), Trooper M Rohse, Trooper H J C Tcharney, Trooper S Benterman-Snell, Trooper C W Cashman, Trooper R Burt, Trooper J Bartlett.

early hours of the second day, reassuring us that any terrain encountered on Ex CP was unlikely to bring us closer to a patrol SNAPREP. Having achieved a merit on Ex IT and praise for our tactical ability despite the absence of green training in our day job at RD, I was proud of the team as we recovered to Hyde Park Barracks to reset two weeks ahead of Ex CP proper.

D-4, we had the pleasure of hosting a recce section from the Latvian Armed forces, who seemed relieved to find themselves in London where they could conduct essential R&R in Soho either side of Ex CP; fortunately, without diplomatic incident…

Exercise CP tested our endurance, tolerance for river crossings in the dead of night, and patience for savage inclines and babies’ heads with a constant claggy shroud for company. While three of our patrol were claimed by the terrain, five of our steely-eyed dealers of Brasso persevered with the extra kit to bring home a Bronze medal despite our dwindling odds; a testament to their character and adaptability, and promising for their future prospects as Armoured Reconnaissance operators.

Many thanks to all who took up the extra duties to enable our efforts on the patrol, and many congratulations to those who completed it.

A Stroke of Genius

by Captain Josh Edwards, The Life Guards and Rob Pointon Esq “Sir there is a strange man with a large board, disrupting the Boxman” said the Guard Commander during an extended Queens Life Guard, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Naturally, as the Captain of the Queen’s Life Guard I sprang into action, pacing from the QLG Guardroom across the Tilt Yard, where I was expecting to find an over enthusiastic tourist or creative environmental campaigner. Instead, what greeted me was an artist, head to toe in oils, painting an image of the No 1 Boxman, en plein air. The artist’s name was Rob Pointon, who happened to be working in London and had taken the opportunity presented by the lack of

tourists, to capture a portrait of QLG which would normally be overcrowded and in the middle of a congested pavement.

Rob’s work was remarkable; a professional artist of 15 years he studied Fine Art at university before attending The Royal Drawing School and was subsequently appointed a member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

Specialising in painting from life, Rob has an uncanny ability to fuse movement into his work and come rain or shine, is dedicated to honing his trade.

Following a series of conversations, we pulled a proposal together for him to

act as HCMRs Artist in Residence for a 12-month period, covering daily life at Hyde Park Barracks and all of the State Ceremonial and Public Duty which the Regiment is famed for. At the time of writing, Rob is 60% into his Residency, which concludes in July 2022 and is in the process of producing 30 pieces to illustrate the unprecedented year which we have been through.

The project has generated significant external attention, not least from Her Majesty the Queen who heard about the Residency and invited Rob to paint the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Parade, from within the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Painting from the private quarters,

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 73

Rob braving the surf at Holkham Beach

Rob had a unique perspective on the parade and the Regimental family will be pleased to hear that Her Majesty was delighted with the finished product, even writing to Rob to thank him for his endeavours.

In addition, he has also covered all significant elements of our calendar including; Major General’s Inspection, Carriage Escort for the Princess Royal, Holkham Beach Rides, Lord Mayor’s Show and a dinner night at Claridge’s Hotel.

The projects aim is to raise funds for the Household Cavalry Foundation and increase footfall at the Museum; as such, a selection of works are currently on display in the Museum and they will be exhibited collectively at a private exhibition from 11th - 28th October 2021 at Panter & Hall Gallery (11-12 Pall Mall, London), to which all friends of the Regiment are welcome to attend.

Whitehall

donated to the HCF, the project promises to raise much needed funds for the Foundation and offers a unique insight and perspective into our work.

For more information on the project or Rob please go to his website www. robpointon.co.uk or follow him on Instagram @robpointonartist.

With a percentage of all sales being

Rob’s vantage point for the Birthday Parade, inside Windsor Castle

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The Swedish Life Guards

by Captain Jamie Bruce Crampton, The Blues and Royals

A

small visiting party from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment departed from Hyde Park Barracks early on Monday 6th September to visit our illustrious sister regiment, the Swedish Life Guards in Stockholm. The visiting group comprised Lieutenant Colonel Armitage, Warrant Officer Class 1 Scholes, Captain Martin and Captain Bruce-Crampton.

A sense of trepidation filled the air as, Army created, non-official Covid forms were presented to the check-in desk. A good degree of sincerity convinced the steely eyed desk clerk that we were fit to travel. After a smooth flight, we were met by the rather stern Swedish Border Force who, after a little interrogation, permitted us to enter Sweden and meet our host Second Lieutenant Aenir; a charming young Swedish Officer with a confusingly strong Irish accent. We were driven to the hotel, Claron Collection Tapto, where a large contingent of the Swedish Armed Forces were staying in preparation for the German State Visit.

A quick turnaround into suits and we moved off to the Old Cavalry Barracks at Lidingövägen in Stockholm; the base for the King’s Guards Battalion.

The KGB (the non-Russian version!) are a combined arms unit similar to the Household Division, but of battalion size who are responsible for all state ceremonial duties. We arrived at their Officers’ Mess for a drinks reception, during which time we learnt a great deal about the Swedish Life Guards history, from its inception in 1521 to the current day and were able to depict a number of similarities between each of our Regiments. Eight of us sat down for dinner including their incumbent Commanding Officer Major Stefan Appehl, our host Major Johan Wennerholm and the RCO Major Hans Augustin. Raymond Almert was the charismatic and completely mad chef, waiter and sommelier standing at six foot seven with a scar in the shape of a banana on his cheek, reminiscent of a Jonny English character description.

He did a phenomenal job at pairing the drinks with the food which included the traditional Swedish starter of pickled herring made easier to swallow with a chaser of Schnapps. The Swedes around the table would break out in a unanimous chorus each time before taking a swig. One thing became apparent very quickly, our Swedish counterparts know how to host an outstanding night which inevitably led to a few slightly jaded Englishmen in the morning, partially due to some scooter exploits

Johan explaining their uniform

around the capital which I will refrain from elaborating on here.

In the morning we walked back to the Old Cavalry Barracks for a tour of the grounds and facilities they have at their disposal. They have an incredible indoor riding school that is just short of 100 metres where they exercise the horses every day; their stables have undergone a recent renovation and are so well kept; I have a feeling those living in C block would happily swap with the Swedish thoroughbred horses in a heartbeat. It was interesting to meet their sole farrier who is tasked with looking after their 60 horses, during busy periods he will bring in external help. He showed us their fires and the shoes most used with screw studs towards the rear of the hoof to assist with grip on the cobbled roads.

After our tour we waited and watched the Horse Guards mount and prepare to move off. At Hyde Park Barracks this process is usually comprised of a great deal of rushing around and a quite a bit of shouting! However, we were pleasantly surprised to see this was the calmest escort mount ever witnessed. The Swedish Horse Guards would be escorting the German President and the King of Sweden to the palace.

We were driven to within a kilometre of the palace and we weaved between the crowds and street liners to join the head of the Swedish Armed Forces and the respective head of each arm on the palace balcony to watch the procession

go past. The procession started with the band of the King’s Guards Battalion leading the Swedish Grenadier Guards around the palace and into the forecourt in preparation for the King’s arrival. They were soon followed by the Swedish Horse Guards in their blue tunics who formed a line of five officers riding greys at the front, followed by a division of 18 horses ahead of the two carriages and then another division behind the carriages.

Stefan, who had hosted us the night before had a role in managing the palace staff and as a result we were extremely privileged to gain access to the palace forecourt where the Swedish Grenadier Guards were formed up to receive the King and German President.

We watched as the band played and the King and German President inspected the Grenadier Guards before meeting each of the Swedish ministers.

Thereafter, our host Second Lieutenant Aenir said that we had to see the renowned Swedish Cuirassiers as they paid homage to their predecessors from the Napoleonic wars. They wore thick cream buckskins and overcoats underneath a cuirass and are particularly well known for their knee height leather boots which, with a square toe cap, are interchangeable between both feet.

The Cuirassiers march with high knees creating a 90-degree angle and carry the Mauser 1894 carbine. They were extremely impressive, although we did feel a degree of empathy for them as

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 75

The Cuirassiers

impressed him with our knowledge of Swedish beer as a result of the previous night, when we had had extensive tuition on the subject. Thereafter, our hosts picked us up before leading us to a restaurant called Marten Trotzig; unsurprisingly another delicious meal ensued comprised of prawn cocktails, steak and finishing off with traditional apple strudel.

The Procession

they are unable to wash those uniforms, instead on a yearly basis they have a thin layer shaved off them.

In the evening, the visiting group met with the British Defence Attaché, Commander Martin Moore, at his home

for a drink and to discuss our visit and relationship between the Household Cavalry and the Swedish Life Guards.

Although these were the critical talking points, it became apparent that as he was new in post he was eager to get to know Stockholm better. I believe we

On our last morning in Sweden, we met up with Johan at the stables and went for a long watering order through Stockholm on their horses, which for any cavalryman, is the only way to properly see a city. They showed us the prominent buildings and provided a few trails, forests and river paths for us to open the horses out into canter.

Although, it sounds as if only fun was had, I can assure the readership that a great amount of experience was shared, particularly relating to drum horses, available facilities, and horse management in general. A final lunch in the mess provided the perfect opportunity for Lieutenant Colonel Armitage to present a framed Musicians Uniform to our hosts who put on a phenomenal visit, the strong relationship between our two regiments continues to endure and a high bar has been set for when they visit us next year.

The Grand Tour

by Captain B Leishman, The Life Guards

T

his year the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment has been able to capitalise on the rare occasion of some white space and in March of this year managed to design the equine version of Jeremy Clarkson’s Grand Tour. The requirement to develop everyone’s riding ability and progress the Military Working Horses through open country riding soon became a priority, exposing soldiers to a controlled risk environment and to provide an escape from London.

The first leg of the journey occurred on

Hampstead Heath during their 150th anniversary. Historically, Whitestone Pond was used for watering and bathing horses and all parties thought it would be a great idea to recreate this homage by wading our horses through the pond after they had explored the park. This was a roaring success and the horses enjoyed the refreshment.

Moving from London, the second leg of this expedition took the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment to the shores of Hampshire to ride along the

76 ■ Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

beach at Hayling Island. This leg led by Captain Lord-Sallenave had difficulties to overcome, the parking of the horse boxes to begin with but more so, the tides were a little against us and gave us a great opportunity to practice riding very close together! Whilst this was going on, Captain Bryan had his family bring tea and bacon baps to Bushy Park for the ride where they were repaid with some sharp mounted drill and some great photos for the mantle piece.

The final stop on the Grand Tour saw

Captain Leishman shows The Blues how it is done

More murder mystery than blue steel

Major Bond exploits an opportunity to conduct some impromptu youth engagement on the heath

HCMR ride out at not only one but two of the most impressive estates in England. Lord Bathurst’s Estate, Cirencester Park, in Gloucestershire and Bramham Park in North Yorkshire would be home to HCMR’s horses and soldiers for a few days. The overarching aim of these rides was to really test the ability of our soldiers through demanding riding, having to jump post and rail fences and navigate around the grounds.

The ride at Bramham contoured the Bramham Horse Trials cross country, the jumps however were matched to our ability. The team rode extremely well and there weren’t too many unintentional dismounts. The whole team at Bramham Estate were exceptional and it was a pleasure to meet up with a previous Blues and Royals Squadron Leader, Major Nick Lane Fox.

All in all, a great opportunity to get away and experience some very challenging riding whilst also being able to appreciate some time away from London. For a lot of our soldiers this has been a rare occasion over the last 18 months, and we are very fortunate to have been able to provide this. I cannot convey to you how important these activities were for maintaining morale, keeping ourselves challenged and entertained. We would not have been able to execute them without a lot of outside help from Maskell who works for Hampstead heath, the staff at both Bramham and Cirencester Park and lastly, our own support: riding instructors, HQ Squadron (particularly the MT department, you kept us moving). Thank you to you all.

Bramham Park

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 77

Physical Training

by Sergeant M Evans, RAPTC

J

oining HCMR in April 2020 means I have spent the duration of my time at HCMR in a national lockdown. It wasn’t quite what I had envisaged for my move from the Army School of Physical Training, but it certainly has been a swift learning curve! As I’m sure you will all agree, we have faced challenges and obstacles which we wouldn’t have dreamt of facing, but have overcome these and developed new strategies to support with the maintenance of the Army’s fitness.

If taking over as HCMR RAPTCI during the first UK lockdown may have been challenging enough, I was soon made aware of the Regimental commitments that would make delivering a successful PT programme very difficult indeed. The excitement of working in Knightsbridge and delivering PT sessions on Hyde Park was soon squashed with the Regiment working with minimum workforce, sending the majority of troops and horses on dispersed leave.

To the soldiers themselves this may have been seen as a welcomed break to their normally hectic daily routine, but to someone who was excited at the prospect of delivering a successful PT programme, it just became extremely difficult with half the Regiment on leave and the other half keeping up the daily care and maintenance of the horses. With the Regiment on leave, the Lone Soldier Training programme became a vital tool in maintaining the Regiment’s fitness, it also allowed me the opportunity to reinvigorate and update the Regiment’s training facilities.

Upon returning to some kind of ‘normality’, the focus soon shifted to getting the Regiment MATT 2 compliant. Once the first test, the Soldier Conditioning Review (SCR), was complete specific training was then undertaken to complete the Role Fitness Test Soldier (RFT(S)). This test is a reasonably new test meaning many members of the Regiment had not conducted this before. I underestimated

25 calorie buy in

Prepare to move...

how difficult it would be for such a busy Regiment to conduct appropriate build up training to give individuals the best possible chance to pass.

Event 2: Touch Rugby 1st: LG Squadron 2nd: HQ Squadron 3rd: RHG/D Squadron

Due to the reduced number of ceremonial duties, it was a perfect time to re-introduce sport into the Regiment. Notoriously, something that isn’t very often undertaken en mass due to the sheer fast paced daily life of the Regiment. An Inter-Squadron Sports Competition was undertaken over a four-week period. Teams were picked from each Squadron and would go head-to-head in a round robin style competition competing to win that event.

Event 3: British Army Warrior Fitness 1st: HQ Squadron 2nd: LG Squadron 3rd: RHG/D Squadron

Event 1: 6-a-side Football 1st: HQ Squadron 2nd: LG Squadron 3rd: RHG/D Squadron

Trooper Coutts leading from the front

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Event 4: X-Country 1st: HQ Squadron 2nd: LG Squadron 3rd: RHG/D Squadron After four extremely close well fought events, congratulations to HQ Squadron who were crowned the overall winners of the Inter-Squadron Sports Competition 2021!

I look forward to seeing what 2022 has in store for the Regiment.

Lance Corporal Hart showing how it is done

The HCMR Officers’ Mess Summer Ball The Greatest Show

by Captain Jamie Bruce Crampton, The Blues and Royals

A

still, quiet night in Knightsbridge; the only indication something is afoot are the two monkey men standing atop their horses outside on Knightsbridge Road. Slowly the guests arrive and are led up some stairs away from the quiet London street; they push their way through hanging bed sheets into a bustling 1870’s New York street corner. There are gas lanterns lining the walls, hanging bedsheets overhead and two large cauldrons presented ominously at the soup kitchen. The daily special is a choice between Hawaiian rum punch or Moscow mule; both served by the ladle and which instantly knock the patrons for six. As the guests move into the courtyard, a small brass band in filthy coveralls are playing in the corner and posters are plastered everywhere of peculiar persons; many of whom have an uncanny resemblance to mess members. Thumbelina LordSallenave, the Tall Man Long, the Bearded Lady Bruce-Crampton and the Tattooed Man Edwards, to mention a few.

Revellers at the Greatest Show

wheels ignite from around the railings as balloons fall from the sky. The crowd are buzzing with excitement as entertainers and hosts pull their guests through the band, a dimly lit corridor into P T Barnum’s circus.

As guests roam the street drinking from newspaper bowls and brown bottles of beer, there are street performers dealing in a little magic and whispering of P T Barnum’s show. As the anticipation for the show starts to build, a gentleman in red tails comes out into the street, listens to the rag tag brass band in the corner and recruits them to join the circus. They move through the crowd still playing and disappear behind the curtain. As the doors to the real world close, music starts playing above the hubbub of the crowd and a voice sings “this is the moment you have all been waiting for.”

Suddenly the curtain drops revealing the Household Cavalry Band in their finery with the gentleman in red tails singing, confetti canons blast around the perimeter of the street followed by a large boom from the stage. Catherine

As the audience emerge from the ticket booth, they are met with performers breathing fire from over the champagne bar, corks popping every minute as flutes are passed around. The circus tent stretching over 50 metres of white and red fabric with blue and red uplighters.

The tent is lined with contortionists, gymnasts, mime artists and magicians.

The festoon lights stretch from the entrance, lighting the four food vans and ending just before a stage in the middle of the tent. The food epitomises the exotic by exploring the world, taking crêpes from France, pizza from Italy, noodles from Asia and tacos from South America. The dance-floor encircled by straw bales provides the circus ring which lies in front of the band’s stage.

The band, 29 Fingers, have become a staple attraction for the Household Cavalry Balls and their performance reminds us all why!

Just what we need...more Keiths

An attempt to lure revellers from the champagne bar

The performers come onto the central stage through the night, providing attractions for the audience to marvel at as the music pounds and the crowd throws themselves around the dancefloor. To one side, a suspended hoop provides a sideshow for the aerialists to swoop and swing, bending their bodies around the hoop. As 29 Fingers reach their intermission, ushers wash over the dancefloor asking guests to take their seats, using the straw bales as seating allowing the dancefloor to transform into a stage for the fire performers to strike. Flaming ropes, batons and synchronised fire breathing amaze and warm the front row before the band return. The champagne bar soon starts serving multicoloured flavoured shots as the long bar continues to serve ale, beer, G&T as well as a multitude of other colourful cocktails.

As eleven o’clock rolls around, the guests’ memories start to get a little hazy, so let this act as a reminder. The ushers escorted the guests to the post show soiree in the Officers’ Mess. Mixologists were set up primed at the bar to inject a new lease of life into the guests through fresh espresso martinis. Soon, guests started dancing on the tables and pretty much any other surface they could find.

The DJ pumped music out into the early hours as a mixture of patrons, circus performers and circus freaks drank and danced the night away. Slowly dribs and drabs left the blaring party to reenter the streets of London and take their black cabs home. A full disclaimer, these last snippets of the evening have been sourced through second-hand accounts as everyone is still piecing together the night.

Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ■ 79

Photo Gallery

Brigadier Vikramjit Singh Gill, Millitary Adviser, High Commission of India takes the salute for Kit Ride Pass of Parade

Both Life Guard Leader and Blues Leader seeking shelter before a parade at Windsor Castle

A fireteam CASEVAC an injured soldier to the HLS on Exercise CAMBRIAN SCOUT

The RTA stand of troop tests, Norfolk

Airborne

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The Life Guards take the win in the LG vs Blues polo match

Captain Lord-Sallenave taking a condor moment before the next check point

Trooper Murdock tries to get a better angle

The Blues and Royals waiting on Horse Guards Parade to hand over duties to The Life Guards

Captain Long composed while commanding the escort for the Lord Mayor’s Show

Exercise COCKNEY SACKVILLE. Jumping some hunting fences

Trooper Philpott with Perseus at Families Day

Staff Corporal Pettit shoeing one of the horses fresh from grass

Trooper Benterman-Snell helps secure a cordon around a legacy minefield on Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL

HCTW Permanent Staff Royal Windsor Racecourse

HCMR visit to the British Racing School in Newmarket to see alternative methods of training riders and methods of rehabilitation for injured riders within the racing industry

The Latvian and HCMR patrols optimistically don their widest grins shortly before deploying on Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL

The great British summer

Trooper Tcharney treats a casualty in a vehicle struck by an IED on Exercise CAMBRIAN PATROL

The Life Guards well dressed off on Horse Guards Parade

■ 81

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Household Cavalry Sports Round-up ‘There’s no rank in the Ring’

A

fter a year of relative inactivity for Household Cavalry boxing, over forty service personnel volunteered for the chance to participate in either the RAC Hodson’s Horse competition or the Household Cavalry Foundation Boxing night. Some wanted to improve their fitness, others wanted the opportunity to learn something new - but for the majority the appeal was the chance to test themselves by climbing through the ropes into the ring on fight night. Training was coordinated

by Captain Ben Wood and ably led by boxing coaches Lance Corporal of Horse Capes and Trooper Morell, with Lance Corporal Macauley leading on fitness.

Initial ability of participants varied, with many never having received any boxing training and fewer still having fought in the past. Basic jab technique and movement was the focus early on. Coaches showed commendable patience with seemingly uncoordinated limbs all over the place: a huge challenge to prepare to fight!

Trooper Gough (HCR) V Lance Corporal Cummings (HCMR)

However, with boxers practising their new craft full time in place of normal duties, skills were developed fast, with the introduction of combinations and then the notable (and frankly intimidating) introduction to sparring. The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, 5 RIFLES, and a particularly competitive and bloody visit to the Fusiliers provided some excellent but at times brutal training; a reminder of what everyone had signed up for. All came out of sparring sessions having learned a great deal and in possession of a good foundation ahead of the fast-approaching fight date.

were matched up by weight and ability and bouts were set. Two Household Cavalrymen would fight in Bovington, with eight bouts set for the HCF night.

The focus and intensity increased dramatically, with fighters well aware of the importance of picking up and honing technique as well as maintaining a high level of fitness in order to perform well on the night. Nerves also increased, with all admitting that the fight had been played over in heads regularly, never more so than late at night. A memorable quote from this time came from Warrant Officer Class 2 Ashford, who, when asked how he felt about the prospect of being knocked out by a trooper, responded in his usual relaxed manner, ‘It doesn’t make it difference who it is, there’s no rank in the ring, so I’m not really fussed.’

Two weeks out from the events, boxers

Bovington was first up. On the night of

Corporal of Horse O’Carrol and Trooper Rohse (HCMR)

the 17th November, Trooper Robson and Trooper Nicholas-Ray, both fighting up a weight class, showed tremendous courage and skill, narrowly losing through a points decision and second round stoppage respectively. The following evening saw the Foundation night, hosted at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in Central London. The early morning weigh in, travel time to London and lengthy rehearsals was impossible to prepare for and certainly provided a challenge for the somewhat restless fighters. At 2000hrs the bouts began.

All were extremely well fought and close affairs, with fighters not forgetting their training despite the raucous atmosphere provided by over two hundred guests. It was difficult to fathom that the majority of fighters had never set foot in a boxing ring a mere seven weeks prior. Special mentions must go to Warrant Officer Class 2 Ashford who received the prize of ‘most gallant boxer’, and Trooper Collins who won the Best Boxer Trophy. Her technical prowess was a joy to behold. A competitive but well-spirited occasion ended with four victories for HCR to three of HCMR - a fantastic result for both and providing exceptional entertainment for a noble cause. The HCR boxing team left the evening having made some exceptional memories over the seven weeks.

They had learnt a new skill and forged bonds in tough sparring sessions and hill-sprint afternoons. The interest generated by the project has no doubt left HCR boxing in a better place to continue momentum into 2022.

Household Cavalry Sports Round Up ■ 83

Household Division Squash

by Major M D de B Wilmot, The Blues and Royals

2

021 was the second year of running the Household Division Squash Tournament, though not consecutive due to 2020 being abandoned to Covid-19. Initially planned for the summer, various events meant a further delay to the Autumn but eventually all Household Division Regiments (less 1st Battalion The Scots Guards) gathered in Aldershot to battle it out on the squash courts. Particular note should be given to 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, who were able to muster a team from their ROG, led by Major Cameron Proudfoot (the only Scots Guardsman on parade).

We were honoured to be joined by Major General (Retired) Iain MackayDick, a former Army Open Champion, who travelled from Marlborough to present the Mackay-Dick Trophy in the Team Event and the Scott-Chad Trophy for the Individual Open. He was joined

by William Style, Household Division Treasurer, without who’s support we would not be able to operate.

If there was one sporting observation from the day, it is that the standard of squash is much higher than that seen in 2019. This did not make things easy for 2020s Team Champions, the Household Cavalry Regiment, who fought hard to retain the Mackay-Dick Trophy. The Individual Tournament was a similarly fierce affair. Lieutenant Rob Cross (WG) and Lieutenant Felix Petit (LG) found themselves in the final, having earlier met in the Team rounds, where Felix narrowly snatched a victory. The Welsh Guardsman was not going to allow that to happen a second time and won the Individual Open final convincingly and in style.

Household Division Inter-unit Champions, the Household Cavalry Regiment.

Left to right: Staff Corporal Isireli Waisele LG, Major General Iain Mackay-Dick SG, Major Mike Wilmot RHG/D, Captain Arthur Bryan RHG/D, Captain Johan Kjellgren LG, Lieutenant Felix Petit LG

In all, the day saw 353 games played across 107 matches by 25 players. There were some exhausted bodies at the end of the day but the competitive spirit throughout contributed to an enjoyable day for all.

Particular thanks should go to Sam Uddin, who manages the money; Warrant Officer Class 2 Paul Searle, who diligently administered applications for the event; and Colour Sergeant Gareth Evans (WG) who helped in the smooth running of the day. Above all, Lieutenant Colonel Kit Philp (CG) who has injected enthusiasm into Household Division Squash that brough us all

together on the day, building cohesion within the Blue Red Blue fraternity.

Elsewhere, work is ongoing to bring the Wellington Barracks squash courts back to a playable condition. £20,000 is required to fix the leaks in the boiler room above the courts that have subsequently found their way through the floorboards. Any donations welcome!

1st HCR 63 2nd Welsh Gds 58 3rd ColdM Gds 42 4th Irish Gds 30 5th Gren Gds 7

HCR Football Team

by Corporal of Horse J Hinchley, The Life Guards

W

ith the difficulties that the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown at the nation, the Household Cavalry Football team, with huge support from the Regiment has managed to play the most games in one season for the past 15 years.

The team was very fortunate to be able to play during the first easing of restrictions and we managed to play 11 friendlies, utilising 43 different players. Our biggest victory during preseason was a 5-1 victory over the Mercians.

With huge investment by the Regiment, the team has two brand new strips and over £1600 in new equipment. The team trains twice a week spearheaded by Lance Corporal Lowther and we play competitive games weekly. The team can do this by the vast number of football venues in the Bulford, Tidworth and Larkhill garrisons with the support from very committed individuals whose eagerness and professionalism keeps the team going week in week out.

The HCR football team have entered

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Lance Sergeant Thapa (AGC) vs the Mercians

Corporal of Horse Mckean having a shot on goal against the Mercians

two leagues, The Army south and a Tri Service league run by the Royal Navy.

The team have also entered three cups.

We are currently sitting third in the Army South League with the biggest victory over 14 Royal Artillery which ended 6-0. The Regimental team is still in the Army Cup, the Charity Plate, and

Lance Sergeant Thapa avoiding a tackle vs The Mercians. Lance Corporal Hall, Lance Corporal Smith and Trooper Woods also in the picture

the Cavalry Cup and were just recently 6-1 winners vs the SASC. Key Players who turn up week in week out: Warrant Officer Class 1 Turner Corporals of Horse Hinchley, McKean

Corporal of Horse Hinchley distributing against the SASC

Lance Corporals of Horse Coventry, Clayson Lance Sergeants Thapa, Osie Lance Corporals Lowther, Dean, Adam, Hall, Smith.

Troopers Newbury, Skeen, O’Connor, Clarke, Peplow, Woods, Chantry Craftsman Schoffield

Regimental Football Team photo before the game against 1 RLC

Cricket

by Lieutenant Charlie Carr-Smith, The Life Guards

A

s winter released its grasp on the green fields of Wiltshire and Aggers began warming up the vocal cords, the Household Cavalry Cricket Club began dusting off the pads and strained to remember how to bowl a googly. With some net sessions completed and a strong core of able players identified, the Club was entered

into the Salisbury Wednesday Evening T20 League. The campaign began in a frustrating fashion as the HCR CC took on Army HQ at Winterbourne, a picturesque spot which was to become and will hopefully remain our ‘home’ ground. Despite a strong batting performance (HCR reaching 147 for 7 off their 20 overs), the Army HQ pushed

HCR vs Salisbury Civil Service

their way to 151 off 19 overs after a number of chances went begging and what could have been our first victory slipped through our fingers. Notable performances, however, were given

by Lieutenant Carr-Smith, Corporal of Horse Duffill, Lance Corporal of Horse Muirhead and Lance Corporal Van Der Walt.

Household Cavalrymen past and present turn out against the Eton XXII

Household Cavalry Sports Round Up ■ 85

Defeat was soon avenged as a hardhitting Lance Corporal Van Der Walt (42), led the HCR CC to 124 off their 20 overs against the Salisbury Civil Service. An equally robust bowling performance soon followed as three wickets from Corporal of Horse Duffill, two from Corporal of Horse Lupton, two from Cornet Wallace and two from Lance Sergeant Anton-Wilson saw Salisbury Civil Service reduced to 80 all out. Credit must also be given to Staff Corporal Sabatini’s wit and charming close quarters intimidation of the batsman and to Corporal of Horse Esmond whose death bowling and mastering of the mid-on position was an example to all.

Brigadier and Lieutenant Carr-Smith leave the field after a strong batting partnership

Now finding momentum, the HCR CC quickly followed this victory up with another, albeit a close-run thing.

HCR make up 7 of the 11 players in the winning Guards side against the HAC at Armoury Square

A strong batting performance from Laverstock and Ford CC saw them closing in on the 106 all out we posted and left them needing just five off the final over. Resolute concentration worthy of Jack Leach and pin-point bowling, however, saw HCR hold out and keep Laverstock to 103 off their 20 overs, winning the game by 3 runs.

The season continued in a reasonable fashion with a further victory, sadly accompanied by a couple of defeats, and saw the HCR CC achieve a strong mid-table finish in our inaugural year. Particular mention must go to Lieutenant Carr-Smith, Corporal of Horse Duffill, Lance Corporal of Horse Muirhead, Lance Corporal Van Der Walt and Lance Corporal Ahmed for consistently strong performance throughout the season. However, with over 30 different members of the Regiment turning out, the beauty of this season’s campaign was that the side was drawn from all ranks and all departments of the Regiment.

At Divisional level, there has been a surge in Household Cavalrymen turning out for the Guards CC, most notably providing the backbone for the Guards side that resoundingly beat the Honourable Artillery Company on their home turf at Armoury Square. It has also offered the chance to demonstrate the family nature of the Regiment as father and son duo, Brigadier and Lieutenant Carr-Smith, made a strong stand at the crease during the Guards game against the Eton XXII. Such an increase in interest from the Regiment has not gone unnoticed, or unrewarded, as a Life Guards vs Blues and Royals fixture has been added to the list for June 2022 at Burton Court.

Household Cavalry Regiment Rugby Team

by Cornet Sam Dwyer, The Blues and Royals and Lieutenant Charles Carr-Smith, The Life Guards

A

fter a quiet couple of years, contact sport has returned to the Household Cavalry with the rebirth of the rugby team. Spearheaded by a handful of keen individuals, training has become more regular, and we are due to receive new kit and equipment that should aid us in playing regular fixtures of high-quality rugby, namely a fixture against the King’s Royal Hussars in February 2022. Training has started to take shape, with the team confronting everything from laborious ball passing drills to enthusiastic repetitions of attacking moves whilst being charged down by eager defenders. It is difficult to say how we will do when we come face to face against our first rivals, but

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From left to right: Corporal Rokoduguni (SCOTSDG, Bath Rugby player), Trooper Richards, Lance Corporal of Horse Qio, Trooper Armour, Lance Corporal of Horse Raravisa and Lance Corporal Foster after beating the Infantry 19-10

I have no doubt the hours spent training through cold November evenings in the ice and rain will have hardened us and made us keen to display some classic Household Cavalry Regiment ability and flare.

We have continued to provide a constant flow of players to represent the Royal Armoured Corps. Lance Corporal of Horse Matakibau and Lance Corporal of Horse Veramu from A Squadron, Trooper Rous and Lance Corporal Foster

early December 2021 to prepare for the Female Rugby Corps Finals in May 2022.

from C Squadron, Trooper Armour and Trooper Richards from D Squadron, and Lance Corporal Morris from HCMR have been regular players for the Corps team proudly representing the HCR. Most recently they played in the closely fought game against the Army Medical Services which ultimately saw the RAC winning 39 – 22. Trooper Beacom, D Squadron, is representing the Royal Signals Rugby Football Club (the closest female Corps rugby team to us in Bulford) for a development camp in

Whilst rugby is still building traction, I do hope that when you’re sat reading the Journal next year, you’ll be reading at length about the numerous victories the rugby team has enjoyed through the remainder of this season, and perhaps reading about a tour.

Household Cavalry Sailing

by Captain Dan Sentance, The Life Guards, Sailing Officer HCR “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

This season, soldiers from both the Service and Mounted Regiments have enjoyed some particularly varied sailing, including inshore racing, offshore adventure training and opportunities to gain Royal Yachting Association qualifications.

The Household Division Sailing Association organised a fantastic flotilla which saw each regiment from across the division crew their own yacht. The flotilla set off from Gosport and made its way to Weymouth and back over the course of the week stopping at Cowes, Yarmouth, Poole, Newtown Creek and Lulworth along the way. Crews were able to practice their anchoring, passage planning as well as general seamanship to help get the yacht to its destination. Although the days were long, and sometimes accompanied by dolphins, there was always time for a crew social at the destination to reflect on the day’s sail. The flotilla takes place each year and I would strongly recommend taking part if given the chance!

In addition to the flotilla there have been numerous opportunities for our soldiers to get away for a week’s adventurous

A long beat to windward to get to Plymouth

sail training onboard the Household Division yacht, Gladeye. Gladeye is a 40-foot Swan, capable of housing seven soldiers in relative comfort. Much of the sailing has taken place between the Solent and the West Country with a real range of conditions from Force 8

Ready port, ready starboard, ready main!....

Crew preparing to gybe the boat in the Solent

to dead calm seas. As a bonus, the boat comes with a qualified Bosun, who can qualify novice crew as competent crewmen, the first step towards becoming a skipper, and more experienced sailors as Day Skippers. We are making good progress building qualifications and

A short halt for Lunch and a swim in Lulworth cove

Household Cavalry Sports Round Up ■ 87

The Household Cavalry Regiment Crews.

Left to right: Second Lieutenant Fagan LG, Trooper Ferguson LG, Lance Corporal of Horse Lesley RHG/D, Major Chishick LG, Trooper Armour RHG/D

there are opportunities for those who are Competent Crew and above to go on an expedition to Ibiza and the Balearic Islands in 2023.

For those who enjoy a faster-paced day on the water, there is scope to take part in both the Household Division Sailing Association Regatta and the Combat Arms Regatta. The one-design Mermaid keel-boat is used by all crews and some of those taking part will have never sailed before, the event is open to all to enjoy.

We are also fortunate to have a strong representation of retired Household Cavalrymen running the racing at both regattas, with the Race Deck led by Colonel (retd) Tony Singer KRH and two former Life Guards, Christopher Knox and James Hoare. The HDSA Regatta normally is a rather low-key

HCR Officers at the HDYC Regatta in Cowes

regatta and ideally suited to less experienced sailors. Special mention should go to Trooper Danischewski’s crew from HCMR who made huge improvements throughout the regatta and earned special praise from the Race Committee.

This year HCR entered two teams into both regattas and, as one would expect, we brought home plenty of silver. The Household Cavalry ‘A’ Team, skippered by the Regimental Second-inCommand, won the RAC Gold Cup and the Kings Royal Hussars’ Trophy for the highest placed Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps Regimental team and victor ludorum respectively.

The crew also placed second overall in the Combat Arms Regatta.

Trooper Ferguson, aged 22, skippering the Household Cavalry ‘B’ Team, won

Household Division Yacht Club Regatta crews

88 ■ Household Cavalry Sports Round Up

the Wilson Trophy, the Prize for the highest placed helm under 27. HCMR also entered a crew of all soldiers and had a strong showing, although not quite in contention for the wooden paddle. A great effort by all and we hope to see further participation from both regiments in May 2022.

Members of the Officers’ Mess also competed at Cowes Week aboard Gladeye, and at the Household Division Yacht Club Regatta in July where the Life Guards ‘A’ Team won the Princess Elizabeth Cup for the Inter-Regimental Race and the Life Guards ‘B’ team won the Commodore’s ‘discretionary’ prize for improvement during the day, which was awarded to Lieutenant Colonel Tom Giffard.

Combat Arms Sailing Regatta

by Lance Corporal of Horse T Rastrick, The Life Guards

A

t the end of what history will call the great pandemic of 2020-2021, when all military adventure training came to a halt, a chance to take part in the Combat Arms Sailing Regatta (CASR) was most welcome.

The CASR is an annual sailing regatta that takes place on the Solent between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth Harbour, open to all Household Cavalry, Royal Armoured Corps, and infantry regiments.

With dual tides, ever-changing winds, and busy waters to contend with, the CASR makes for a ‘bucket list’ race for sailors of all strengths. We lucky few who took part in the regatta were excited from the moment we landed on the Isle of Wight, met with strong winds and glorious sunshine, ideal for yacht racing.

After a short drive to the Seaview Yacht Club, the hosting venue, we met up with the other teams, including the HCR team led by regimental sailing expert Major Paul Chishick. The three of us from HCMR had never sailed together before, coming to Seaview with different strengths and experiences. Lance Corporal Spreckley had the most experience at the helm as an experienced skipper, Trooper Danischewsky had spent many hours dinghy racing and in 2018 I took part in Exercise PACIFIC LONGBOW, sailing the east coast of America. We were, we weren’t afraid to say, a formidable crew indeed.

keelboats displacing 1.5 tonnes. Their mainsails can be reefed in stronger winds, and they have a choice of headsails: a jib, a genoa, and, my favourite, a spinnaker, the largest sail on board.

This, usually brightly coloured and on the Mermaids matching the colour of the hull, adds excitement when sailing downwind.

After the mandatory safety brief, we headed to the boats, which were moored to buoys just offshore. A bumpy taxiservice provided by a young chap with a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) added to the excitement. When we made it on board the Mermaid we were quick to make sail and see how she handled. Well, as it turned out; we were all impressed with the turning speeds.

The CASR is a series of multiple short races where the winner is determined by the overall position at the end of the three days of sailing. The first race is always an interesting one, as it’s when you can truly see what your competition

is like, who to look out for, and, more importantly, what you think your chances are of adding some silverware to the trophy cabinet.

At the end of the first day it was apparent that the silverware would indeed be taken by a Household Cavalry team.

Sadly, this was not to be ours, but the HCR team - still, better than it sitting in an infantry mess!

The HCR team were spectacular to watch from across our bow, since they were always in front of us. Major Chishick sailed like a rogue privateer on the run from the Royal Navy, at times almost colliding with the other boats, but skilfully missing by inches.

The second day we really came together, with Trooper Danishewsky taking the helm for several of the interval races, showing off his skills learnt in dinghy racing. Sadly, by mid-afternoon we lost our wind and had to take a slightly extended lunch, this being provided

The yachts we would be racing, the ‘Mermaids’, are 26-foot, half-open

Combat Arms Sailing Regatta

Lance Corporal Spreckley mans the tiller

Household Cavalry Sports Round Up ■ 89

by the Seaview Yacht Club. Ham and cheese toasted sandwiches were a much-appreciated and firm favourite.

The wind returned briefly in the afternoon where we managed to get in one last race before we lost the weather gauge and retired for the day.

That evening all the teams came together for a drinks reception at the yacht club followed by dinner in The Old Fort, the local pub, where we talked tactics under sail and compared the uniqueness of our various Airbnbs.

The third and final day was now upon us and we were ranked middle of the table, so we thought we’d give it our all during the first race. Slightly too keen, we over-compensated by jumping the starting klaxon, resulting in a time penalty. This resulted in us having to do another lap around the previous buoy, putting us at the back of the pack, and leaving our chances of catching up fairly bleak.

a respectable eighth. The Household Cavalry’s great name was not, however, to be besmirched, thanks to HCR who swept in and finished first.

After a speedy prize giving, with the HCR team taking home no fewer than three trophies, we returned to the mainland, and back to ceremonial duties, with the salt and waves a distant, but cheery, memory.

Alas, by the end of the final race, we hadn’t recovered from this, and finished

HCMR Golf 2021

by Corporal of Horse S Henderson, The Life Guards

W

ith the lifting of Covid restrictions, players of all calibre were able to enjoy some fresh air and good (or bad) rounds of golf this year.

Private Niki Sutton AGC (SPS) once again represented not only the Army, AGC Corps but HCMR too. A standout performance by a young, talented golfer.

The main events, the Household Division Championships and Colonelin-Chief’s Cup, were the main focus this year.

In the Championships, all played well with four serving and ex-serving members coming in the top ten in a close fought contest. This year play was at the Army Golf Course in Aldershot, a course testing both novice and experienced player. I would recommend any player to give this course a try.

A team of two serving and four associate members entered the Colonel-inChief’s Cup this year, getting through to the final, beating the Coldstream, Grenadier, Scots and Welsh Guards, but

sadly came runners up to the Irish Guards in a hard-fought battle in the afternoon.

One match that I was keen to reinstate was the annual competition between HCMR and Wimbledon Common Golf Club. As always, the excellent hosts ensured the course was in top condition given that we played on a chilly November day, the addition of Lance Corporal of Horse Murphy and Lance Corporal Jones from HCR bolstered our numbers but at the last minute, WCGC pipped us to the win! Thanks to Chris Bye, formerly RHG/D, for helping to organise the day.

Lance Corporal of Horse Murphy winning the longest drive at WCGC

Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Warren Douglas LG and Corporal of Horse Steve Henderson LG will, in the early part of 2022, get together to create a Household Cavalry Golf Society with the aim of bringing serving and ex-serving members together in a shared passion for both Golf and the

Regiment, more details will follow via the Associations and both Regimental Chains of Command.

Players of all abilities are welcome to any match, please get in touch with the Golf reps for more information.

Fourth Annual Household Cavalry versus Hong Kong Polo Match

by Major Peter R L Hunter, formerly The Life Guards

T

he Fourth Annual Household Cavalry versus Hong Kong polo match took place at Ham, near Richmond Park, on Sunday 19th September 2021.

The Plan was to involve as many ranks as possible and to bring on some new talented young players, who might ensure a victory. Unfortunately, the weather turned and it ‘stair rodded’ down with rain. Despite starting to take the lead after half-time, the match had

to be abandoned as it became dangerous (and sadly leaving Hong Kong just in the lead).

Cornet Jamie Thomas joined the team, but unfortunately Trooper Beukes, originally from South Africa, was called away urgently to help man The Queen’s Life Guard, due to a resurgence of Covid in The Blues and Royals Squadron. The Commanding Officer, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment,

90 ■ Household Cavalry Sports Round Up

Lieutenant Colonel Armitage had been due to play, but was also called away, so was very ably replaced by his wife Georgy on their own ponies. Lord Astor of Hever, formerly LG, was on hand to present the prizes.

The match was sponsored by The Peninsula Hotel and Private Office OPLM, InvestUK (Rupert Gather ex Scots DG), Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (10th Largest Luxury firm in the world),

Left to right: Major Peter Hunter, Lieutenant Colonel Giles Stibbe, Mrs Georgy Armitage, Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Armitage (all The Life Guards) in front of The Drum Horse by Alfred Munnings

Aquila Eyewear, TVE, Azad Ayub and Lucarna design, for which the players are most grateful A sum of £600 was raised for the

Team Line up. Back Row: Kwan Lo 0, Lawrence Geung 0, Major Peter Hunter 0, Philip Elliott 2, Tim Johnson (HAC) 0 goals Front Row, Left to right: Corporal of Horse Kitchen LG, Georgy Armitage (-1), Major Ed Mackie RHG/D (0), Freddie Ventura 2 (Ham), Captain George Lane-Fox RHG/D (-1), Cornet Jamie Thomas RHG/D (2)

Household Cavalry Foundation and the cheque for this was presented at Knightsbridge Barracks (see photograph). Further donations were made to London Red Cross, British Memorial

Garden 9/11, HK Society and Tristan Voorspuy Wildlife Trust.

Polo

by Captain Arthur Bryan, The Blues and Royals

T

he gradual emancipation from Covid-19 restrictions breathed new life into the polo at the Household Cavalry, with enthusiasm to play buoyed as much by HCMR Troopers as the other ranks combined across both Regiments. The arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Tom Armitage LG at HCMR was a significant acceleration due to his support for the sport, which saw lessons regularly run twice a week from the White Waltham Polo Club, whilst concurrently Lieutenant Lizzie Godwin co-ordinated similar training from HCR at Tedworth Polo Club.

A healthy mix of beginners and intermediate players has seen the club be able to achieve several of its goals. Firstly, it aims to make playing polo accessible to all and to broaden its appeal (it is worth noting the Household Cavalry have fielded the only OR polo team in the past). Secondly, it aims to regularly play in and win at the British Army

Trooper Beukes riding off

The Life Guards vs The Blues and Royals

and wider polo tournaments to engender the competitive element and with external events to raise the profile of the Regiment. Finally, it aims to develop a deep base of beginners from which to develop future players and provide future longevity to the club.

The first goal was roundly achieved this year with enthusiastic support from HCMR Troopers who embraced the sport in light of completing riding training and owning riding equipment.

Regular transport eased the training further and, despite appalling weather in April and May, we had over 11 new soldiers playing the sport by the end of the season.

The second goal was similarly well met through the participation in three different and distinct tournaments: The Royal Artillery Cup, The LG v RHD/G Cup and the return of the semi-regular Buck’s Club Match. The Royal Artillery

Cup unusually saw help from a former serving officer when Captain Hugo Hunter’s father Major (Retd) Peter Hunter LG play as a substitute when Captain Rufus Camm became injured mid match. The LG v RHG/D Cup was a marvellous opportunity for new players to take part in a highly successful small tournament at White Waltham, and gave many the opportunity for their first match. Finally, the Buck’s Club Match maintained the Regiment’s long-standing relationship with the club and was fortunate enough to be played at the hallowed ground of the Guard’s Polo Club.

In all, the combination of both had laid the foundation of our final objective: to build a bedrock of competence and new players to develop the club over the coming years into the most successful in the Household Division, Cavalry and wider Army.

Household Cavalry Sports Round Up ■ 91

31st July, 1st, 7th, 8th August Household Cavalry vs Buck’s Club at Fifield

2021 Fixtures 29th July LG vs RHG/D at White Waltham

30th August AGC Cup at Tidworth 3rd-5th September Major General’s Tournament at Guards

Regimental Fly Fishing

by Lance Corporal of Horse Tonkin, D Squadron

I

t was peak, balmy, English summer’s weather on Thursday 22nd July, when the Household Cavalry arrived en masse at the Meon Springs. Set in the idyllic South Downs National Park, the site comprises four spring-fed lakes catering for both catch and release and catch and take fishing. The day was an amazing opportunity – a free day of fly fishing with expert tuition thrown in and a very good breakfast, lunch and tea. There are certainly worse ways to spend the day!

We were the grateful beneficiaries of a day hosted and put on by Fishing For the Forces, a great charity that aims to give wounded, serving and veteran servicemen a stress-busting day by the water.

Staff Corporal Archer had gotten in contact with the founder, Bill Howell, who very kindly laid on a massively enjoyable day.

The day started well with bacon rolls and brews laid on by our hosts. Not long afterwards, we were all introduced properly, and after the obligatory safety briefs and formalities we were each paired off with a seasoned angler who kindly donated their time by mentoring us in the art of fly fishing.

I learned to move my arms between the 10-2 on the notional clock face whilst casting, that I should keep my wrist straight as if saluting, and that like people, fish aren’t too bothered with eating when it’s hot. Strangely, their appetite peaked whenever my mentor took back charge of the rod. I watched on enviously as to my left and right fish were caught. There was no beginners’ luck for me – and the theme stick throughout the morning. Thankfully, my mentor allowed me to draw the fish in that he had managed to entice a bite from, so

The duck admires her catch!

all wasn’t completely lost, at least that’s what I told myself. The pain caused to my pride was abated somewhat with an excellent spread at lunch involving good conversation with our hosts and a Meon Valley cider or two. My luck didn’t improve in the afternoon but after a good lunch and plenty of cider – it didn’t much matter.

Prize-giving capped the day off with awards to the heaviest single catch and the heaviest overall haul. The water gave up her choicest fruits to the Troopers.

The first category was won by Trooper Williams with a comparatively monstrous rainbow trout weighing in at 4.3 pounds (average of the day was around the 2.4 mark) whilst Trooper Izard won the largest haul with a combined weight of 9.6 pounds.

In the end, despite varied amounts of fortune in regards to the fish, it was a very enjoyable day all round in picturesque countryside and great weather.

Waiting for room service

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It was noted that the essential piece of fishing tackle was missing (Beer!)

Four fish came home for supper and another experience was ticked off the bucket list. Certainly, it was a relaxing day much needed after the busy run up to Summer leave. Bill encouraged us to come back and it is certainly something to watch out for next time for those interested. I am grateful to Staff Corporal Archer for organising a great day and particularly to Bill Howell and Fishing for the Forces for being so kind to us all.

You should have seen the one that got away!

Is that a beer I can see over your shoulder??

Foreword

by Colonel Commandant Royal Armoured Corps, Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne KCVO, CBE two Regular Armoured Regiments listed above; scaled at one Yeomanry Troop per Regular Squadron.

T

his last year has seen substantial change to the British Army as set out under the Integrated Review (IR) and the Future Soldier plan. Many of these changes will be keenly felt by the soldiers and officers of the Royal Armoured Corps. For that reason, I wrote to the Regimental Colonels in November setting out the broad order design for the Corps post IR. I enclose an extract from that letter below so that the message is transparent across all ranks. The changes to our Corps roles across the Regulars and Reserves are as follows: Armour. The RAC will retain two Armoured Regiments (QRH and RTR), one allocated to each of the two Heavy Brigade Combat Teams (BCT).

The Armoured Regiments will retain four Sabre Squadrons and one HQ Squadron. Each Sabre Squadron will have four troops of three tanks, with one of the troops in each squadron provided by the Yeomanry. The King’s Royal Hussars will re-role as Armoured Cavalry on the AJAX platform. The RWxY, scaled to four squadrons, will provide formed Troops to support the

Armoured Cavalry. Two Regiments of Armoured Cavalry (KRH and RDG) will be allocated at one Regiment per Heavy BCT, and the HCR and RL will be allocated to the Deep Recce Strike BCT. All four Armoured Cavalry units will lose their C&S Squadron and Surveillance Troop.

Consequently, their three Sabre Squadrons will contain two Find Troops, a Guided Weapons Troop and a Support Troop. All will have an RHQ and G4 focussed HQ Squadron. Yeomanry Regiments will, in due course, be aligned with Regular Armoured Cavalry units. They will generate one Yeomanry Squadron per ACR, mounted initially in Jackal, for warfighting.

Light Cavalry. The SCOTS DG and LD will be allocated to each of the two Light BCTs, whilst the QDG will be allocated to the Deep Recce Strike BCT. The Regular Light Cavalry Regiments will have three Sabre Squadrons (structured as they are now) and a HQ Squadron.

At Warfighting these units will be augmented with an additional Yeomanry Sabre Squadron, to bring them up to four squadrons. The SNIY will continue to support the SCOTS DG, the RY the QDG, and the QOY the LD, as well as being tasked to support the ACRs. You will have heard much about the changing character of warfare, of the so-called ‘grey zone’ and the requirement for asymmetric forces. Do not for a moment assume that the consequence of this change is a diminished requirement for armour. War remains a fundamentally human endeavour and a psychological one too. The capability

to seize, clear and hold terrain is as relevant today as it was in World War II. Armour is a demonstrable statement on the ability to win a human conflict that will be high intensity and violent in nature. There is a clear imperative to extract the opportunities from the IR. We must be adaptive, innovative, and collaborative across the Corps. The blend of light and heavy armour across the Field Army will impact on how we think about signature management and the blend between dispersal and mass.

We must change our tactics to suit the Equipment Programme and we will need to be bold. We must pioneer our own ideas on the application of technology through a willingness to embrace experimentation in our training. We must collaborate across our structure so that while we maintain the unique qualities of the regimental system we fight as one Corps.

I shall shortly hand over the role of Colonel Commandant RAC to Major General Nick Perry. He will be a very fine standard bearer for this Corps, and I wish him well. However, my closing comments go to the fine soldiers that make up our units, both Regular and Reserve. Yet again they have delivered excellence across a diverse and busy year; whether that be in Mali, Wessex Storm, US Warfighter or on the ranges and plains of the UK, the standard has never relented. Quite the opposite, it continues to improve. Over nearly forty years in the Army I have seen the structure changes many times over. It will change again. What does not change is the quality of our people and despite all the changes in the IR we do well to remember that it’s the people that matter most.

Train Hard - Fight Easy

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News from the Associations ■ 93 Household cavalry advert PDF 1

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News From The Associations The Life Guards Association Annual Report 2021 Patron: Her Majesty The Queen President

Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne KCVO CBE Chairman: Colonel J D A Gaselee Honorary Secretary: Mr K W Robertson Treasurer: Mrs C L Taylor

Trustees of The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust Colonel J D A Gaselee Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) W R Lindsay OBE Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) H S J Scott Major (Retd) J S Holbrook Captain J J Dove Captain (Retd) B K Gibson Captain (Retd) C J Trietline WO1 A G Slowey WO2 (SCM) D D Stafford Mr I M Fearnley Mr P J Richards MBE

Minutes of the 87th Annual General Meeting on Thursday 13th May 2021 (Virtual Zoom) The Chairman, Colonel J D A Gaselee, opened the meeting at 1900hrs by welcoming everyone present and thanked them for their attendance. Apologies were received from Colonel D James, Captain (Retd) Trietline and Mr Derek Grattidge. He then welcomed the new treasurer Ms Claire Taylor to the AGM. The Minutes of the 86th Annual General Meeting were published in the current edition of the Household Cavalry Journal. It was proposed by Captain John Dove and seconded by Mr Brian Wilson that they were a true record of the proceedings.

Chairman’s Report The following report was given by the Chairman Colonel J D A Gaselee.

The Chairman confirmed that currently 2110 Association members are registered with Home Headquarters (HHQ) which is slightly less than last year. He explained that a new process has now been put in place to capture serving soldiers when they leave the Army which hopefully will increase those registering with the Association.

He acknowledged that there were many more not registered with HHQ and he asked if any Members did know of any

94 ■ News from the Associations

veteran Life Guards that are not registered with HHQ, to ask them to do so. A good indicator if someone was not registered with HHQ was that if they did not receive emails from the Association or the annual Household Cavalry Journal.

Registering with the Association had now been made easier allowing Old Comrades to register via the website.

Of the 2110 Association members on the database, there were currently 1903 on the email system which was the preferred method of communication.

He confirmed that the Association had dealt with slightly less cases for benevolence over the last 12 months but expected the cases to rise sharply over the next 12 months as the nation is released from Covid-19 restrictions and all of the financial uncertainty that this will bring. The Association did support 26 cases with an average spend of £542 per case. The cases ranged from providing white and brown goods, EPV, clothes, food vouchers and specialist bed/chair. Sadly, it was reported that since the last AGM 20 Old Comrades had been reported to the Association, two were Covid-19 related.

He then wished to thank the Regional Representatives for their hard work throughout the year and emphasised how much it was appreciated knowing

that they were there for the membership. If members would like to become an Area Representative, they were to contact the Honorary Secretary.

The Chairman thanked all Association members who had sent in donations throughout the year and stressed how important these donations were to the Association. He assured all members that all monies donated were put to good use.

The Chairman concluded by acknowledging Lieutenant Colonel (retd) H S J Scott’s request for the Honorary Secretary to visit both HCR and HCMR, but explained, understandably, that with the COVID-19 restrictions being in place over the last 12 months this had not been possible, but it is a priority for the Honorary Secretary and he will endeavour to visit both Regiments as soon as Covid-19 allows.

Forthcoming Events The following events were promoted, Covid-19 permitting: 3rd July HCav East Anglian Dinner, 13th August TOOT dinner, 11th September HCR Open Day Association members are welcome, 23rd September HCav Thanksgiving Service Trinity Church Windsor, 25th

September HCav Welsh Dinner, 9th October HCav Association Dorset Dinner, 29th October Zandvoorde Annual Commemoration visit, 26th November HCav Scottish Dinner. All of the events are on the Association website on the Events Calendar page and are updated regularly.

The Life Guards Association Dinner 2022 The next Life Guards Association dinner shall take place on Saturday 28th May 2022. This will take place in the Connaught rooms London to celebrate the Amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards. The Honorary Secretary will communicate this to the wider Association in the coming weeks.

HCR Update WO2 (RQMC) D Snoxell gave a brief

on the Household Cavalry Regiment starting with manning which was currently 97% manned which included attached personnel the downfall was at the Trooper level which was being addressed. Household Cavalry soldiers manning was 88% and recruiting is still improving. He explained that at the beginning of Covid-19 the Regiment initially dispersed but emphasised that training did take place with the greater use of technology. Career and trade courses continued with soldiers being put into bubbles. AJAX arrived June 2020, starting with 8 ARES which was followed by another four of two different variants. More information on what the Squadrons have achieved over the past 12 months are written in the Squadron pages of this Journal. Suffice to say it has been a successful year for the HCR. The Chairman thanked WO2 (RQMC) D Snoxell for a very thorough interesting and upbeat brief.

AOB Lieutenant Colonel H S J Scott, informed the AGM that he had been keeping in touch with Denis Hutchings and is considering the situation in very good spirits. All at the AGM wished Denis well and a speedy successful conclusion to his case.

Mr Brian Wilson informed the AGM that he will be producing a Household Cavalry wooden figurine for people to purchase for Remembrance this year, £2 for every figurine purchased will be donated to the Association. The Chairman thanked him for his support.

The meeting ended at 1934hrs.

Honorary Treasurer’s Report 2020/21 The accounts for the year 2020/21 as published here, were presented to attendees of the AGM and have since been subject to annual audit carried out in June 2021, which was conducted by independent accountants and no concerns were raised.

The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust Account No 2 .

•

•

•

The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust Account.

• • •

•

•

Donations totalling £751.50 were received to the year ending date 31st March 2021.

The sum of £1664.04 was received from HM Revenue and Customs.

A sum of 22 grants for financial assistance were paid to a total of £14879.81 to support accommodation, purchase of white/brown goods, property maintenance or adaptation, clothing, general living costs, and funeral expenses. This is fewer than in previous years due to support being provided by other agencies as part of the Covid-19 pandemic support offered.

The dividend from investments during the financial year was £34351.76. A further £40,000 has been transferred to the investment portfolio in March 2021. During the financial year Waverton came to an agreement to terminate their investment management fee, which is reflected in lower costs shown.

The cash at bank balance at 31st March 2018 was £10737.93.

• •

• • •

•

The 1 Days Pay scheme received for this financial year totals £64095.94.

It should be noted that both the RHG/D and the LG payments continue to be received on a monthly basis from HCF to the LG Association. The LG Association then pays RHG/D their share monthly. £14517.56 was received in donations during the financial year ending 31st March 2021.

Merchandise continues to be popular through the pandemic. A profit from the sale of Christmas cards of £2697.04 was generated in the financial year in addition to revenue from diaries, flags and more.

There were no journal costs or revenue in the period.

Payouts of unrestricted grants for the period totalled £499.50.

A new category on the expenditure report is Memorials, showing a spend of £14695.66. This was for renovation fees of the Association’s memorials within the National Memorial Arboretum.

Prepayments for the Annual Dinner were made £157.50 being unrecoverable when the decision to cancel the 2020-21 events season were made, with income from tickets of £20, which has been deferred to the 2022 dinner,

•

resulting in a deficit of £157.50.

The net cost of postage in the financial year is £3,108.91.

Due to the pandemic no Battlefield Tours took place, there were no transactions in category during the 2020/21 year.

The cash at bank balance at 31st March 2021 was £71217.86.

The Life Guards Association Account.

•

•

•

The account continues to be a conduit for standing order donations – the total received during the financial year being £2533.00.

There was no sum awarded from the Norman Hearson Fund during the financial year, nor any request to date leaving this Fund standing at £2,912.00.

The cash at bank balance at 31st March 2021 was £8223.81 including the Norman Hearson Fund.

Investments.

• The investment portfolio stood at a Total Value of £1,741,132.69 The Chairman and members of the Committee would like to thank all members of the Association for their generous donations throughout the unprecedented trials of the financial period.

News from the Associations ■ 95

The Life Guards Association

Income and Expenditure Account - 31st March 2021 Year 2020

Income

£2,157.00 £0.00 £0.00

Donations Life Membership Excess Exp/Inc

£2,157.00

Total Liabilities Norman Hearson Fund Creditors Excess Assets/Liabilities

Year 2021

Year 2020

£0.00 £0.00 £0.00

0.00 0.00 £50.00 0.00 0.00

£0.00

£50.00

Assets and Liabilities £2,912.40

Expenditure

Year 2021

Stationary/Office Equip Misc Expenses St Georges Chapel Norman Hearson Prize Donations Transferred to No 2 Account Total

£0.00 £0.00 £50.00 £0.00 £50.00

Assets Cash at Bank

£8223.81

£5,311.41

The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust Accounts - Restricted & Unrestricted Income and Expenditure Account - 31st March 2021

Year 2020 £25,452.49 £25,797.88 £555.87 £0.00 £13,500.25 £2,886.78 £4,874.01 £4,600.00 £0.00 £0.00 £880.00 £1,715.00 £2,650.00 £0.00 £2,018.43

Income Days Pay Scheme* Investments / Dividends HMRC Grants ABF etc* Donations*1,3 Postage Christmas Cards Dinner Transport Poppies and Wreaths* Diaries & Notebooks Battlefield Tour GPF Transfer of Funds Merchandise

Year 2021 £64,095.94 £34,351.76 £1,664.04 £994.46 £15,269.06 £3,216.41 £4,815.00 £20.00 £0.00 £0.00 £1,634.00 £0.00 £35.10 £0.00 £3,306.78

£84,930.71

Total

£129,402.55

Year 2020 £18,962.11 £0.00 £1,000.00 £24,231.89 £0.00 £5,221.86 £1,862.40 £12,279.12 £5,595.00 £428.00 0.0. £7,594.22 £8,564.48 £0.00 £985.59 £0.00 £18,000.00

Expenditure Days Pay Scheme* AMF HCR Childrens Fund Grants*1 Donations Postage*1 Christmas Cards Dinner Transport Wreaths & Poppies* Memorials Battlefield Tour GPF *1 Transfer of Funds Merchandise inc Prints Journal Honorarium*1,4

Year 2021 £43,335.00 £0.00 £1,000.00 £15,379.31 £296.00 £4,786.22 £2,117.96 £157.50 £0.00 £1,857.50 £14,695.66 £0.00 £1,676.03 £40,000.00 £1,835.04 £0.00 £9,750.00

£104,724.67

Total

£136,886.22

Excess Income / Exp

-£7,483.67

Assets and Liabilities Liabilities Sundry Creditors Excess Assets/Liabilities Fund The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust Investment Portfolio

Assets Cash at Bank No 1 Account Cash at Bank No 2 Account

£10,737.93 £71,217.86

Investments at Current Value Total Value as at 31/03/21

£1,741,132.69

Notes on the Accounts 2021 1.

2.

For ease of presentation the Life Guards Association Charitable Trust Account and the Life Guards Charitable Trust Account No 2 have been combined in accordance with Charity Commission guidelines governing the presentation of accounts. Payments and Receipts that include the Restricted account are marked with an asterix.

A total of 22 grants have been paid out of the life Guards Association Charitable Trust No1 Account to date.

Working closely with SSAFA, TRBL and the ABF Reasons for assistance include: predominantly white/brown goods as expected, but also included are mobility home improvements, mobility scooter, adult/child clothing and

96 ■ News from the Associations

food vouchers.

3.

Donations continue to be received into the Life Guards Association account.

4.

This figure includes the life time maintenance plan agreed with the National Memorial Arboretum.

5.

Christmas Cards, diaries and notebooks continue to be the main revenue stream for the Association

Claire Taylor Honorary Treasurer

The Life Guards Association Notices Membership All serving Life Guards and nonserving Life Guards are members of The Life Guards Association. All Association members are requested to introduce Association members who are not in communication with Home Headquarters (HHQ) to do so. If an Association member is not in communication with Home HHQ this does not mean that they forfeit any of the benefits of someone who is in communication with Home Headquarters.

To register with the Association, either call 01753 965290, email homehq@householdcavalry.co.uk or search Household Cavalry Old Comrades and go to The Life Guards Membership page and complete the online form, or use the following link https://householdcavalry.co.uk/thelife-guards/membership/ Communication Correspondences for the Association should be addressed to: The Honorary Secretary The Life Guards Association Home Headquarters Household Cavalry Combermere Barracks Windsor Berkshire SL4 3DN Telephone Home Headquarters: 01753 965290 Email homehq@householdcavalry.co.uk lg.regsec@householdcavalry.co.uk

Website https://householdcavalry.co.uk/oldcomrades/the-life-guards/ Change of contact details All are requested to inform HHQ of any changes to their contact details. This will also ensure that you receive your annual Journal. The most efficient way to change your contact details is via the website using the membership form.

The 88th Annual General Meeting The 88th Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 28th May 2022, the location will be confirmed before that date.

Ordinary Business • • •

To receive the Annual Report by the Chairman To receive the Annual Report by the Treasurer Any other business and closing remarks

The 85th Annual Dinner The Life Guards Association Centenary Amalgamation Dinner will take place on Saturday 28th May 2022. This 85th Association annual dinner will mark the Amalgamation of the 1st & 2nd Life Guards who were then known as, The Life Guards (1st and 2nd).

To mark this special occasion, the dinner will take place in the prestigious Grand Connaught Rooms London. The Grand Connaught Rooms were historically used by The Association from 1946 to 1954 and then from 1956 to 1965 for the Annual Dinners.

Annual Zandvoorde Battlefield Tour The annual Zandvoorde battlefield tour will take place from the 29th October31st October 2022. If you would like any further information regarding this annual event, contact the Honorary Secretary.

GDPR Statement Home Headquarters of the Household Cavalry (HHQ) retains personal information that you have provided to the Household Cavalry Association’s, this data is held and dealt with in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The data is held on the Association database at Home Headquarters and is used in assisting the maintenance of contact between members of the Association and the wider Household Cavalry family, by telephone, post or email. We will retain your personal data whilst you are a member of the Association. Upon leaving the Association we will continue to hold your name and relevant details to support the Household Cavalry’s historical records. If you require any further information regarding your information that is being held at HHQ please contact the Honorary Secretary.

Christmas Cards, Diaries and Notebooks Christmas cards, diaries and notebooks may be ordered using the order form that is inserted within the Journal. The order form may also be emailed to you upon request. To request the order form email: HomeHQ@householdcavalry.co.uk These items can now also be purchased online.

The Mounted Regiment formed up for the Major General’s Inspection

News from the Associations ■ 97

The Life Guards Association Regional Representatives Regional Representatives of The Life Guards Association are volunteers that have agreed to have their details published in the Household Cavalry Journal and on this website in order that they may be contacted by other Association members in their area. Initially the Regional Representative will provide contact with Home Headquarters for those who have served but have lost touch with the Regiment. Additionally, they may be asked to represent the Association at funerals of departed comrades, visit former members of the regiment and circulate Regimental information to those in their area. If you would like to be considered as a Regional Representative for the Association please contact Home Headquarters.

ENGLAND Bedfordshire Mr A W D Sims SANDY alan.wdsims@btinternet.com 07596 024893 Berkshire Mr M Stay BRACKNELL mjstay@hotmail.co.uk 07772 438 630 Mr S O Farrar Bracknell Spike6511@talktalk.net 07967 412148 Bristol Mr N S Hoon BRISTOL nickhoon712@icloud.com 01454 416522 / 07941 254340 Buckinghamshire Mr S R Carter MILTON KEYNES stephen.carter5@virginmedia.com 07722 135854 Cheshire Mr S J Rochford ELLESMERE PORT steven.rochford@ntlworld.com 07977 834092 Mr K J Thompson WARRINGTON kjt5144@gmail.com 07940 243906 Cornwall Mr R Barry WADEBRIDGE robertbarry5@btinternet.com 07915 812127 Mr R E Jewell FALMOUTH rejewell@hotmail.com 01326 312546 County Durham Mr D Flynn Darlington p.flynn205@btinternet.com 07718 195212 Maj (Retd) A Tate artate@btopenworld.com 07783 586 900

98 ■ News from the Associations

Cumbria Mr R Swinburne KENDAL roger.swinburne@googlemail.com Derbyshire Mr S Wass BELPER simonwass49@hotmail.com 07446 839054 Devon Mr D Murgatroyd EXETER davemurgs@hotmail.com 07512 729141 Dorset Mr B T Erskine Swanage bterskine01@btinternet.com 07912 681349 Major (Retd) J T Lodge BROADSTONE jlodge76@hotmail.com East Sussex Mr Eric Reed HAILSHAM ericreed84@hotmail.com 07938 858896 East Yorkshire Mr G B Miller Hornsea guygbm@aol.com 07715 522443 Essex Mr J K Stanworth OLD HARWICH jstanworth19@gmail.com 07830 173227 Gloucestershire Mr J McCauley FAIRFORD jaskel1993@talktalk.net 07747 180110 Greater Manchester Mr A Lister RADCLIFFE alan-lister47@alanlister1.plus.com 0161 725 9851 Hampshire Mr L Cordwell GRAYSHOTT lee.cordwell@hotmail.co.uk 07769 694830

Kent Mr J Dean AYLESFORD 07736 033962 jezdean101@msn.com Mr D H Underwood FARNINGHAM derekunderwood34@gmail.com 01322 866334 Lancashire Mr R L Mather LANCASTER 07818 828286 Lincolnshire Mr I Wild MABLETHORPE ian_wild@hotmail.co.uk 01507 441293 Mr D I Savage SLEAFORD david.i.Savage@icloud.com 01529 488575 London South East Mr J A Denton johny.denton@googlemail.com 07852 815559 Norfolk Mr A J Gook NORWICH jimgook@btinternet.com 01603 484336 Mr A D Nichols WATTON cala4uk@gmail.com 07391 225665 North Yorkshire Mr H Stangroom SKIPTON harrystangroom@aol.co.uk 01756 709121 Mr G M McInerny FYLINGTHORPE gm.mcinerny@btinternet.com 01947 880298 Northumberland Mr B Erskine BLYTH erski1448@gmail.com 07585 598921

Nottinghamshire Mr B W J Reece CLIPSTONE VILLAGE brianreece2@gmail.com 07795 842 592

Wiltshire Mr J Postance Salisbury johnnyp38@hotmail.com 07769 906391

Mr I Sanderson MBE RETFORD janeandsandy@googlemail.com 07831 899918

Mr J M Steel ROYAL WOOTTON BASSETT jon@steel65.com 07931 818513

Oxfordshire Mr S English DIDCOT steve_english@btopenworld.com 07500 948176

Worcestershire Mr M P G Southerton STOURPORT-ON-SEVERN 01299 823882

Shropshire Mr Jack Shortman OSWESTRY jackshortman@outlook.com 01691 680537 Somerset Mr J J Judge Yeovil johnjjudge@hotmail.com Mr B R Kelland WELLINGTON brnkll@hotmail.co.uk 07882 969 032 South Yorkshire Mr W A Loftus DINNINGTON loftusalive@aol.com 01909 518405/07956 478238 Staffordshire Mr D McKenzie Stafford dm3347@yahoo.com Suffolk Mr S Smith HAVERHILL stevesmith0588@hotmail.com 07947 210658 Surrey Mr T G W Carrington 01276 36384 Surrey Mr T Morgan-Jelpke WEYBRIDGE t.morgan897@ntlworld.com 01932 854935 Sussex Mr K J Dry Eastbourne kdry@sky.com 07534 188889

Yorkshire Mr W H Graham YORK harvey.graham1@googlemail.com 01904 766870 SCOTLAND Angus Mr S Smith DUNDEE stu.smith@btinternet.com 01382 562554 Fife Mr D Cumming KENNOWAY thebear89@gmx.com 07921 515150

CANADA Mr C Grant MEDICINE HAT ALBERTA crgrant@telus.net +1 403 527 2982 Mr C Ludman SICAMOUS BRITISH COLUMBIA c.ludman@hotmail.co.uk +1 250 253-5562 GERMANY Mr A Cobb HERZEBERG +49 5521 987 592 acobb30963@aol.com NEW ZEALAND Mr J Bell TORBAY 0064 021 619 514 jigjag1@hotmail.com USA Mr K J Frape COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA frpkth@aol.com 001 (803) 787 1244

WALES

Mr R J G Kay PLATE CITY MISSOURI rjgkayusa@yahoo.com 001 816 872 6161

Powys Mr A T Prynne BUILTH WELLS at.mprynne@btinternet.com 01982 552296

Mr A D Richards HAMILTON NEW YORK andyrichards62@gmail.com 001-540-808-5752

ISLE OF MAN Mr T Bougourd bougourd@manx.net 07624 453168

SWEDEN Mr M Woods YSTAD woods969@googlemail.com +46 70-810 77 00

Rest of the World AUSTRALIA Mr G Coleman REYNELLA coleman839@gmail.com 0061 8381 2074

VIETNAM Mr R Pugh HO CHI MINH CITY pughr48@gmail,com +84 7650 25 686

Mr R Barnes TASMANIA rbarnes@tassie.net.au 00 6103 6429 1227 Mr D Moxom YASS dalemoxom@gmail.com

West Yorkshire Mr M P Goodyear HUDDERSFIELD mikegoodyear@live.co.uk 01484 605888

News from the Associations ■ 99

The Blues and Royals Association Annual Report 2020/21 President HRH The Princess Royal KG KT GCVO QSO Chairman Colonel (Retd) J P Eyre Honorary Secretary/Treasurer Captain C J Elliott Mr A Peat Mr G Jones Mr P Storer Major (Retd) A M Harris Mr N Hemming Mr J Naylor

Committee Members

Mr S Gillingham Mr H Ah Sam Maj (Retd) L Kibble Maj (Retd) A Owen Captain (Retd) C J Trinick Mr W Foster

and all serving Warrant Officers of The Blues and Royals at Regimental Duty Aims and Object During the past year the Association has continued to maintain its aims and objectives as laid down in the Constitution and Rules. Specifically, the sum of £8,498.44 has been distributed from funds to applications for assistance from a total of 24 cases dealt with by the committee (due to Covid the requests for assistance declined across the Military Welfare sector). The Annual Dinner was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The Annual General Meeting was held via Zoom on 13th February 2021 at 1100 hours and the minutes of this meeting are set out in the following pages.

Applications received Grants/Donations made

24 19

Applications referred to other funds

21

Reasons for assistance The following is a summary of the main purposes for which grants / donations were made during the past year.

Accommodation Cost 1 Clothing/Food Vouchers 2 Brown/White Goods 6 Invalidity / EPV 4 Training Course 1 In-Pensioner Grants 3 Property Maintenance 2 Income Income and Expenditure was £84,112.44 of which £22,146.17 was either contributed by serving officers and soldiers

under the ‘One Days Pay Scheme’ or received from membership subscriptions and donations. Interest on bank deposits was £1.50. The Dividends received for our investments amounted to £24,571.00 for this financial year.

Expenditure Expenditure for the period totalled £102,011.50 Miscellaneous costs were £29,227.48, however £10,799.30 was recovered, so administrative costs amount to £18,428.18.

The Miscellaneous column accounts for monies received and expended which cannot be accounted for in their own column in the accounts and includes such items as Honorariums, IT Support, insurances, memorabilia, etc.

Financial Statement INCOME One Days Pay Dividends Bank Interest Subs and Donations Annual Dinner Christmas Cards Grant Refunds Wreaths/Memorials Diaries Postage received for Cards Miscellaneous TOTAL

2019-2020 £19,467.02 £18,881.81 £1.20 £5039.32 £1,871.00 £3,937.00 £3,918.91 £1,234.00 £1,832.00 £270.07 £8,881.25 £65,333.58

2019-2020 2020-2021 2020-2021 EXPENDITURE £13,909.34 £8,498.44 £20,388.05 Grants in Aid £2,722.73 5,249.35 £24,571.00 Wreaths/memorials £2,182.98 £32,475.63 £1.50 Postage incl Cards £17,375.39 £5,225.82 Annual Dinner £2,385.69 £2,530.80 £1,412.50 £1,150.00 Christmas Cards £0.00 £2,762.41 £2,772.95 Regt Journal £37,156.07 £29,227.48 £2,938.48 Misc (Admin, Honorariums, BFT, Tpt) £0.00 £20,000.00 £15,597.82 Transfer to Investments £75,877.31 £102,011.50 £216.00 TOTAL £451.52 £10,799.30 The Life Guards’ Association’s and the Household Cavalry £84,112.44 Foundation’s stakes are the same size at Waverton; and the percentage

CASH and BANK Cash in Hand Current and Deposit Accts Total Cash and Bank Debtors Creditors Total Funds

2019-2020 £0.00 £73,884.21 £73,884.21 £0.00 £0.00 £73,884.21

2020-2021 is the same. £0.00 £65,557.87 The total value of both investment portfolios is currently £6,710,155.00: £65,557.87 Waverton £1,350,000 plus Cazenove £5,360,155.00. £0.00 £0.00 The RHG/D Association Investments make up 19.78% of this total £65,557.87 thus making our share of both portfolios £1,158,639.00.

size of individual stakes in both portfolios, at Cazenove and Waverton,

Report of the Independent Examiner Investment Portfolio During September 2020 RHG/D reinvested £44,343.09 in the I have examined the Balance Sheet and the Income and Expenditure accounts and report that, in my opinion, these accounts give a true Household Cavalry Foundation’s Cazenove Fund. and fair view of the Association’s affairs as at 31st March 2021 and An internal unbiased investigation was carried out, which the excess of income over expenditure for the year ended on that date. recommended some of the Cazenove funds be invested with the Waverton. On 11th March 2021, £1,350,000 was transferred Mr F Hovell FCCA from Cazenove to the same Waverton fund as the Life Guards’ Director, Perfect Accountancy Services Limited Westwind Management Solutions Limited Association’s.

100 ■ News from the Associations

The Blues and Royals Oliver Montagu Fund Annual Report 2020-2021 Aims and Objects During the past year the Association has continued to maintain its aims and objectives as laid down in the Constitution and Rules. There had been one request for assistance which amounted to £900.00.

Income Income was £26,274.69, the majority of which was from Dividends. Interest from bank deposits amounted to £1.96.

Expenditure Expenditure for the period totalled £20,858.84.

Financial Statement Income Dividends Interest Grant Refunds Adjustments Totals

2019-2020 £17,779.95 £1.20 £0.00 £2,348.45 £20,129.60

2020-2021 £26,272.73 £1.96 £0.00 £0.00 £26,274.69

Expenditure Grants Legal Fees Miscellaneous Adjustments Totals

2019-2020 £2,803.99 £0.00 £18,054.85 £0.00 £20,858.84

2020-2021 £900.00 £0.00 £6,224.24 £0.00 £7,124.24

Cash in Hand Current Account Deposit Account Debtors Creditors Totals

Investment Portfolio During September 2020 RHG/D’s Oliver Montagu Fund reinvested £22,933.00 in the Household Cavalry Foundation’s Cazenove Fund.

An internal unbiased investigation was carried out, which recommended some of the Cazenove funds be invested with Waverton. On 11th March 2021 £1,350,000 was transferred from Cazenove to the same Waverton fund as the Life Guards’ Association’s.

The Life Guards’ Association’s and the Household Cavalry Foundation’s stakes are the same size at Waverton; and the percentage size of individual stakes in both portfolios, at Cazenove and Waverton, is the same.

The total value of both investment portfolios is currently

2019-2020 £0.00 £45,250.55 £12,695.30 £0.00 £0.00 £57,945.85

2020-2021 £0.00 £30,578.48 £6,747.26 £0.00 £0.00 £37,325.74

£6,710,155.00: Waverton £1,350,000 plus Cazenove £5,360,155.00.

The RHG/D Oliver Montague Fund Investments make up 18.33% of this total thus making our share of the portfolio at £1,046,204.00.

Report of the Independent Examiner I have examined the Balance Sheet and the Income and Expenditure accounts and report that, in my opinion, these accounts give a true and fair view of the Association’s affairs as at 31st March 2021 and the excess of income over expenditure for the year ended on that date.

Mr F Hovell FCCA Director, Perfect Accountancy Services Limited Westwind Management Solutions Limited

The Blues and Royals Association Regional Representatives 2021 Regional Representatives of The Blues and Royals Association are volunteers that have agreed to have their details published in the Household Cavalry Journal in order that they may be contacted by other Association members in their area. Initially the Regional Representatives will provide contact with Home Headquarters for those who have served but have lost touch with the Regiment. Additionally, they may be asked to represent the Association at funerals of departed comrades, visit former members of the Regiment and circulate Regimental information to those in their area. If you would like to be considered as a Regional Representative for the Association please contact the Honorary Secretary at the address shown within the Association information.

ENGLAND South East Essex Mr T J Young 01702 351228 timkim.young@btinternet.com Hampshire Mr G Demmellweek-Pooley 07920 131093 Tomdp3546@icloud.com

Kent Mr A Gaddes 07842 624724 alexander.gaddes453@mod.gocv.uk

Middlesex Mr M Perry 07753 603080 2444mp@gmail.co.uk

Mr N G Sargeant 01732 355259 nevsargeant@gmail.com

South London/Surrey Mr J Dickens 07715 539141 Johnny.dickens@btinternet.com

Mr E Lane 07827 328760 ericllane@icloud.com

Surrey Mr N C Lewis-Baker 01372 456025 ma2da@hotmail.co.uk

News from the Associations ■ 101

West Sussex Mr M Bray 07738 565830 mathewbray@yahoo.com South West Cornwall Mr B H Coode 01726 882488 bhcoode@btconnect.com Mr A Baldwin 07792 581344 alangbaldwin@yahoo.co.uk Dorset Mr C Jones 01202 512416 Carl.deb@hotmail.co.uk

North West Liverpool Mr K Hancock 07809 573956 kevinhancock2010@gmail.com Mr R Spakman 07936 678383 robbiespackman5@gmail.com North East Newcastle Mr D Horsefield 01912 665440 davidhorsefield52@gmail.com

East Anglia

Rockingham Mr P Smith 07897 656825 p.smith@rockinghamcaslte.com

Norfolk Mr S McCormack 07738 939051 spencermccormack@hotmail.co.uk

Sheffield Mr P Harding 07875 620685 paul_harding@btinternet.com

Mr A Featherstone 07876 401021 Andrfeath@aol.com

Yorkshire Mr A Mardon 07824 468843 limerick123@aol.com

Suffolk Mr A Davies 07741 310459 andy635@me.com Mr G Kingham 07766 001919 Big_gray@hotmail.com Midlands East Midlands Mr S Davies 07791 585 144 studava42@mail.com Hertfordshire Mr C Seddon 07846 662352 cjseds1@yahoo.co.uk

SCOTLAND Renfrewshire Mr S Newman 07983 533436 stephennewman@hotmail.com Dumfries & Galloway Mr I Munro 07724 207321 ianmunro443@hotmail.com Highland Mr B Oakley 0138 1620968 brianoakley44@gmail.com

Leicestershire Mr C Payne 07782 341089 sales@ce-consumables.co.uk

WALES Merthyr Tydfil Mr N Hardwidge 01685 841335 07845 539180 rafafan@aol.com Nigel.hardwidge@ssafa365.org.uk

West Midlands / Staffs Mr I M Smith 07525 128475 Ian.imsmith@yahoo.co.uk

NORTHERN IRELAND Mr P Young 07710 613033 dpaulyoung@hotmail.com

West Midlands / Walsall Mr B J Pyke 01922 639562 bjpyk@aol.com

IRELAND Mr P Hopkins 086 3477315 Paulhopkins777@gmail.com

Northamptonshire Mr T Uglow 07775 639876 tomuglow78@gmail.com

102 ■ News from the Associations

OVERSEAS AMERICAS Canada / Nova Scotia Mr Bruce Snell 1-902-3080713 brucesnell@live.com Central USA Mr P Scott 262 852 5205 scottphilip@att.net Eastern USA Mr Rixon 001 781 237 6970 crixon@verizon.net AUSTRALIA Mr T Dyson tonydyson2439@msn.com EUROPE Cyprus Mr Duffy 00357 963 92341 dufftech@live.co.uk Cyprus (Turkish Part) Mr Seager +905338823935. clive.seager@gmail.com Germany Mr M Binks 05231 5614909 01726 041459 mike.binks@web.de Spain Mr M Holt 0034 9525 20260 kandmholt@yahoo.co.uk Sweden Mr P Young 0046 768 83 60 95 young.paul.c@gmail.com HONG KONG Mr J Dewe +85298 660 936 johndewe@outlook.com THAILAND Mr D Rushforth Raggytash3302@gmail.com TANZANIA/KENYA Mr J Corse +255 753 353 760 jamcorse@gmail.com MAURITIUS Mr H Sutherland harry.sutherland@me.com

Household Cavalry Foundation

by Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Giles Stibbe OBE

The Household Cavalry Foundation (The HCF) is the Household Cavalry’s official charity.

“The HCF supports all members of the Household Cavalry “family”; our operational casualties, serving soldiers, veterans and their dependants.

The HCF also supports our heritage and the welfare of our retired horses.”

October 2021.

•

2021’s London Marathon runners Harry Fryer and Paddy Ireland.

•

Support for re-publishing during 2022 The Household Cavalry At War. The Story of The Second Household Cavalry Regiment by Roden Orde.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote to the author: “It is the best regimental history I have ever read.”

•

Restoration of the statue of a former Gold Stick of The Blues, Field Marshall Earl Haig, at Montreuil, France.

www.hcavfoundation.org Charity Commission Registration Number 1151869 Company Number 08236363 My headline for this Report is set against the context of two difficult years of financial upheaval. This was caused by a global pandemic that was unprecedented for a century. Markets fluctuated and gave our financial team several challenges. However, with careful direction by the Trustees, costs were significantly reduced and less activity by serving soldiers enabled prudent management of available funds. Markets have recovered and our capital assets have increased modestly since pre-pandemic valuations.

The sustained kindness and generosity of those remembering this Foundation with donations and legacies in their Wills remain vital to maintain financial support for future generations.

2021 also revealed the Household Cavalry’s tenacity as exemplified by these achievements: •

Our Operational and Ceremonial Regiments’ Boxing Teams in their match in The City on 18th November 2021: fighting spirit as per our ‘Judge Us By Our Deeds’ Spectemur Agendo motto.

This was also commemorated on 21st June by the Waterloo Despatch Parade on Horse Guards when The Royal Dragoons’ Eagle was returned for an exhibition in our Museum.

•

The Household (Cavalry) Battalion in World War 1.

Their Book of Remembrance and Standard in Windsor’s Garrison Church were repaired.

•

Operational casualty Corie Mapp’s achievements described in his memoir Black Ice published in

This was to mark two 2021 centenaries: the Earl Haig Poppy Fund and The Royal British Legion (TRBL). TRBL remains our nation’s pre-eminent Service Charity leading on initiatives that benefit our Household Cavalry ‘Family’ and are led by them: the Battle Back Centre and the Invictus Games helped by James Blount, TRH the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex and Alex Owen.

This loyalty has also been shown in the ‘mission critical’ financial support given to The HCF despite continuing unprecedented pandemic challenges.

One key result is this generosity has enabled a pledge to our globally unique ‘Jewel in our Crown’ Museum where visitor numbers have been hit by Covid19 pandemic restrictions.

Welfare. As well as managing recurrent pandemic restrictions and maintaining our regional support links via postcode-based volunteers as described in the Household Cavalry Welfare Guide, Regimental Welfare Offices and Home HQ have continued to prove userfriendly.

The camaraderie exemplified by our successful regional dinners is also genuinely helpful.

Our Welfare Guide (two pages with a flow chart) is for our global Household Cavalry ‘Family’ of about 10,000 All Ranks: 1000 Serving Soldiers and 9000 Veterans, and their Dependents.

Moreover it’s proved resilient since the allied withdrawal from Afghanistan in August. One key result is emergency cases are resolved fast.

I pay special tribute to Lieutenant

Major Paddy Ireland ran the London Marathon 2021 for The HCF

Colonel Mick Harding who gave such key welfare support, like that commemorated at September 2021’s C19 Memorial Service in Windsor Garrison church.

Another bonus is Household Cavalrymen working in the Ministry of Defence’s Recovery Capability (DRC)’s nationwide network of Personnel Recovery Centres (PRC) that are funded by key partners: The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes.

There serving and veteran wounded, injured and longterm sick (WIS) service personnel mentor each other and boost mutual morale as they face the challenges associated with the transition from military to civilian life and charitable initiatives such as Paul Minter’s Head Up. Serving Soldiers. Both our Regiments and our Band again received annual

News from the Associations ■ 103

HCav Boxing Dinner Night in The City. 18th November 2021. Our Band plays the Post-Horn Gallop

funding on a per capita basis to enhance their soldiers and dependants’ Quality of Life with positive results that aid recruiting and retention.

All Ranks’ fundraising potential was proved by a spectacular Boxing match at the Leonardo Royal Hotel near St Paul’s in The City on 18th November, that also featured our Band. Our audience contained many familiar faces including the Fryer family whose parents Eleanor and Rupert and their London Marathon running sons Harry and Daniel exemplify loyal support.

This event was almost a sell-out and the guest appearance of Amir Khan added stardust to eight competitive bouts whose boxers literally included All Ranks introduced by both RCMs. Special thanks are due to impresario Brian Smith, who publishes this Journal and The Guards Magazine, and Major Tom Mountain, who master-minded and trouble-shot to ensure success.

Above all our Boxers’ fighting spirit was guaranteed by their expert trainers: Captain Ben Wood and Corporal of Horse O’Carroll reinforced by that personification of Airborne Initiative:

104 ■ News from the Associations

Paddy Ireland.

Our aim is to hold a Through Music We Care Band concert at the same venue early in 2023. (More details will follow in due course).

Individual fundraising has also continued relentlessly despite the pandemic’s challenges. For example, Lance Corporal of Horse Woodward’s Twisted Barbell project at HCR. Ascot War Horse Memorial has again very kindly endowed a second scholarship for individual Operational Casualties. Readers will remember our first scholar was Clifford O’Farrell who qualified as a both a fixed-wing and rotary pilot.

Our second Ascot War Horse Memorial scholar is double-amputee, Corie Mapp, now a Wiltshire policeman, who featured on the cover of the February 2021 edition of The Royal British Legion’s Journal. Moreover, established Household Cavalry links have confirmed their loyalty to other triservice charities such as Haig Homes and SSAFA, the single service Army Benevolent Fund, and specialist charities BLESMA and Blind Veterans UK.

Currently Corie is third in this season’s Word Cup. Competition resumes in mid-February.

On 14th October 2021 in HCMR WOs’ and NCOs’ Mess, RCM Douglass very kindly hosted the launch of Corie’s memoirs Black Ice - Don’t Exist, Live!

Written with help from former LG Christopher Joll, it also has contributions by Les Ferdinand MBE, Football Director at Queen’s Park Rangers; Sir Hugh Robertson KCMG, another former LG who’s now Chair of the British Olympic Association; and Barney Campbell, Corie’s Troop Leader in Afghanistan and author of Rain, the acclaimed novel about their operational tour.

Continuing help to The Guards’ Veterans’ Mountaineering Club, founded by Household Cavalrymen, is pledged to match support from the Foot Guards.

Our two key Welfare priorities remain: A. To prepare for the gradual emergence of latent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (Research by King’s College, London

Corie Mapp sliding 2021

B.

University claims 88/1,000 (9%) deployed will suffer future PTSD).

To ensure the continual quality of prosthetics for our Wounded, Injured and Sick.

Heritage.

The Colonel-in-Chief’s Platinum Jubilee will be marked with a Household Cavalry Nominal Roll. Led

by RCM Douglass, this project aims to show all those serving in both the Household Cavalry’s regiments, at ERE

and those in supporting roles at Horse Guards and Windsor.

Our last Gate Guardian to return to ‘showroom condition’ is Mark Coreth’s Falklands’ War trophy Panhard for the 40th anniversary celebrations of its capture.

2022 also marks the 40th anniversary of the tragic Hyde Park Bombing. Its memorial and other Household Cavalry monuments are maintained by The HCF and both Regimental Associations. The generosity of the Grosvenor family’s Westminster Foundation made a significant contribution to the recent restoration of our Zandwoorde monument.

World War 1’s unique Household (Cavalry) Battalion’s Standard and Book of Remembrance in Windsor’s Garrison Church have been repaired.

Furthermore, the most recently laid up Standard is now permanently secured above the lectern for all to see.

Best of both Worlds: Operational and Ceremonial a photographic project by globally iconic Ripley nears completion; these photographs will be sold to support The HCF. Contributions will be gratefully received by The HCF to guarantee republication by Pen & Sword of The Household Cavalry At War. The Story of The Second Household Cavalry Regiment in World War 2 by Roden Orde. Funding is nearly complete.

Corie Mapp, with the first copy of his memoir Black Ice

The Serving Officers’ Trust (part of The HCF since 2016) has started to rationalise and preserve its pictures, silver and

Corie Mapp with his 2022 trophies so far.

Silver Medal in European Championships and Bronze in World Cup

albums, and is most grateful for significant support from retired officers and their families. The HCF has offered similar conservation support to both WOs & NCOs’ Messes.

The HCF has two of five annual £5000.00 payments remaining to The Guards’ Chapel Organ Restoration Fund. These annual payments match each of the five Foot Guard regiments. Equal repayments to regiments will be made if this Restoration Fund exceeds its target.

The Trustees also undertook to support the Household Cavalry Museum, should it be necessary, to enable the Museum to remain functioning and return to profitability.

Horses. This year’s budget was committed to stable repair. A ‘Horse Sense’ (Monty Roberts’ horse-whispering) course for operational casualties may be rescheduled for later this year at our Mounted Training Wing in Windsor.

Key links remain with the Defence Animal Centre, World Horse Welfare, the Stirling Trust, the Horse Trust and Raystede Horse Sanctuary.

Governance. The HCF’s Trustees remain the same with one exception: Colonel James Gaselee, Chair of the LG Association and Household Cavalry Museum, voluntarily resigned at our Annual General Meeting on 2nd December 2021. This was advised by our lead Auditor, who also audits our Museum, and who identified a potential conflict of interest identified arising from the pledge made by The Trustees to our Museum. Colonel Gaselee may

News from the Associations ■ 105

our Operational Casualties, Veterans, Serving Soldiers and their dependents, Heritage, Horses and this Journal.

Two former officers have very generously endowed Quick Reaction Welfare Funds.

Investment values now exceed their pre-Covid levels. This is confirmed by our annual Report and Accounts filed at both the Charity Commission and Companies’ House.

Finally, readers are asked to remember how user-friendly and easy the process is to fundraise for The HCF and both our Regimental Associations:

Investments. Readers are reminded that Restricted Funds can only be used for purposes that their Trustees sanction. The seven Restricted Funds in our Investment Portfolio of eight stakeholders are: Operational Casualties, The Blues & Royals’ Association, The Oliver Montagu Fund, HCR, HCMR, our Children’s Fund and the Serving Officers’ Trust.

So The HCF is the eighth and only Unrestricted Fund in our Investment Portfolio.

During 2020 a mandatory Periodic Review of Fund Managers resulted in an increase in investment to Waverton’s charity fund, the balance remaining in Cazenove’s Charity multi-asset Fund.

At their Annual General Meeting on 2 December 2021 Trustees revised the percentage split to: 60% Cazenove, 40% Waverton. This was viewed as a riskreducing measure. Stakes held in both funds remain proportionate to original investments.

Entry fees and kit are subsidised, and turn-out is guaranteed to be both smart and robust in the best HCav tradition.

This is because ex-HCavman Matt Pellett’s Troop Logos has all relevant badges, colours and insignias. Matt is congratulated on retaining hard-won and rare MoD approval for his kit and thanked for giving discounts to HCav personnel and donations to HCav charities.

Serving soldiers are asked to apply to The HCF via their Chain-of-Command, and Veterans either directly or via the Home HQ of their Regimental Associations.

Best Practice and due diligence.

Annual reviews ensure our audit, banking and insurance costs remain competitive.

Harry Fryer ran the London Marathon 2021 for The HCF like his brother Danny in 2018

Educational support continues to eligible Serving Soldiers and Veterans, and their Dependants.

attend future Trustees’ meetings to brief on our Museum and LG Association matters. He is replaced by Captain John Dove.

Gift Aid is applied whenever possible.

Chair: Colonel Crispin Lockhart (Silver Stick) Deputy Chair: Lieutenant Colonel Jim Eyre - RHG/D Assn and Oliver Montagu Fund Lady Jane Grosvenor Captain John Dove - LG Assn Finance: Captain Edward Goodchild Secretary: Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Griffin (Regimental Adjutant) The HCF’s staff remains me full-time, and Mary Edwards our weekly Finance Administrator.

Finance. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, support was maintained to

106 ■ News from the Associations

The One Day’s Pay Scheme (paid voluntarily by serving officers and soldiers). The majority of is paid to both Regimental Associations.

Retail activities: remain coordinated by our Household Cavalry Museum’s shop. The only exceptions are some specific uniform items supplied via Quartermasters, and cards and diaries from our Regimental Associations.

Welfare payments. The LG Association remains outside the overall HCF investment portfolio, but it is included in all relevant welfare case considerations.

The HCF and the LG and RHG/D Associations all pay similar annual amounts on welfare.

Zandvoorde Memorial 2021 after cleaning

Household Cavalry Foundation Accounts 2020-2021 Income and Expenditure Income from: Donations and legacies Investments and interest receivable

Unrestricted Funds 2021 £ 167,096 37,630

Restricted Funds 2021 £ 103,237 35,014

Total Funds 2021 £ 270,333 72,644

Unrestricted Funds 2020 £ 372,765 60,161

Restricted Funds 2020 £ 10,037 55,791

Total Funds 2020 £ 382,802 115,952

204,726

138,251

342,977

432,926

65,828

498,754 105,426

Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities . Assisting service personnel and dependants

52,542

12,654

65,196

92,271

13,155

196,809

46,161

242,970

255,566

17,644

Total expenditure

249,351

58,815

308,166

347,837

30,799

378,636

Net (expenditure) income before investment gains

(44,625)

79,436

34,811

85,089

35,029

120,118

Net gains on investments Net (expenditure) income for the year

315,461

294,374

609,835

(196,365)

(183,276)

(379,641)

270,836

373,810

644,646

(111,276)

(148,247)

(259,523)

Transfers between funds

(3,000)

3,000

—

(1,000)

1,000

—

Net movement in funds

267,836

376,810

644,646

(112,276)

(147,247)

(259,523)

Fund balances at 1st April 2019

1,817,435

1,787,851

3,605,286

1,929,711

1,935,098

3,864,809

Fund balances at 31st March 2020

2,085,271

2,164,661

4,249,932

1,817,435

1,787,851

3,605,286

273,210

The charity has no recognised gains or losses other than those shown above.

All the above results were derived from continuing operations.

Fixed assets Investments Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

2021 £

2021 £

2020 £

5,654,521

2020 £ 5,654,521

60,488 410,964

135,881 255,922

471,452

391,803

(2,943,413)

(2,431,038)

Net current liabilities

(2,471,961)

(2,039,235)

Total assets less current liabilities

4,254,932

3,615,286

(5,000)

(10,000)

4,249,932

3,605,286

2,164,661

1,787,851

1,965,271 120,000

1,727,435 90,000

4,249,932

3,605,286

Creditors: amounts falling due in more than one year Total net assets Represented by: The funds of the charity: Restricted funds Unrestricted funds - General funds - Designated funds

News from the Associations ■ 107

Household Cavalry Museum

by Alice Pearson, Museum Director

A

fter being able to trade for only seven days between March 2020 and May 2021, the Museum hit the ground running this year by publicising the Museum’s reopening alongside our summer 2021 Waterloo exhibition: The Eagle is Landing. This 2021 Waterloo Campaign included a unique exhibition, new walking tour, activity trails, and special events.

As part of the exhibition for the first time in 200 years a Napoleonic Eagle captured on the battlefield at Waterloo was reunited with the long-lost Waterloo Medal of the man who won it, Francis Styles. Styles’s medal was lost to the Regiment after his early death in 1828, when it disappeared from records until 2020 when it reappeared on eBay for sale by a vendor in the United States.

Luckily this was spotted by Corporal of Horse Richard Hendy and flagged to the Museum, who purchased it with the support of numerous kind donations from across the Regimental Family.

To celebrate the homecoming of the Eagle and medal, as well as to launch the exhibition and reopening of the Museum itself, the Household Cavalry Regiment paraded the Eagle from the National Army Museum in Chelsea back to Horse Guards. The event received coverage in three national newspapers as well as a BFBS broadcast package.

News of the parade was also covered as far afield as the United States and China, as well as a little more locally in France …

Building on the popularity of the Waterloo 2022 Campaign, we developed further Campaigns for 2022, including the Evolution of Medicine through Warfare in partnership with the Old Operating Theatre, Falklands at 40 which includes our first veterans Oral History project, and of course a Waterloo 2022 Summer Campaign this time focusing on archaeology of the battlefield in partnership with Waterloo Uncovered. Do visit the Museum, our website, and our social media channels for further details, and see our fantastic new YouTube channel for Campaign linked playlists.

Should you have visited the Museum in 2021 or been lucky enough to join in with any of the year’s Ceremonial Season events you may have seen a plein air artist busily working away. This is Rob Pointon, our Artist in Residence.

Rob has been doing an incredible job of capturing the Regiment in all sorts of settings from Queen’s Life Guard duties, to the Eagle Parade, to the Holkham Beach ride. Examples of these fascinating insights to the lives behind the uniform, an artist’s perspective of a year in the life of the Household Cavalry, are on show at the Museum throughout 2021 and 2022. His time with us will culminate with a large oil painting of The Platinum Jubilee Trooping of the Colour which shall form the centrepiece of his residency’s headline exhibition at Panter and Hall on Pall Mall in October 2022. We’ve greatly enjoyed working with Rob over the last few years and

Rob Pointon, The Lord Mayor’s Show.

Photo by Rory Langdon-Down

it has opened up both new channels of audience engagement and styles of working output for us. Please support both Rob and the Museum by purchasing one of his beautiful 2023 calendars; pre-order details are at the end of this article.

Our October Half Term Families Day was a huge success and it really was uplifting to see the Museum full to capacity once more. Smashing our visitor number target for the day we hosted nearly seven times our current daily average. We owe members of the Engagement, Saddler, Tailor, Vet, and Farrier teams a huge debt of thanks

The Sword and The Crown, Beating Retreat 2021. Rob Pointon

108 ■ News from the Associations

Sword and Crown Beating Retreat 2021

for working their socks off all day as did the excellent media team, sharing the event to the whole world online.

These Facebook Live videos are still available on the HCR page (along with the February 2022 follow on) please do view, like and share them.

As the hangover of the pandemic continues to pain us we’re keen for you to be aware of all the ways you can continue to support us. As ever, please do remind friends and family about us and let any new acquaintances, special interest groups, families and schools know we’re here and are open to all. Serving Household Cavalry personnel and their accompanying family members can enter the Museum free of charge as can Veteran Household Cavalry personnel.

All other military personnel are offered a 50% discount. The Museum offers fantastic tours for all tastes and is an enchanting setting for Private Events; contact the team for more information now.

Even if you can’t physically get to Horse Guards, please find us online on all

Blacksmiths at The Forge. Rob Pointon

the below channels. Following, liking, and sharing our posts are all quick and easy ways to help us extend our reach.

You’re also welcome to make use of the website’s online shop too of course …

NEW website: www.householdcavalry. co.uk/museum NEW Facebook: householdcavalrymuseum Instagram: householdcavalrymuseum Twitter: hcavmuseum NEW YouTube channel: HouseholdCavalryMuseum You can also support the Museum whilst you shop elsewhere: BookshopUK will give a small commission to the Museum on every purchase made via one of our many recommended lists on page: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ hcavmuseum And Amazon will make a donating on each sale made via smile.amazon.co.uk when you choose Household Cavalry Museum Trust as your charity of choice.

SPECIAL NOTICE Artist in Residence 2023 calendar Just as you would pre-order Regimental Christmas cards, we’re inviting you to pre-order our Artist in Residence 2023 calendar produced by Artist in Residence Rob Pointon.

A portion of every sale goes towards supporting the Household Cavalry Museum.

LINK HERE: https://pointon-picturelibrary.myshopify.com/products/ rob-pointon-calendar-2023 Or short link: https://bit.ly/36VXp6n Or scan the below QR code.

Huge thanks for your support, we do hope you can visit us some time soon.

Rob Pointon at work, Major General’s Inspection, Hyde Park. June 2021

Artist in Residence 2023 calendar

News from the Associations ■ 109

The Amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards 8th July 1922 by the new Curator, ‘Ted’ Heath

A

t the time of the Armistice, ending what was then known as The Great War, on 11th November 1918 over 4.5 million people were serving in the British armed forces and almost 1 million had been killed or died of wounds during the conflict. The UK economy was suffering from enormous strains associated with the war as the country had devoted over 25% of its GDP between 1914 and 1918 to prosecuting the war, thereby leaving it struggling with crippling debts and a much-weakened industrial base.

The process of demobilising huge numbers of servicemen and women and returning them to the civilian economy, while occasionally bungled, was well in hand by 1920 even though conflicts ‘left over’ from the war were still occupying British and Empire forces in Ireland, Somaliland and Turkey. In this year there were still almost 600,000 servicemen (and the huge majority were men) serving in the armed forces.

As ever, in what passed for peacetime, the British Government of the day was forced to seek spending cuts in attempting to drive recovery. Again, as ever, the Defence budget was seen as being ripe for reduction.

This was the background to the cuts in Government spending during the early ‘20s, which became known as the Geddes Axe after Sir Eric Geddes who chaired a Committee on National Expenditure which recommended large cuts in virtually all areas of Government. It was also the background to the amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards.

110 ■ News from the Associations

The British regular cavalry in 1921 consisted of 31 regular regiments and the decision was made that by amalgamation this would be reduced to 22 in short order.

After much discussion, given that the Household Cavalry consisted of three regiments, it was decided that this should be reduced to two. The resulting decision to amalgamate the 1st and 2nd Life Guards while leaving The Blues untouched was bitterly resented at all levels within The Life Guards and hardfought. In fact, after much manoeuvring, it was only accepted, under protest, on the basis that the two regiments would retain their separate identities within a new regiment to be called ‘The Life Guards (1st and 2nd)’.

Consequently, the amalgamation went ahead on 8th July 1922 when the new regiment formed at Regents Park Barracks (leaving Hyde Park Barracks to the RAOC for the next 10 years).

The new Regiment comprised four squadrons, A and B Squadrons comprised the 1st Life Guards element and C and D Squadrons the 2nd Life Guards, with the HQ elements split 50/50 between the two Regiments. The elements of both regiments maintained their regimental traditions, uniforms and kit distinctions and regarded themselves as separate units. They retained two Silver Sticks and two complete sets of new Standards were issued in 1927!

The ‘new look’ Regiment was never really a success for many reasons. The distinctions in kit and uniform were

unsustainable for practical reasons in the long term and when the Regiment suffered further cuts and a reduction to three Squadrons, it was eventually decided that a further reorganisation, in 1928, would entail standardisation in the uniforms and kit and a new name for the regiment which it retains today ‘The Life Guards’.

Some of this will sound familiar to many past and a very few serving soldiers who remember the ‘Union’ between The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals in 1992 (or indeed the amalgamation of the Royal Horse Guards and Royal Dragoons in 1969) when many of the same solutions were initially identified and later fell by the wayside.

It is only fair to finish this short write up with a quote from a serving Life Guard of the day who served throughout the Great War and was injured and posted away in 1918. Corporal of Horse Lloyd returned to the new regiment at Regents Park Barracks in 1923 and commented.

‘The old barracks were full of memories and associations, but the barrack rooms housed a new generation of men and in the stables were horses which were complete strangers. Some four or five of the older Troopers remained…. they looked a forlorn little group as they emerged every morning when the trumpet sounded “Stables”, the last survivors of two dead regiments and a regime that had passed away for ever.’

The Life Guards

Obituaries

It is with much regret that the Honorary Secretary announces the death of the following old comrades. The Life Guards Association off their sincere condolences to all members of their families. May they Rest in Peace.

24499678 Tpr P Starr LG Served from 1980 to 1988 Died 22nd December 1999, aged 55

23215322 Tpr J Hovington LG Served from July 1956 to July 1959 Died 27th January 2021, aged 85

23870709 WO2 K R Whitworth LG Served from December 1964 to May 1988 Died 9th September 2021, aged 81

22557633 SCpl C Jolley LG Served from March 1952 to October 1983 Died 16th December 2020, aged 85

22556599 Tpr B Kelvie LG Served from January 1954 to January 1957 Died 6th February 2021, aged 85

269729 WO2 J McNaughton Served from November 1946 to January 1963 Died 13th September 2021, aged 93

22760564 Cpl J Picken LG Served from January 1953 to February 1955 Died 6th February 2021, aged 88

23679021 WO1 D Hutchings LG Served from October 1959 to October 1985 Died 18th October 2021

23215517 Tpr C O’Connor LG Served from July 1957 to July 1960 Died 12th February 2021, aged 82

416320 Lt D Stapleton-Cotton LG Served from April 1950 to October 1952 Died 24th October 2021, aged 89

24302256 WO2 J Gaunt LG Served from September 1972 to March 1996 Died 12th March 2021, aged 65

24306585 CoH S Newton Served from June 1975 to September 1992 Died 31st October 2021, aged 63

24048254 LCoH J Bevan LG Served from January 1966 to December 1978 Died 14th June 2020, 73 24306424 Tpr R C Angel LG Served from August 1974 to November 1978 Died 5th August 2020, aged 62 23929070 Tpr A Tippett LG Served from September 1964 to July 1971 Died 3rd November 2020, aged 77 23001794 Tpr J Clarke LG Served from February 1954 to May 1956 Died 24th November 2020, aged 84 24096643 LCpl M Bolechala LG Served from November 1967 to November 1976 Died 18th December 2020, aged 72 23929088 Tpr Tabernacle LG Served from October 1963 to October 1966 Died 3rd January 2021, aged 77 23262774 SCpl B Hoare LG Served from June 1960 to June 1978 Died 14th January 2021, aged 86 23679112 LCoH R White LG Served from April 1960 to January 1975 Died 14th January 2021, aged 75 23574779 Tpr S Wootton LG Served from July 1958 to August 1960 Died 15th January 2021, aged 81 23891163 WO1 J Lloyd RVM LG Served from January 1962 to March 1989 Died 16th January 2021, aged 74 22205699 Tpr W Hogan LG Served from May 1951 to April 1956 Died 20th January 2021, aged 90 296218 Brig J Thomas CBE LG Served from January 1944 to November 1948 Died 29th January 2021, aged 94

24096774 Tpr R J Mansell LG Served from January 1969 to February 1972 Died 15th April 2021, ages 70 295819 Tpr J Marsh LG Served from November 1941 to November 1946 Died 5th May 2021, aged 98 24164655 Tpr P Thompson LG Served from December 1970 to December 1974 Died 30th May 2021, aged 67 22556352 Tpr A F Bailey LG Served from May 1953 to May 1956 Died 2nd July 2021, aged 86 22004690 Tpr D F Smith LG Served from February 1948 to January 1954 Died 17th July 2021, aged 91 24540602 Tpr N A Lawson LG Served from August 1981 to December 1983 Died 18th July 2021 24076459 Tpr W A Heeks LG Served from November 1965 to December 1971 Died 26th August 2021, aged 74

24086018 Tpr G H Fincken LG Served from May 1966 to June 1972 Died 13th June 2021, aged 71 23102717 Tpr W R Lindsay LG Served from January 1955 to February 1957 Died 3rd December 2021, aged 85 23865747 Tpr B L Jones LG Served from March 1961 to May 1970 Died 11th December 2021, aged 79 357328 Major J W Barnes LG Served from September 1944 to November 1976 Died 12th December 2021, aged 95 296687 CoH M P Shepherd LG Served from December 1945 to June 1953 Died 15th December 2021, aged 94 376672 Capt V C S Hoare LG Served from April 1945 to August 1953 Died 19th December 2021, aged 94 24020333 Tpr J P Christensen LG Served from July 1964 to July 1970 Died 21st December 2021, aged 75 22556547 Tpr R T Cox LG Served from November 1953 to December 1956 Died 23rd December 2021, aged 85

22205263 Tpr P Bownes LG Served from January 1949 to January 1954 Died 1st September 2021, aged 90

Obituaries ■ 111

The Blues and Royals It is with much regret that the Honorary Secretary announces the death of the following Old Comrades. The Blues and Royals Association offer their sincere condolences to all members of their families. May they Rest in Peace.

24447705 LCoH S Martin RHG/D Served from February 1977 to September 1989 Died 19th July 2019, aged 59 19102145 Tpr C Condon RHG Served from January 1947 to December 1948 Died 24th April 2020, aged 91 14929386 Tpr H Murdoch RHG Served from September 1945 to February 1948 Died 3rd September 2020, 93 23215830 R Young RHG Served from September 1958 to September 1965 Died 14th Sept 2020, 80

467988 Capt N Roberts 1RD - RHG/D Served from 1963 to 1973 Died 16th February 2021

Served from September 1961 to September 1983 Died 18th September 2021, aged 78

23412337 Tpr D Line RHG Served from 1957 to 1959 Died 23rd February 2021, aged 82

Unknown number Mr C Knapp RHG Served from November 1957 to November 1963 Died 25th September 2021, Age unknown

474350 Capt R Campbell RHG/D Served from July 1963 to September 1970 Died 2nd April 2021, aged 79 19031061 Sgt R Fooks 1RD Served from August 1946 to August 1949 Died 3rd April 2021, aged 92 25077020 Capt A Betts RHG/D Served from March 1998 to May 2021 Died 19th May 2021, aged 40

23183392 Cpl B Thomas RHG Served from September 1955 to September 1957 Died 18th September 2020, aged 83

400307 Major Sir David Black Bt RHG Served from September 1947 to November 1961 Died 22nd May 2021, aged 92

24164673 LCoH A Barratt RHG/D Served from April 1971 to May 1983 Died 10th January 2021, aged 69

23865808 Tpr R Adams RHG Served from October 1961 to July 1967 Died 2nd June 2021, aged 79

360733 Lt J Rudd RHG Served from December 1945 to February 1948 Died 10th January 2021, aged 94

6099315 Tpr C Foster RHG Served from June 1940 to August 1948 Died 6th June 2021, aged 98

22205644 Cpl P Redsell RHG Served from December 1955 to January 1957 Died 11th January 2021, aged 90 458152 Major D Smiley RHG/D Served from 1958 to 1976 Died 11th January 2021, aged 82 23237761 WO2 J Harty RHG/D Served from 1955 to 1977 Died 15th January 2021, aged 83 23879539 LCoH T Sammons RHG/D Served form June 1962 to November 1974 Died 5th February 2021, aged 76 24393386 Tpr S Cook Served from June 1979 to November 1981 Died 7th February 2021, aged 61 23023679 Cpl A Ward 1RD Covid Served from March 1954 to April 1956 Died 10th February 2021, aged 85 22205516 Tpr T Bywater 1RD Served from March 1950 to April 1956 Died 11th February 2021, aged 91

112 ■ Obituaries

445102 Capt H Blake RHG Served from February 1955 to September 1966 Died 21st June 2021, aged 85 23969535 Mr D Bates RHG/D Served from 1965 to 1971 Died 22nd June 2021, aged 75 22205960 WO2 C Hunt BEM RHG/D Served from May 1952 to October 1976 Died 11th July 2021, aged 86 24299854 CoH R Harris RHG/D Served from September 1972 to August 1985 Died 4th August 2021, aged 65 22205274 WO1 J Cowdery RHG/D Served from January 1949 to January 1971 Died 21st August 2021, aged 90 30302091 Tpr P Needham RHG/D Served from January 2018 to September 2021 Died 11th September 2021, aged 19 23663692 WO2 R Birt RHG/D

24323265 CoH R Eyre RHG/D Served from August 1974 to February 1992 Died 27th September 2021, aged 63 23994767 CoH P Williams RHG/D Served from March 1963 to June 1975 Died 27th September 2021, aged 73 541862 Lt Colonel M Harding RHG/D Served from January 1973 to August 2005 Died 9th October 2021, aged 70 23865838 Tpr J Heath RHG Served from December 1961 to September 1965 Died 10th October 2021, aged 77 Mr Singleton RHG Served from 1939 to 1945 Died 11th October 2021 Mr G Hosker RHG/D Served in 1974 to 1980 Died 12th October 2021 Mr Daniel Burdon RHG Served from 1944 to 1954 Died 5th November 2021 24125858 LCpl Neon Walsh RHG/D Served from October 1969 to October 1974 Died 9th November 2021 19178932 Tpr J Ansell RHG Served from April 1947 to June 1949 Died 20th November 2021, aged 92 23523403 Tpr J Millichap RHG Served from January 1960 to January 1965 Died 20th November 2021 23215465 Tpr P Birkbeck RHG Served from March 1957 to March 1960 Died 4th December 2021, aged 83 30192154 LCoH M Miah RHG/D Served from June 2013 to December 2021 Died 15th December 2021, aged 28

Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover Late The Life Guards With acknowledgement to The Daily Telegraph

J

ohn Sainsbury who has died aged 94, was chairman of J Sainsbury plc, his family’s grocery chain, and a modern Medici in the field of arts patronage. ‘Retail is detail’ was the slogan John Sainsbury inherited from his father.

A brisk, authoritarian figure, not inclined to delegate, he believed in the value of a family-led management team and maintained a firm personal grip on the minutiae of pricing, packaging and presentation. Having declared that there was no reason why the biggest should not also be the best, he liked to patrol his giant superstores, making sure that cans were stacked to the front of the shelves, tomatoes and mushrooms fresh.

During his 23-year chairmanship, J Sainsbury’s rose from ninth in the league of Britain’s most profitable retailers to first, finally overtaking Marks & Spencer in 1992, shortly before his retirement. The company’s market value rose from £100 million when it first went public in 1974, to more than £8 billion at the end of his reign. The family continued to own more than a third of the shares, making them Britain’s richest business dynasty.

John Sainsbury endowed charitable trusts valued at more than £300 million. The most famous gift was of £50 million for the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, which became the subject of controversy after the Prince of Wales likened the first chosen design to “a carbuncle on the face of a much-loved friend”.

Lord Sainsbury was a benefactor of Dulwich Picture Gallery and of many other artistic causes, but his chief passion was for opera and ballet. John inherited a love of ballet from his mother, who had danced with the Royal Ballet in its earliest days, and in 1963 he married the ballerina Anya Linden, who became a senior figure in the dance world in her own right.

John Sainsbury became a director of the Royal Opera House in 1969, and its chairman in 1987 – his predecessor, Sir Claus Moser, described him as “a formidable and determined man who will argue his case like billy-oh”.

John Davan Sainsbury was born on November 2 1927, the eldest son of Alan Sainsbury (who chaired the company from 1956 to 1967 and became a life peer as Lord Sainsbury of Drury Lane) by his first wife, Doreen Davan Adams. The day of John’s birth was, according to company legend, the last day on which his great-grandfather John James Sainsbury, founder of the business, attended his office at the group’s Blackfriars headquarters.

John was educated at Stowe and did National Service with The Life Guards before reading History at Worcester College, Oxford. He joined Sainsbury’s in 1950. To avoid confusion with his grandfather, he was known in the company throughout his career as ‘Mr J D’. His first job was in the grocery department, where he became biscuit buyer.

In the restricted circumstances of postwar manufacturing he had to plead with biscuit-makers to allocate sufficient supplies to meet the growing demand from customers of Sainsbury’s new self-service stores, introduced by his father in 1950.

Next, he masterminded a project to introduce Canadian-style ‘sweetcure’ bacon, which Sainsbury’s began producing on a large scale in 1958.

He became a director of the company in that year and gradually assumed his father’s responsibilities for trading and marketing. He led the development of Sainsbury’s own-brand product lines – personally approving every packaging design – and introduced off-licence drink sales to the stores. He became vice-chairman on his father’s retirement in 1967, and succeeded his uncle Robert as chairman two years later.

Over the following two decades the company continued to expand, both geographically and in the scale of its new outlets, which evolved from 10,000 sq ft high-street sites in the early 1970s to the ubiquitous 30,000 sq ft edge-of-town superstore developments of the early 1990s. The last old-style counterservice branch, at Peckham, closed in 1982.

Under John Sainsbury’s vigilant command, the firm maintained its reputation both for quality and innovation: even Sunday opening, at first resisted, was embraced in 1991. On his 65th birthday in 1992 Sainsbury passed the chairmanship to his cousin David.

Lord Sainsbury was also, at various times, a director of The Economist, a trustee of the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery and Westminster Abbey, and a governor of the Royal Ballet School. He was a president of the European Movement and a member of the National Committee for Electoral Reform.

John Sainsbury was knighted in 1980 and created a life peer, as Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, in 1989. In 1992 he was appointed a Knight of the Garter, becoming the senior nonroyal member of the order.

After his marriage to Anya Linden, Sainsbury commissioned a family house on Romney Marsh in Kent, designed by Sir Hugh Casson. Later he acquired a Palladian mansion with extensive estates at Preston Candover, in Hampshire, from the entrepreneur Peter Cadbury. It was said that the flamboyant Cadbury had removed trees near the house so that the public would see how big it was; Sainsbury replanted them, and more, to make it look smaller.

Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, born November 2 1927, died January 14 2022

Colonel Nick Carrell, formerly AGC (SPS) and Late The Life Guards

by The Editor and others

N

ick Carrell was one of the highly capable graduates that started to be recruited by the Household Cavalry in the late 80s. An Oxford education had given him a wide interest in both academic and sporting achievement. While the Household Cavalry has had a succession of Oxbridge graduates, he was likely to have been the first member of the Assassin’s Guild to have joined The Life Guards.

On leaving Sandhurst, he arrived with The Life Guards in Sennelager, where the Regiment was recuperating after deployment en masse to the First Gulf War. There was time to get to know people and enjoy a more relaxed routine. Nick was a confident, likeable, capable and intelligent Troop Leader, who took to armoured soldiering with ease. He was equipped with courage, curiosity and able to master all the skills required

Obituaries ■ 113

for both armoured and armoured reconnaissance soldiering. Furthermore, he had that rare ability to see the funny side of any situation, and indeed the ability to laugh at himself. He enjoyed the various exercises and events that ‘life in Germany’ was famed for. He was ahead of the curve with both the mastery of technology and the acquisition of ‘Gucci’ kit. He enjoyed his fitness and kept up his rowing, where possible, and managed to complete the accelerated free fall parachute course.

On the Regiment’s return to the UK and the union of the The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals, he planned and developed the Regiment’s Cross Country Skiing Team, which he went on to lead and take through the ski season in Europe. It was no surprise that Nick went on to become the Adjutant of the newly formed Household Cavalry Regiment. He was very articulate and an excellent writer and therefore added much to this position. However, being adventurous of spirit and talented, Nick decided to try his hand in the world of finance and commerce and therefore left the Army.

However, the siren call of the drum could not be silenced and a few years later Nick joined the Reserves, immediately being made company commander within a Reserve Infantry battalion. A fact finding visit to Glasgow revealed that should he re-join the Cavalry he would never command, so he sought a position where his intellect and drive would add the most benefit. He chose the AGC and was soon on an accelerated path towards high rank. As he was a very strong supporter of Dennis Hutchings and ensured that Army HQ and the MOD did not lose their nerve, he re established his links with the Household Cavalry.

It was a great shock for his many friends and acquaintances when he died, having stoically managed his illness and informed very few of his situation.

David Bruton Late The Life Guards

by Major The Hon Nigel Adderley formerly The Life Guards

D

avid Bruton was a robust individual, courageous in adversity and never afraid to speak his mind, His outspoken nature served him well in later life, but was more problematic in the military chain of command.

Sailing the Atlantic with no previous experience and having learnt the skill simply from a manual showed both courage and tenacity. It was also these characteristics that allowed him to continue

114 ■ Obituaries

an active life despite a progressive and debilitating illness over Seventeen years.

Born in March 1953 to Meddon and Daphne Bruton. he spent his early years in Hockworthy Devon. After leaving Eton David Bruton was commissioned in May 1972 on a Short Service Commission and joined The Life Guards in December as a Troop Leader in A Squadron. The Regiment was based in the attractive medieval town of Detmold.

Serving in Germany during the Cold War was an unrewarding experience for junior officers and the 1970s was the era of limited track mileage for the Chieftain tanks and appalling kit: woollen gloves for temperatures frequently well below zero and a complete lack of rainproof clothing. Despite being constrained by limited military budgets, The Life Guards believed in keeping their twenty-one subalterns busy sending them on inventive and, on the whole, interesting courses. The Regiment was renowned for the subalterns’ range of fast cars and David cut a dashing figure in his red Triumph TR6.

He joined B Squadron for the Regiment’s tour in Northern Ireland, memorable for having only four dry days in the whole four months – perhaps in preparation for the many more wet days he later spent at sea. For this tour he was detached to Londonderry where he served under command of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards with a brief period with The Royal Anglian Regiment in Sion Mills and Strabane. On tour in Ireland, David was a competent Troop Leader and respected by his soldiers.

That operational tour was followed by The Long Equitation Course at Melton Mowbray and a posting to The Mounted Regiment. It was at the house in Leicestershire of the legendary ‘Migs’ Greenall where he met his future wife. On return to the Regiment at Windsor he commanded an enlarged Troop for an emergency operational deployment to Belize. He left the Army in 1976.

With his wife Susan Greenall, they decided that knowing nothing about sailing was no barrier to a life on the ocean waves, so instead of buying a house they bought a 42ft Ketch Adare and a shelve of books about sailing and navigation. So equipped they soon set off on their first Atlantic crossing, becoming highly competent sailors. Five years of adventure followed mainly in their new Bowman 49 Capricho of Sark, completing four Atlantic crossings including a frightening mid-Atlantic knockdown by a freak wave washing David overboard only saved by his safety harness. Lighter moments did occur like swopping with another yacht, crewed by chance by a medical student friend of his brother-in-law, a few gallons of fuel for a bottle of champagne mid-Atlantic. In 1982 the Falklands conflict halted their round the world attempt in Capricio when Lloyds removed the insurance cover. For their sailing achievements both were elected to membership of The Royal Cruising Club.

After leaving the army he became an enthusiastic Cresta rider, riding from ‘top’ during the 1977 season. His outdoor pursuits continued and he went on to teach climbing and other adventurous sports. He worked passionately alongside Imperial College London on safety for children in climbing. He continued teaching until a few years ago, after which his battle with Parkinson’s disease stopped him doing what he loved.

Sadly, David was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2004. Undeterred by progressive illness, it did not stop him undertaking long distance cycling, including the 800 kms from Zermatt, Switzerland to Marges, France. He is survived his children Natasha and Alistair.

Nigel Adderley and Gilbert Greenall

Captain Victor Hoare Late The Life Guards

by Captain A Watson, formerly The Life Guards

V

ictor Charles Seymour Hoare died on 19th December 2021, aged 94. He was born on 20th November 1927.

His father, Captain Algernon Hoare (1886-1952) had been a regular officer in The Life Guards. Victor was educated at Eton and joined The Life Guards at Windsor in January 1947. That April he deployed with the Regiment to Palestine as a Troop Leader in C Squadron. In December, while visiting a detachment in Jerusalem, Victor and Squadron Corporal Major Cookson were both shot in the back at close range by Jewish gunmen from the Irgun Zwei Leumi gang, they were severely wounded but both survived. Victor’s webbing belt with a 9mm bullet hole in the back is now in the Regimental Museum.

When he returned from Palestine he was posted to the Mounted Squadron where he remained until March 1953.

He then joined the Regiment in Wolfenbuttel (BAOR). Whilst in Germany Victor and Nickie Beaumont bought three horses out from England to start the Regimental Racing Stables. They rode these with fluctuating fortunes in races at Hanover, Bad Hazburg and Dortmund.

Victor left the Army in August 1953 and took up farming in a small way at Upper Slaughter in the Cotswolds, although his friends often referred to him as the Piccadilly farmer as he spent as much time in The Cavalry Club as he did in Gloucestershire.

In 1971 he married Cynthia Cookson (no relation to the aforementioned SCM!) In the early 1980’s they moved to Bemersyde near Melrose where Cynthia had the Dryburgh beats on the Tweed. Victor had a lifelong interest in racing.

Having ridden as an amateur in Germany he had shares in horses for many years, and with some success, in Ireland and in the last few years with Marcus Tregoning. Other interests were skiing, shooting and fishing. He was excellent company with a great sense of humour and had many friends.

Latterly they moved to Witney near Oxford, where Cynthia died in 2019. Despite failing eyesight Victor remained his usual cheerful self to the end and died after a very short illness. They had no children.

Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) Dennis Hutchings Late The Life Guards by his son, John Hutchings

Dennis Hutchings was born in Cramlington, Northumberland, on 7th May 1941. His father worked in the local coal mine and the family lived in a colliery owned house.

When his father lost his job in 1945, the family had to move to a different mine where they did not qualify for a colliery home, and so Dennis grew up in a disused Army camp, living in an ancient Nissen hut without the basic amenities of modern life.

He went to school until the age of fifteen, leaving without any qualifications and following his father down a local mine, at Crofton Mill colliery.

One of Dennis’s friends who had left home to join the Royal Navy kept writing to him telling him how great Service life was. In the end Dennis was persuaded and made the trip to Newcastle, but unable to find the Naval recruiting office, went to the Army recruiting office to ask for directions. He signed up there and then for the 15/19th King’s Royal Hussars. He gave his written notice to the mining company (rather typically) on the back of a fag packet. But whilst working his notice period at the colliery on the night shift, his father woke him one day at mid-morning to say that someone was at the door and wanted to see him.

The man at the door as was 6ft 2 and immaculately dressed. ‘I hear you’ve signed up for the 15/19th King’s Royal Hussars but look, I don’t want you to join them, I want you to join my Regiment, The Life Guards, instead’. Dennis replied that that simply wouldn’t work, because he couldn’t swim. This smart man corrected him and outlined the glories of life in the Household Cavalry, of being based in Windsor, and the Regiment’s deployment at that time to Aden. Dennis was sold and changed his regimental preference to join The Life Guards.

The following week he caught the train to London, and after reporting for duty at the wrong barracks and nearly joining the Irish Guards, he started his training at Combermere Barracks, Windsor.

After Dennis passed out of training he did tours of Aden, Cyprus and Germany. He was quickly recognised as being a tough individual and was soon selected to become a physical training instructor with a slightly unique style of taking the troops for runs whilst he peddled alongside on his bicycle.

One day, the troopers stole his bicycle and hid it in the bushes, thinking they would have an easier session. Dennis ran them twice as far and twice as fast on foot. They returned the bicycle to him immediately.

He was married on 23rd December 1960 and had three young children who accompanied him on a Far East tour including Malaya, Singapore, Borneo, and Hong Kong. In 1969, at the very start of the Northern Ireland troubles, he embarked on the first of seven tours, spanning the next ten years.

On one Northern Ireland tour, in June 1974, Dennis was Mentioned in Despatches for leading a foot patrol that arrested

Obituaries ■ 115

six individuals in what became known as the ‘Eglish Incident’.

Following a firefight and seizure of a significant cache of arms and ammunition, Dennis discovered the six culprits were being hidden by a priest in a nearby cottage and promptly arrested them all.

The normal run of senior non-commissioned jobs followed: Squadron Corporal Major of the Ace Mobile Force Squadron, and Regimental Quartermaster Corporal in Headquarter Squadron. Dennis was a strong contender to become Regimental Corporal Major, but the timing did not work, so he went on attachment to become RCM of an Army Air Corps Regiment. Predictably, Dennis enlivened the Sergeants’ Mess considerably, imposing his high standards on the Regiment and cleverly enhancing the bond between the Army Air Corps and The Life Guards.

Dennis left the Army in 1985, initially becoming an operations director for the Manpower haulage company before running their new events division providing security at sports events across the UK. However, convinced he could do a better job if he was on his own, he started Special Events Security Services Limited which became incredibly successful, providing security for racing, football and cricket matches, and Formula 1. Dennis’s own formula for success was simple but effective: employ people who had worked in a Service setting, and use the same leadership approach he had acquired in the Army. He sold the business to G4S in 2007, at which point he semi-retired.

Dennis settled in Cornwall with his beloved partner Kim, continuing some security work at Epsom Racecourse where he used to take Kim and enjoyed many a happy sunny day. He also loved the people of Northern Ireland. He set up a business there; Catholic or protestant; unionist or nationalist, he didn’t care. He employed local people and cared deeply about the local community. When the protection rackets came knocking, of either persuasion, he ignored their demands, saying that he would give money to local charities instead.

Typically, he threw himself into his beloved Cawsand community. He was always going to take it badly when he became the only member of the village to fail his audition to be in the Rame Head Male Voice Choir!

In 1974, Dennis’s patrol was involved in an incident which resulted in a fatal shooting at Benburb, Co Tyrone, of John Patrick Cunningham. In theory, the case closed in 1974, but was reopened again in 2011 and 2014. The authorities sent 18 policemen to arrest him at his home at 5am in the morning, but Dennis with his immaculate manners completely took the wind from their sails by inviting them in for a brew. No new evidence had come to light, but still the authorities proceeded. Dennis was adamant that he was innocent and that he should defend himself, at whatever cost, to clear his name.

With support from the Veterans’ community, the Regimental Association and the MoD provided solicitors, Dennis fought his case even though he was experiencing dialysis every other day.

compassion to those in trouble. For Dennis, the cards often fell against him, but with no bitterness he picked himself up and moved on to the next task with enthusiasm.

He was described by a former officer at his trial: ‘In my nearly fifty years of service and association with the UK’s Armed Forces, if you asked me of the best example of the British senior non-commissioned officer, the name of Dennis Hutchings would immediately spring into my mind’. In a contested field, that is some attribute.

With thanks to Johnny Mercer MP

Barry Booth Late Band of The Life Guards

With acknowledgment to The Daily Telegraph

B

arry Booth, born on 15th August 1937, and died on 20th February 2021 aged 83, was one of the most versatile musicians of his generation; musical director, arranger, composer, conductor and pianist. He worked with Roy Orbison and helped the Beatles harmonise Please Please Me, while his solo album Diversions! acquired a cult following He was brought up in the West Riding of Yorkshire where his father, Ernest, was a coal miner. At a family gathering in 1944 Barry, aged seven, reached to open the lid of the piano his older cousin Donald had just been playing, but his aunt Gladys swooped in and slammed it shut: “It’s only for Donald,” she said, “It’s not a toy.” Barry’s mother Annie was furious: “We’ll see about that,” she said on the way home, “who does she think she is?”; she swiftly arranged her son’s first piano lessons.

In 1955, Booth won a County Music Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He studied piano and composition for three years, while flouting the Academy’s rules by playing in the city’s jazz clubs by night. National Service followed, in the band of the Life Guards, before in the early 1960s he began working on national pop tours, as a bandleader and piano player for various musicians including Roy Orbison.

While in Belfast for the re-convened case, Dennis caught Covid-19 and died on 18th October 2021. Even his solicitor stated that he was treated appallingly. It is worthy of note that over 180 Association members attended his funeral, along with his large family and some three thousand supporters.

On one occasion he put his classical training to use helping out one of the support acts, a young band from Liverpool whose members were having trouble with a section of one of their own compositions. Booth proposed that they sustain a single high note in harmony with the descending melody line.

The idea was accepted with gratitude and can be heard in the verses of the Beatles’ early hit, Please Please Me.

To many, Dennis appeared as a tough, hard man who demanded the highest standards, a man who was robust and courageous in thought and deed. However, those who knew him well also knew that he was a fair man, a clever and quickwitted man, a very loyal man and one who showed significant

Orbison, the original inspiration for that song, was sufficiently impressed by Booth’s abilities to hire him as his musical director and pianist, taking him on tours of Europe and North America. Booth first entered the US illegally, smuggled by Orbison over the Canadian border in the boot of a car after a

116 ■ Obituaries

work permit had failed to arrive on time.

Despite a long career as a musical director, arranger, composer, conductor and pianist, Booth is perhaps most widely remembered for the only LP that he ever released as a solo artist and vocalist. The 1968 album Diversions! consisted of musical settings of 14 lyrics he had commissioned from two young writers he had worked with in television, Michael Palin and Terry Jones. The record was initially a commercial flop, but over the years has gained a cult following and a reputation as a lost classic of British psychedelic chamber pop.

Among Booth’s many other compositions were a ballet at Sadler’s Wells, a cantata to mark the 50th anniversary of Unicef, a number of Christmas carols and settings of lyrics by the American poet Fran Landesman. As a pianist, he was a sensitive accompanist, with the improvisational ability of a jazz musician and the strong left hand required for bar-room boogie-woogie. He was at home as a guest keyboardist with the BBC Concert Orchestra – and equally so playing gypsy swing or regaling a packed pub with bawdy comic songs.

A typical set list might include a music hall number, some Irish folk, a jazz standard overlaid with a piece of Satie, vintage pop and heart-stopping coal-mining ballads, besides material from his own considerable songbook.

In later life Booth achieved iconic status at his beloved Chelsea Arts Club, where he played with friends every Friday evening for many years, and where he occasionally hosted informal concerts of his “Chelsea Colliery Band” under a large tradeunion style banner emblazoned with that name. When someone questioned whether there was really a pit in Chelsea, he replied: “They’re professional musicians – from the orchestra pit!”

He is survived by Liz, his wife of 45 years, and two sons, Cornelius and Sam.

James Peter Christensen Late The Life Guards

by Major The Hon Nigel Adderley formerly The Life Guards

J

ames Peter Christensen was born in May 1946 in Leicester before the family moved to Park Walk, Chelsea. At the age of 18 he enlisted into the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot before transferring to The Life Guards after basic training in December 1964.

In the UK James served in both Windsor and Knightsbridge. Whilst on an operational tour in Malaysia fighting in the insurgency between Government and Communists, he contracted amoebic dysentery and was hospitalised in Hong Kong.

He then returned to the UK before being posted to Germany in BAOR. One of his most memorable moments in The Life Guards was taking part in the funeral of Winston Churchill, where he was in the saddle for twelve hours and remarked what a cold day it was. Whilst in the Army he enjoyed skiing and riding. He

left the Army in July 1970 transferring to the reserves, finally leaving the Army in March 1971.

In 1973 James met his wife Jillian on a boat party on the Thames and in that year married, having two children Hugh (1979) and Laura (1983), with Hugh later going on to serve in the King’s Royal Hussars.

After the Army, James joined the Metropolitan Police, working in a range of roles from diplomatic protection to cadet instruction. It was a role during the former that led to his presence at the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980.

In retirement he enjoyed a diverse selection of hobbies from watercolours, to fly fishing, to leather working. James also spent several years helping out at the Guards Polo Club Smith’s Lawn, where he would occasionally act as a timekeeper for matches.

Jillian says that he was a wonderful husband, and she is so grateful to have been with him for nearly 48 years. Memories of their time together will remain with her for ever.

Corporal of Horse Stuart Newton Late The Life Guards

C

orporal of Horse Stuart Newton served June 1975 to September 1992 in B Squadron, with a short visit to C Squadron.

Joining in 1977 saw Stuart joining B Squadron for a tour in Northern Ireland Dungannon. It was here that Stuart was wounded in an ambush by the IRA, sustaining a wound to his leg. Not deterred, he made a good recovery and re-joined the Squadron to complete the tour.

Stuart proved to be an excellent Driving and Maintenance Instructor; his love of engines would follow him throughout his career.

The adage if it’s not broke do not try and fix it was to a point true with Stuart, he tinkered with engines making sure they never broke. His fascination was not just with Armoured vehicles his beloved car spent more time in bits than complete, however, this enabled him to make regular trips back to the UK from Germany, often giving members of the Squadron a lift.

Although to some he was a quiet NCO, this was his style of leadership and command. He had the right temperament and character to keep the guys motivated and working so was always the first troop ready to deploy and the best turned out.

On exercise he was always the dirtiest vehicle commander because when anything automotive went wrong with any of his vehicles, he was the one with the knowledge and expertise to get under the engine decks and sort it.

Whilst on tour in Cyprus in 1986 he found a liking for computers and would spend hours playing computer games on a Commodore 16 with a tape deck! It was during this tour Stuart was instrumental in the Troop getting a Force commanders commendation because of his keen observation and reporting

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skills when on patrol in his Ferret Scout car.

Stuart deployed with B Squadron to Operation GRANBY on 17th January 1991. The journey was long and problematic due to the start of the air war on the same day. The flight was diverted midair to RAF Brize Norton where Stuart spent a further 48 hrs before the airspace was cleared. Once in Saudi Arabia he moved to Camp Blackadder which was the holding area for incoming troops. After about 7 days he, together with B Squadron, moved up to the Kuwait border to marry up with the Battle Casualty Replacement (BCR) tanks. The remainder of the time until the end of the conflict was spent moving tactically behind the main advance into Kuwait. At the end of the conflict Stuart recovered to Saudi Arabia, handed the tanks over and returned to Sennelager in early March 1991.

Stuart was a quiet and clever man with the natural talent to motivate and get the best out of those who worked for him.

Totally altruistic, he was liked and respected by all.

Captain Adam Betts Late The Blues and Royals Defence Animal Training Regiment Captain Adam Betts joined the Army in March 1998, completing his Basic Training at ATR Pirbright before joining the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and commencing Riding School in July 1998 as a Blue and Royal (RHG/D). He would go on to spend the rest of his Army career helping to deliver State Ceremonial activity and in furthering military equestrianism as both a distinguished mounted dutyman and an exceptionally talented riding instructor.

He completed numerous postings in his 23-year long career, honing both his riding and instructional abilities and showing a natural flair and ability which would enable him to reach the peak of his profession. Whilst at the HCMR he rode on the world-famous Musical Ride as both a Trooper and Lance Corporal and completed numerous high-profile state ceremonial events and multiple Queen’s Life Guard duties. As an instructor at RMA Sandhurst he honed his equine instructional abilities and ably supported the junior officers and Regimental Adjutant in preparing for the Sovereign’s parade.

He then spent time as the Senior instructor at the Paderborn Equestrian Centre attached to the Queen’s Royal Hussars in Sennelager.

Captain Betts was first posted to the Defence Animal Training Regiment (DATR) in August 2013 when he assumed the post of Senior Instructor at Equine Training Squadron, quickly progressing to the post of Chief Instructor where he was responsible for mentoring the next generation of riding instructors from across the Army. A return to Knightsbridge, in 2018, saw him operate out of the Household Division stables where he helped to prepare HRH Prince William for his duties as part of Trooping the Colour. He returned to DATR in March 2019 and assumed the post of OC Equine Training Squadron,

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commissioning the following month. He was due to assume the post of Riding Master at HCMR in September 2021, as the senior equine advisor to the Commanding Officer HCMR and HQ LONDIST, responsible for ensuring the co-ordination of all mounted state ceremonial activity and production of Military Working Horses and assurance of the training of the junior soldiers.

Captain Betts was approachable, engaging and hugely respected by his colleagues, both military and civilian, and did much to advance the sport of equitation across Defence.

His dedication and talent are evident in his work to qualify as a British Horse Society Senior Eventing Coach Stage 4; one of the first serving personnel to embark on this level of qualification. He was widely regarded as one of the nicest and most compassionate of officers; bright, proactive and utterly committed to both his profession and to his family.

He married his wife Victoria on 2nd August 2003 and was a loving husband and devoted father of Luke and Lilith. He was well known on the British Eventing circuit and competed to an extremely high standard on multiple Military Working Horses, ensuring regular public and community engagement.

He enjoyed running, triathlons, CrossFit and was a very keen Liverpool supporter.

Major Sir David Black, Bt Late The Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)

by Lieutenant Colonel R R Giles formerly The Blues and Royals

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ajor Sir David Black passed away peacefully on Monday May 22nd aged 92. He was born in 1929 and educated at Eton College. His family lived firstly at Midgham Park, Berkshire, but later moved to Elverdon Priory in Woodcote. David was an only child and during his childhood he spent a great deal of time in the company of the household staff and gardeners from whom he learned much about horticulture. In his later years he could name the trees his father planted before the Second World War. He developed a passion for orchids, which he grew in his greenhouse, and his home was always filled with flowers.

In September 1947 David, as a National Serviceman, joined The Royal Horse Guards (The Blues). After completing his basic training in the Brigade Squad at the Guards Depot, Caterham, he spent a short time with the Household Cavalry Training Squad at Windsor. A little later he joined The Blues as part of the British Army on the Rhine in West Germany, before being posted to Mons Officer Cadet School in October 1948.

In February 1949 David was granted an emergency Commission as a Cornet and was posted back to Windsor where he was initially taken on the strength of The Life Guards for administrative purposes, before he rejoined the Blues as an Armoured Car Troop leader in Germany in March 1949.

Early in his career he was quickly identified as being equally at home in his armoured car or on a horse and by July 1951

was posted to The Blues Mounted Squadron at Hyde Park Barracks where he took command of Three Troop. He took full advantage of the unofficial leave available to hunt as he had in his troop two very good black horses. Dynamite and Golden Glory. Dynamite was a small compact horse who lived up to his name. He could jump like a stag and gallop at breakneck speed such that at times it was a test for David to control.

Golden Glory was a much larger horse who was very good over fences and much easier to control. He hunted these two horses with the Quorn and Cottesmore Hunts.

Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1993.

After completing two years as a Troop Leader, David was promoted to Acting Captain and given the command of the Household Cavalry Musical Ride. During the Laying in State of HM George V1 in Westminster Great Hall, David was one of the officers who stood Vigil on the coffin and took part in the Sovereign’s Escort funeral procession from Westminster to Paddington station. The following year at the Coronation he rode Escort Commander to HM The Queen Mother, riding alongside her coach. In 1953, he was part of the Sovereigns Escort when HM The Queen presented new Standards to the Household Cavalry in Home Park, Windsor.

“.....he could walk with kings nor lose the common touch”.

In October 1953 David married Rosemary, daughter of his Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Rupert Hardy of The Life Guards. They divorced in 1972. In 1973 he married Dorothy Maureen Radclyffe, Sir David leaves two daughters Diana and Joanna while another daughter, Fiona, predeceased him. The Baronetcy, created in 1922, now becomes extinct.

Our deepest condolences go to his family and many friends.

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Harding Late The Blues and Royals

by Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner KCB CBE formerly The Blues and Royals

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He returned to the Mounted Regimented at Knightsbridge in March 1957 as the Blue’s Squadron Second in Command and commanded the Sovereign’s Escort for the State Opening of Parliament in November that year. In May 1958 David was posted to the Inns of Court (The Devils Own) as their Adjutant, a position he enjoyed and retained until February 1960 before returning to the Blues at Windsor as a Major and Squadron Leader. By July 1960 he found himself once again in Cyprus during the outbreak of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turk which had flared up during the run up to Cypriot Independence. David returned to Windsor with A Squadron and attended a course on Air Portability.

ichael Harding joined The Blues and Royals from Canada in 1973 aged 22 as part of a British Army Commonwealth recruiting drive. He wasn’t actually Canadian; his father was in the Merchant Navy and Mike had been born in Leicester and partly raised in Calcutta only emigrating when he was in his teens. Yet badges stick and throughout his service he was always known as Cherokee, although he managed for 10 years to convince our current Secretary of the Association that he was an Eskimo.

In December 1960 David resigned his commission and retired with effect 1st December 1961. On retiring from the regular Army, he took up the rank of Major in the Berkshire and Westminster Dragoons (Territorial Army) with their drill hall in Bolton Road, Windsor where he spent a number of happy years. Later he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Yeomanry Signals Squadron. David was on parade in Windsor Great Park celebrating the 100th anniversary of the rising of the Yeomanry where HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother took the salute.

Michael’s career in the regiment can only be described as meteoric. After basic training at Pirbright, Trooper Harding went first to Knightsbridge. It was a tough time, with the Mounted Regiment undermanned, but he thrived and within two years he had been promoted to Lance Corporal. From Knightsbridge he went the way of so many successful Household Cavalry careers, being posted to the Guards Depot to instruct recruits.

From Pirbright he started his career with The Blues and Royals in Detmold, completing a tough Northern Ireland tour and starting his long affiliation with tanks and gunnery.

In the hunting world, whilst living at the Old Rectory in Englefield Green, he joined the Garth and South Berks where he served for many years as Master, Chairman and then President. After giving up the Mastership he continued to hunt with the Beaufort and the Old Berks for some seasons.

In 2003 he moved into Beechwood Farm. Having demolished some cowsheds, he gave instructions for the architect to design a new house. The creation became a very attractive farmhouse in which to live and entertain. On his 90th birthday he invited 90 guests to join him celebrating.

After a tour at Windsor, which included a rotation as the Cyprus armoured car squadron, he undertook the Gunnery Instructors’ Course at Lulworth and, hardly surprisingly, became qualified to teach at the School. In 1986 he returned to the Regiment as one of our first Staff Corporal Troop Leaders.

During this period, he married Annie whose first husband, John Tucker, had been killed so tragically in Northern Ireland in 1979. It was to prove a wonderfully happy union of a devoted couple and family.

In January 1956, after nearly four years on Ceremonial Duties, he returned to the Service Regiment and was promoted to Captain. He spent the next year with The Blues during the Regiment’s three year posting to Cyprus in response to the EOKA terrorist campaign.

David loved his country sports and ran a successful shoot over Beechwood for several years. In addition, David spent three months of the year stalking on his Scottish Estate in Caithness where he entertained many friends including the Queen Mother, who lived nearby. In 1979 he succeeded to the Baronetcy on his father’s death. In 1991 he was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Caithness and was also High

Back to Germany in 1988, Mike was promoted to WO2 and became Squadron Corporal Major of B Squadron, he was always really a B Sqn man, before doing his RQMS course and becoming RQ at Knightsbridge. He then made that very competitive promotion to WO1, becoming Regimental Corporal Major (Instructor) at the Gunnery School. He stood out once again and in September 1993 was commissioned into The Blues and Royals, spending a short time back at Knightsbridge

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as Families Officer before being deployed with the service regiment to Bosnia on Operation GRAPPLE.

Divisional Secretary. A fine Household Cavalryman, soldier, and family man; he will be missed by many.

After Bosnia he became, to my immense pleasure and good fortune, Quartermaster at Windsor just before I took over command. I look back at that time as one of the happiest in my own career and that was due largely to having Michael as my mentor. It was a hectic time operationally, with successive squadrons in the Balkans, but we also had great fun and took the regiment on a prolonged multinational exercise in Egypt. Michael decided that the Household Cavalry should show some proper hospitality and arranged a regimental barbecue for the 1,500 strong battle group. He chose a site overlooking the Qattara Depression on the lines the 8th Army had occupied before Alamein. Brigadier Valerian Wellington, who had been a troop leader at Alamein, came out to visit us and I will remember to my dying day his arrival across the desert in the British Ambassador’s Rolls Royce flying the Union Jack and escorted by two Scimitars. Typical Harding style, with Michael giggling at the reaction of the various contingents: the Egyptians terrified, the Americans awe struck, the French feeling embarrassed that they had perhaps been on the wrong side, although Michael’s favourite moment was when he introduced one of his young troopers to Brigadier Valerian.

‘Trooper Smith’ he said, ‘this is The Duke of Wellington’.

‘Wow Sir’ replied Smith ‘you’ve aged really well’.

Captain Robert Campbell Late Royal Horse Guards

From Windsor, Michael was posted to a series of staff jobs, in Cyprus again as the Episkopi Garrison Major, to the Permanent Joint HQ, and finally back to Bovington as a Lieutenant Colonel and as Staff Quartermaster, where he also did a wonderful job ensuring mounted trade pay was fair. He left the Army from Bovington in September 2005 after that stellar career of 32 years.

That was Lieutenant Colonel Michael Harding the soldier.

Let me now just talk briefly about Mick Harding – Cherokee – my friend and mentor, the man who gave balance to so many lives; that easy charm, that cool, unflappable, wise, pipe smoking and ever generous man on whom I, and countless others, have relied on so much. I followed Mick into The Blues and royals five years after he joined, and he was always on something of a pedestal for me. He was supremely professional, yet always great fun to be with. Many was the time when I was commanding when I would escape to his office for a chat, braving the pipe smoke and Trooper Renton’s coffee, and many is the time I came away so much the wiser. He was not only an unfailing source of really good advice, but he was also the sort of man you could talk to forever. He had an incredibly wide and questing mind, and many was the time lunch went on several hours longer than it should have done.

But beyond that Mick saw something deeper in his military service in general and in The Blues and Royals, and the Household Cavalry, in particular. He really believed in that ethos of service, to his Monarch, to his regiment, to his colleagues and soldiers; it was an almost sacred duty to him.

He believed, and personified, what the Household Cavalry stands for and he lived those values that we all espouse but from which we so often fall short. Mick loved the Regiment and loved also the great honour of being the 653rd Military Knight of Windsor which entitled him to a packed and very moving funeral service in St George’s Chapel alongside our Kings and Queens. But he also understood and loved what those institutions actually mean. He served because he believed. Nor would any tribute to him be complete without noting the huge amount he did for the Regimental Association and for the Oliver Montagu Fund, again so typical of his selfless approach. He only stood down as Association Treasurer very recently due to ill health and he and Annie were also heavily involved with the Berkshire SSAFA where Mick was

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by Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner KCB CBE formerly The Blues and Royals

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itting in the mess at Perham Down, where The Blues were temporarily based during the winter of 1968 as they converted to tanks from armoured cars prior to amalgamation and deployment to Detmold, three officers gloomily contemplated life without hunting. Bill Stringer, then Quartermaster, Richard Wilkinson, and Robert Campbell hit upon the idea of forming a pack of bloodhounds which, given that proper hunting had been banned in Germany by Goering (on the somewhat surprising premise that he found it cruel) would hunt a ‘clean boot’, the trail laid by a runner. Robert, being the most junior officer, spent the next weeks, when he should have been concentrating on his fire orders, driving instead around the British Isles collecting bloodhounds. After an uncertain night on the cross-channel ferry with him, three bloodhounds with uncertain stomachs and the physically robust Trooper Wildgoose all sharing one small cabin, Robert was relieved finally to arrive in Detmold. The Weser Vale Hunt went on to give enormous pleasure to generations of Household Cavalrymen and German friends and it was lovely that Robert, by then the only survivor of those founding masters, was able to come out to celebrate its 50th anniversary in the ‘Nieheim Vale’ in 2019.

Robert was born in what was then Rhodesia, where his father was farming, in 1942. Subsequently brought up in Sussex, he was sent to Ampleforth, which he loved ,and which gave him the two disciplines that would guide his life. The first was his unshakeable faith and accompanying respect for the Roman Catholic church and love of its ritual; the second was his love of hunting. It would be fair to say that his mastership of the Ampleforth Beagles was more distinguished than his academic record. He was also becoming a superlative horseman and from Ampleforth, in 1963 he joined The Blues. Initially posted to Herford, he was soon back at Windsor where he was able to concentrate on his horses. The Blues at that time had a wealth of equestrian talent: Jeremy Smith-Bingham, Pat Connolly Carew, and Mark Darley were all riding at international level and Jock Ferry, who went on to coach the Irish team, was Riding School Corporal Major. For the next few years at Windsor and later with the Mounted Regiment, then housed in Wellington barracks, Robert enjoyed an idyllic life eventing and show jumping, the latter very successfully on Kenbane Castle. His equestrian skill allowed him to escape the worst of Colonel Mark Darley’s wrath even when the then Commanding Officer found the Queen’s Life Guard still on the square long after they should have departed. Furiously demanding an explanation from Robert who, as the Orderly Officer had inspected them, Robert replied that he had been told not to despatch them until he had checked with Tim (Tim

Gooch, the Life Guards Squadron Leader) who was nowhere to be seen. In icy terms Colonel Mark explained that Tim was the speaking clock.

79. The most decent, honourable and fulfilled of men, St Peter will have had an easy choice when Robert arrived, although he will now also know a lot more about thoroughbred breeding.

The third pillar of Robert’s life came in 1969 when he married my sister Charlotte. It was a superbly happy marriage and they were seldom apart for the next 50 years. They started married life in Detmold, where the newly amalgamated Blues and Royals were posted, sharing a tiny down-town flat, there being no quarters available, with one of the Weser Vale hounds who objected to living in kennels. Life on tanks in BAOR was, however, an acquired taste and what Robert really wanted to do was hunt hounds. Leaving the Army in 1970, he took on The Garth & South Berks country in a joint mastership with David Black who had also just left The Blues. Five very happy years followed, living at the kennels at Burghfield Common, and with Robert showing great sport in what was becoming a difficult country to hunt as roads proliferated and towns expanded. He had long held a fascination for hound breeding and he was able to work with the old Garth lines to breed a pack who began to perform as well in the show ring as in the field, although he would joke that he was one of the few masters who would compete show jumping on the same horse on which he had been parading hounds.

Warrant Officer Class 1 (RCM) John Cowdery Late The Blues and Royals

In 1976 he and Charlotte, now with Hamish and Emily in the family, moved to run his uncle’s estate at Ankerwycke Priory, at Wraysbury between Windsor and Heathrow Airport, a wonderfully old-fashioned island in suburbia and which still had the yew tree under which Henry VIII was supposed to have wooed Anne Boleyn. Farming was a challenge, although Robert would remark that the end of Heathrow’s runways made very good hay. In 1988 the family sold Ankerwycke and Robert and Charlotte bought Swell Buildings Farm between Lower Swell and Guiting Power and, most importantly for Robert, on the borders of the Heythrop and North Cotswold countries. His grandfather had hunted the North Cotswold during the war and he had always wanted to live in that part of the world. For the next 40 years they had a wonderful life farming, hunting and raising the family.

Life at Swell Buildings Farm was not perhaps as is usually portrayed in Cotswold magazines and my sister’s priorities were books and dogs rather than creating the idealised Gloucestershire home; Robert’s were farming and hunting, and increasingly National Hunt racing and thoroughbred breeding in which he acquired a hugely detailed knowledge.

He also became a pioneering farmer, seeing very early the medicinal and culinary potential of rape seed oil, particularly as a British alternative to olive oil, and founding the highly successful company R Oil. Hunting was part of the pattern of his life, and although he would not hunt another pack of hounds, he got enormous pleasure from the Heythrop, who would regularly draw his reliably productive coverts. Never one to stay with the field, he was knowledgeable enough, and a sufficiently large landowner, always to do his own thing which meant that hunting with him was tremendous fun if, just occasionally, resulting in rather a long hack home.

This second half of Robert’s life allowed him to live according to the values that were so precious to him: devoted to his family, besotted by his animals, dedicated to his farming, caring of nature, guided by the Roman Catholic church and absolutely true to the standards he had set himself as a boy. His friends would tease him about his apparent disorganisation and lack of punctuality but there can be few people in this world who knew as clearly as Robert what he wanted from life and then achieved it so successfully. His faith carried him through the all too early loss of Charlotte in 2015 and sustained him though his own mercifully short illness. He was still hunting last December but was taken by cancer in April 2021 aged just

by David Cowdery CEO and Club Secretary The Cavalry and Guards Club

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ohn Cowdery was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1931 and his early memories include spending many nights in the family air raid shelter during the wartime bombing of London by the Luftwaffe. During the latter part of the war John spent much of his free time learning to ride and manage horses, including driving a pony and trap at a nearby stables on Kingston Hill, and he was always destined to be involved with equitation thereafter.

Leaving school in the summer of 1948, John spent a short time as a trainee electrician before joining the Army as a regular soldier in Autumn 1948. He was determined from the start to join as a regular soldier rather than waiting for a National Service call up.

His aim was always to join the Household Cavalry and he initially enquired about joining The Life Guards until he was steered towards The Royal Horse Guards by his acquaintance with ex-Blues RCM Jobson, who ran a pub near his home. On 13th January 1949 John reported to the Household Cavalry Training Squadron at Windsor and became 22205274 Trooper J Cowdery.

On completion of his training at Windsor, Trooper Cowdery moved to Knightsbridge for training in state kit and within a year of passing out he was promoted to Lance Corporal. After a short period in the troops he was posted to Windsor as a training non-commissioned officer. It was at Windsor, in 1952 that he became involved in Regimental Coaching for the first time. The story is that the then Commanding Officer, while carrying out a barrack inspection, came across the Blues’ regimental coach languishing in a locked shed where it had been since before the Second World War and decided that it would be ‘fun’ to bring it back into use.

Lance Corporal Cowdery, with some previous experience at driving horses, was the ideal man for the job and with some assistance and a pile of very tired coach harness from the Duke of Wellington’s estate at Stratfield Saye, (courtesy of the Adjutant – the Marquess of Douro), he rapidly organised the coach team into a going concern. Throughout his service and beyond, John was involved in coach driving whenever the opportunity arose at home and overseas.

John married Pat in September 1954 and had four children, David, Susan, Andrew, and Debra (the latter two being born at Rinteln in West Germany whilst John was serving there).

John continued his regimental career and was promoted steadily through the ranks. He served at both the Mounted

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and the Armoured Regiments in BAOR, Cyprus in the EOKA years and in the UK until he reached the rank of Warrant Officer Class II (RQMC) at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

In 1969 after serving on the escort for the Investiture of The Prince of Wales, John was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 1 and posted as Garrison Corporal Major at HQ 1 British Corps, Bielefeld in BAOR, where he finished his Regimental service in 1972 before moving on to fresh fields and pastures new working in the Master of the Household’s Department at Buckingham Palace.

Having left the Army, and still living in Windsor, John developed stables first at Flemish Farm in Windsor Great Park and then at Mezel Hill. Originally putting together, a team for coaching (having become a member of the Coaching Club in 1973), John was soon involved in the development of threeday carriage driving events, a ‘new sport’ at that time receiving much support and encouragement from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

John also found time to drive carriages in many films of the period including Taste the Blood of Dracula and for television in the drama Edward VII and others, and regularly supplied and drove carriages for the Livery Companies in the annual Lord Mayor’s Show.

Carriage Driving which was to dominate the next forty years of John’s life, firstly as a competitor (winning the National Pony Teams Championship in 1977 driving Ted Rowley’s team of Welsh Ponies), then as a well-respected International FEI judge, jury member and Chairman of the event he personally organised for many years at Drumlanrig Castle in the 199’s. John also played a key role in the development of IPEC and carriage driving competitions for the disabled, and personally advised Prince Philip in the development of his book on Driven Dressage. John also wrote his own book on the sport of Carriage Driving, together with his later autobiography, The Memoirs of a Cavalry Coachman.

The move to Scotland had come in 1985 following his son Andrew’s accident, and he and Pat lived in Dumfriesshire for the last 36 years of his life.

His involvement in coaching continued (he was made an Honorary Vice President of the Coaching Club in 2017) and for many years he organised the club’s attendance at the Royal Ascot meeting. He was a National Chairman for the British Driving Society in Scotland and held various offices within the Freemasons and local community, being the Returning Officer for Tynron for a good period of time.

However, it was driving a team of horses that was to remain his enduring joy and passion. Having taught so many novice drivers over the years, including many Household Cavalry officers, his own children (both Andrew and Debra competed at national and international level in carriage driving events), and more recently those who attended his own driving school in Scotland. He was never happier than up on the Box Seat.

Trooper Patrick Needham Late The Blues and Royals

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rooper Patrick Needham was a member of 1 Troop, The Blues and Royal Squadron, The Household Cavalry Regiment.

After completing his basic training at AFC Harrogate, he embarked on his journey to become a dual trained soldier in

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the Household Cavalry by completing his Armoured Cavalry Initial Trade Training at RACTR in Bovington. In early 2020, he moved to Windsor to begin a 12-week Khaki Ride where he had to embrace the new challenge of learning to ride and care for Her Majesty’s horses. Although he had no prior riding experience, his fearless approach stood him in good stead during demanding hours in the saddle, while his kind nature quickly saw affectionate bonds develop with the animals under his care. Despite a prolonged course due to Covid-19, Patrick remained undeterred and mustered enthusiasm to complete a gruelling Kit Ride, the final 5 weeks of the riding course that sees soldiers transfer their newly acquired skills in horsemanship to those of a Mounted Dutyman capable of turning out to the highest standard on parade for State Ceremonial Public Duties. Unphased, Patrick passed out of Kit Ride in September 2020 and became a highly valued member of 1 Troop, The Blues and Royals.

Open-minded and up for anything, Patrick had a busy time in the Troop. Alongside turning out for multiple Queen’s Life Guards, he was selected as a member of the Marching Party for The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April 2021, rode on the Major General’s Inspection and was selected to be part of the well-renowned Musical Ride where he proudly performed during the Guards Polo “Major General’s Cup” very recently in September 2021.

From the very beginning, his quiet diligence, competence, selflessness, humour all underscored his amazing character.

These traits made him utterly dependable to his peers and a hugely popular member of the Troop. He could always be counted on to have an infectious smirk that drew cheerfulness out of others; an invaluable quality which triumphed during Knightsbridge’s frequent testing moments. Patrick’s hardworking attitude transferred in equal measure during social occasions, where he was notorious for bringing energy and fun to any event.

Most of all, Patrick was fiercely loyal to his friends, and this small snippet provided by one of those he was closest to paints a more vibrant picture of the fun young man we remember him as: “He was hilariously outspoken about what was on his mind but careful not to overstep the mark with the wrong people, professionally and personally. He could read a room perfectly and lift the mood with a sentence. He was always around whenever anyone needed or wanted to hang out, whether to lend a hand or just to have a moan to. He was very passionate and strongly opinionated, all in the right ways. There are endless memories of laughing until we cried about the smallest things and I’ve got to say, I have more silly photos of him than any other person in my life.”

The heavy silence that replaces the trail of laughter that followed Patrick throughout Hyde Park Barracks’ warrens of yards and cleaning rooms will make processing the tragic news of his sudden passing even harder to bear. He leaves an irreplaceable hole in the Troop and wider Regiment, though an unforgettable memory in our minds that we will cherish and turn to for many years to come.

Lance Corporal of Horse Michael Joseph Miah Late The Blues and Royals

by Major Michael Wilmot The Blues and Royals

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ance Corporal of Horse (LCoH) Michael Joseph Miah was born on 7th July 1993. He enlisted in the Army on 24th June 2013, starting his Phase 1 training at Alexander Barracks, ATR Pirbright.

After passing out of Phase 1 training as a Blue and Royal (RHG/D) in the Household Cavalry Regiment, LCoH Miah attended Phase 2 training at Allenby Barracks, Bovington on 21st October 2014.

On completion of his Phase 2 training, LCoH Miah joined D Squadron’s Anti-Tank Troop in March 2014, based at Combermere Barracks, Windsor. LCoH Miah instantly showed himself to be a valuable member of Anti-Tank Troop, contributing to the trials and development of the updated Armoured Cavalry Anti-Tank Standard Operating Procedures. In this role, he deployed to the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS), Canada, on Exercise IRON STORM 4 in 2015. This was an arduous Battle Group-level exercise where LCoH Miah was a vital player in the wider Battle Group Anti-Tank team.

On promotion to LCpl in October 2018, LCoH Miah was posted to Command Troop, HQ Squadron. Having learned his trade as a signaller in D Squadron, LCoH Miah completed his Advance Signals Course and immediately put this knowledge to good use, becoming the ‘go to guy’ for the Troop CoH as he managed and maintained the Squadron’s Panther fleet.

After a well-deserved promotion to LCoH in September 2020, LCoH Miah was posted to Squadron Headquarters (SHQ) in C Squadron, where he immediately became a member of the Covid-19 standby force on Operation RESCRIPT.

In January 2021, LCoH Miah was selected to join A Squadron to fill a much-needed requirement for a strong LCoH and capable signaller. Having proven his value as a highly professional JNCO, he later moved from A SHQ to 3 Troop.

Throughout 2021, LCoH Miah deployed on squadron exercises in a variety of roles: running the Ops Room on Exercise AGENDO SHIELD, in Longmoor; commanding a vehicle on Exercise AGENDO JOCKEY on Salisbury Plain; and leading a dismounted section on Exercise AGENDO HOLE, in Corsham Mines.

Beyond sub-unit activity, LCoH Miah deployed as part of the safety team during the Regimental and Brigade Patrols competitions in Dartmoor. Employed as a Battlefield Ambulance driver he was instrumental in various CASEVACs: he played a key role in the safe rescue of fellow soldiers.

Mike was universally loved by his fellow Household Cavalrymen. Much admired for his positive attitude to work and his determination when faced with adversity, he was the type of soldier that would not stop until the job at hand was complete, regardless of the hurdles that needed to be overcome. Always the first to volunteer for a task, however unattractive it might appear, he garnered the respect of his peers, subordinates, and seniors in equal measure. Mike will be best remembered for always keeping a smile on his face.

Even when things weren’t quite going to plan, he would quietly get on with his duties with a contagious cheeriness and enthusiasm.

His outstanding work ethic and professionalism is only part of what defined him as a Household Cavalry soldier - it is the deep level of friendship that he built, often forged in times of discomfort on military deployments, that set Mike apart.

Blessed with a warmth of character that made him approachable to all ranks, Mike was at the centre of A Squadron’s morale.

Mike’s infectious enthusiasm and outgoing nature made him a joy to be around. He was a deeply caring and light-hearted personality, who brightened the lives of all those with whom he worked.

Mike’s death is a huge loss for A Squadron and the Household Cavalry Regiment. He will not be forgotten. He will forever be remembered in the hearts of those that knew him as a kind and caring individual and a fiercely professional soldier.

The staircase party move to the entrance to St George’s Chapel for the funeral of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

Obituaries ■ 123

NOTICES

Information for members of both The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals Associations Communication Correspondence for both Associations should be addressed to: The Honorary Secretary (LG or RHG/D Assn) Home Headquarters Household Cavalry Combermere Barracks Windsor, Berkshire SL4 3DN General Office: 01753 755061 E-Mail for Home HQ is: homehq@householdcavalry.co.uk E-Mail for Secretary LG Assn is: lg.regsec@householdcavalry.co.uk E-Mail for Secretary RHG/D Assn is: rhg-d.regsec@householdcavalry.co.uk Recruiting and Admission procedures for In-Pensioners Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea are currently reviewing their recruiting and admission procedures as they now believe there may be some senior citizens with military experience who might be eligible to become InPensioners but who are not aware of the eligibility criteria or what being a Chelsea Pensioner means. To be eligible for admission as a Chelsea Pensioner, a candidate must be: •

Over 65 years of age

•

Either a former non-commissioned officer or soldier of the British Army; or a former officer of the British Army who served for at least 12 years in the ranks before obtaining a commission; or have been awarded a disablement pension while serving in the ranks.

•

Able to live independently in the sheltered accommodation (known as Long Wards). The Royal Hospital does not usually accept direct entries in to the Infirmary.

•

Free of any financial obligation to support a spouse or family.

If you are in receipt of an Army Service Pension or War Disability Pension you will be required to surrender it upon entry to the Royal Hospital.

Please note that if your Army Service or War Disability Pension does not meet a minimum threshold you will be required to ‘top-up’ to that amount,

130 ■ Notices

providing it does not place you in financial difficulty.

If you have access to the internet more information can be found here: http://www.chelsea-pensioners. co.uk/eligibility-how-apply Or you may ring for more information on 020 7881 5204 Data Protection Changes to Data Protection laws require individuals to grant permission to Home HQ to store personal data. If you have yet done so, please call Home Headquarters so that they may guide you through the process.

Change of Home Address Members are requested to inform us, through Home Headquarters Household Cavalry, of any change in your address. Every year both Associations lose touch with a number of members who have failed to notify us of those changes. Any correspondence returned will result in that member being placed in the non-effective part of the database.

Your E-Mail Addresses Notification of changes to your E-mail address is as important as changes to your postal address. Please keep us informed of these also.

Regimental Items for Sale PRI shops at Powle Lines, Picton Barracks, and at Hyde Park Barracks only hold stock for serving soldiers.

Various items with Regimental Cyphers are available from the Museum at Horse Guards. It is recommended that enquiries are directed to the Household Cavalry Museum Shop at Horse Guards which may be contacted on 020 7930 3070 or you can visit their website at: householdcavalrymuseum.org.uk.

Should you be unable to find what you want, contact Home HQ for further information.

Websites The MoD official Household Cavalry Website can be found at: https://www.army.mod.uk/ who-we-are/corps-regiments-andunits/royal-armoured-corps /household-cavalry. lg1660.proboards.com A web

site for former members of The Life Guards. To register follow the link above.

The Household Cavalry Associations website is: https://householdcavalry.co.uk/oldcomrades/ The Queen’s Birthday Parade and Reviews The Queen’s Birthday Parade will take place on Thursday 2nd June 2022 as part of The Queens Platinum Jubilee Celebration.

Combined Cavalry Parade and Service The 97th Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association will take place on Sunday 8th May 2022.

Helpful Contacts The following is a list of organisations which members may find useful for future reference.

Veterans-UK (0808 1914 2 18) The Ministry of Defence’s Veterans UK helpline provides assistance on many issues including benefits, housing and welfare.

Veterans UK helpline Veterans UK Ministry of Defence Norcross Thornton Cleveleys FY5 3WP Email: veterans-uk@mod.gov.uk Freephone (UK only): 0808 1914 2 18 Telephone (overseas): +44 1253 866 043 Normal Service 8.00 am to 4.00 pm Monday to Friday When the helpline is closed, callers in need of immediate emotional support will be given the option to be routed to The Samaritans 24 hour helpline.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission They have an excellent website which can be searched using basic details, for information about the final resting place of war dead at home and overseas. Their site can be found at www.cwgc.org

Officers’ Association (OA) and OA, Scotland Helps ex-officers in financial distress, provides homes for disabled officers and families, and operates a residential home in Devon. It also assists exOfficers to find suitable employment after leaving To make an Employment enquiry in England call 020 3761 6343 and a Welfare Enquiry call 020 7808 4175 alternatively visit their website at: http://www.officersassociation.org.uk in Scotland call 0131 550 1575/1581 or visit their website https://www.oascotland.org.uk/ The Royal British Legion (TRBL) TRBL is the UK’s largest ex-service organisation with some 570,000 members. One of its objects is to promote the relief of need and to promote the education of all those who are eligible, their spouses, children and dependants.

If you need help, you can contact the local TRBL branch near you (number in the local phone book), or the national Legion help line on 0808 802 8080 or visit their website at: www.britishlegion.org. uk/about-us/who-we-are/get-in-touch SSAFA Forces Help SSAFA-FH exists to help, according

to need, all men and women serving, or who have served at any time, in the Armed Forces of the Crown, their families and dependants. Local branches of SSAFA Forces Help can be found in the local phone book or from the Citizens’ Advice Bureau or contact the Central Office at: 020 7463 9200 or visit their website at: www.ssafa.org.uk.

SSAFA Forces Help - Recruitment SSAFA Forces Help need more volunteers from each Association to be Casework Supporters who are visitors, treasurers, administrators and fundraisers. SSAFA Forces Help volunteers are there to provide practical help, advice and friendship to all serving and ex-serving men, women and their families. More than 85,000 call on the charity every year. Training is given (2 days), and out-of-pocket expenses are paid. Job satisfaction is guaranteed. If you can spare a little time for a ‘comrade’ please contact: Branch Recruitment Office 4 St Dunstan’s Hill Billingsgate London EC3R 8AD Email: volunteer.support@ssafa.org.uk Tel: 020 7463 9200

Haig Homes Haig Homes have some 1500 homes throughout the country for letting exclusively to ex-regulars and their families on assured tenancies. For details of where properties are located and application forms contact them at 020 8685 5777 or through www.haighomes.org.uk The Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society (Combat Stress) For nearly 80 years it has been the only organisation specialising in the care of men and women of all ranks discharged from the Armed Services who suffer from injury of the mind. The Society has three short stay treatment centres that specialise in providing treatment for those who need help in coping with their psychological problems. For more information and full contact details for regional offices telephone the Head Office on 01372 841600 or visit their website at: www.combatstress.org.uk The British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association (BLESMA) The object of the Association is to promote the welfare of all those who have lost a limb or limbs, or use of limbs, or one or both eyes as a result of their

The Life Guards after escorting the Princess Royal to the Sword and Crown Band Concert on Horse Guards Parade

Notices ■ 131

service in the Forces and to assist needy dependants of such Service limbless. It will also help those Ex-Servicemen who lose a leg after Service. For more details contact them on 020 8590 1124 or visit their website at: www.blesma.org Blind Veterans UK Blind veterans UK, formerly St Dunstan’s, cares for Ex-Servicemen who have lost their sight for any reason (even after leaving the Service). For more information contact 0300 111 22 33 or visit their website at: www.blindveterans.org.uk Regular Forces Employment Association (RFEA) Provide employability and mployment support to working age veterans in the UK. To provide support to veterans throughout life including those who have served for a short time and are in the 18-24 year old age range, through to older veterans. The over 50’s are increasingly recognised as facing greater challenges in finding employment. To find out more contact 0121 262 3058 or at www.rfea.org.uk Veterans Aid Previously known as the Ex-Service Fellowship Centres (EFC) whose aims are to relieve distress among ex-servicemen of all ranks and their widows or widowers who, at the time of application for assistance, are

unemployed, homeless or for reasonable cause in need. They can be contacted at 020 7828 2468. Their website is at: www.veterans-aid.net Ministry of Defence (MOD) Medal Office There is now one Medal Office, which covers all three Services and they be contacted as follows: The Ministry of Defence Medal Office Innsworth House, Imjin Barracks Innsworth, Gloucester Gloucester GL3 1HW Email: dbs-medals@mod.gov.uk Fax: 0141 224 3586 Free Phone: 0800 085 3600 Overseas Civ: +44 (0) 141 224 3600 For additional information about medals visit: www.veterans-uk.info Cyprus GSM Clasp – 1963-64 As a result of an Independent Medal review conducted by Lt Gen Sir John Holmes a General Service Medal is available for those qualifying between 21st December 1963 and 26th March 1964. This is relevant to some Household Cavalrymen.

Veterans Badges Men and Women who enlisted in HM Armed Forces between 3rd September 1945 to date are entitled to a Veterans

Badge. There is no qualifying length of Service. You can download a form from the Veterans Agency Website at https://www.gov.uk/apply-medal-orveterans-badge Army Personnel Records and Family Interest Enquiries - Historical Disclosures The Ministry of Defence (MOD) keeps the records of former members of our Armed Forces for administrative use after their discharge. A Subject Access Requests (SAR) form needs to be completed in order to access records for all ranks in the Army that served after 1920. The following address should be used for ex-soldiers wishing to access their personal records: Army Personnel Centre, Disclosure 2, Mail Point 515, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow, G2 8EX Tel: 0845 600 9663 The following address should be used for family members wishing to access records of deceased soldiers: Army Personnel Centre, Historical Disclosures, Mail Point 400, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow, G2 8EX

The Life Guards proceed up the Long Walk towards Windsor Castle

132 ■ Notices

The following personnel Service records have been transferred to the National Archive (formerly the Public Record Office) and are available for public access.

• Army Officers commissioned prior to 1920 • Army Other Ranks that enlisted prior to 1920 Service records which pre-date those held by the MOD have been transferred to the National Archive and are freely available for public access. However the National Archives is not resourced to carry out searches. Enquirers are instead welcome to visit, or hire an independent researcher - see the National Archive website for further details at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ militaryhistory/ The Veterans Oyster Photocard You can travel free at any time using your Veterans Oyster photocard on: Bus - Travel free at any time on buses within London Tube, tram, DLR and London Overground showing the TFL symbol You can apply for a Veterans Oyster photocard if you are: •

Receiving ongoing payments under the War Pensions Scheme in your name (this includes widows, widowers and dependants)

•

Or receiving Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces

Compensation Scheme in your name (this includes widows, widowers and dependants) Transport for London will not issue a Veterans Oyster photocard if you live in London and are eligible for the Freedom Pass. Visit - http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ tickets/14424.aspx or Oyster photocard team on 0845 331 9872 for further details and application.

Household Cavalry Charities We are always extremely grateful if past and serving members of the Household Cavalry wish to make donations or leave legacies in their Wills to our principal charities.

To help you decide which of our charities you may wish to benefit, and how, please read the following summaries of the objects and payment details of the main Household Cavalry charities.

up funds to deal with major regimental casualty incidents, and major events such as the Standards Parade. With the union of the two Regiments in 1992 the Declaration was re-issued on 6th August 1992.

Its primary source of income is from The Day’s Pay Scheme (formerly The One Day’s Pay Scheme) into which Household Cavalrymen voluntarily contribute (less musicians). A minimum of 51% of this income is passed to each Assn (LG and RHG/D) and that must be spent on the ‘welfare’ of retired members and their dependants who are in need. The HCF is here to support all the Household Cavalry family in times of need or distress with five noted pastoral care objectives:

www.hcavfoundation.org

1. Support for serving soldiers. The HCF aims to help serving Household Cavalry soldiers by providing funding for additional training, sporting activities, life-skills or educational opportunities with the assistance of the Regimental Welfare Officers external to those already provided by the Armed Forces. This will help to ensure that our troops remain motivated and dedicated to their careers within the Regiment or assist them in the transition to civilian life.

HCF is now the umbrella organisation for all Household Cavalry charities and funds. The origin of the Foundation lies in the Household Cavalry Central Charitable Fund (Charity No 1013978), whose Declaration of Trust for this Fund was made on 10th February 1975.

Its primary function then was to build

2. Caring for our casualties. Building on the excellent work of the Operational Casualties Fund, Household Cavalry personnel who suffer either physical or mental injury during their service can rely upon the HCF to provide them with the best possible support. This help extends to

If you have any queries please ask the Secretary of your Regimental Association.

Household Cavalry Foundation (HCF) (Charity No 1151869)

The Blues and Royals Squadron spread along the beach

Notices ■ 133

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families and dependants too, and can take many forms. Our core aim is to ensure that our personnel and their families are aware of and have full access to all possible existing welfare provision. Where these welfare systems are found to be insufficient, the HCF will provide funds and physical support to ensure that our casualties can confidently either return to their regimental duties or move into civilian life with the reassurance that they will be supported for as long as they may require it.

3. Welfare support for our Veterans.

The HCF works closely with both The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals Associations, which both continue to conduct business in the usual way. We are extremely fortunate to benefit from the excellent communication networks and goodwill provided by the two Associations and thanks to this the HCF is able to increase the levels of help for former members of the Regiment in time of financial need or hardship.

We look forward to continuing to liaise with Home Headquarters staff in ensuring that all of our veterans remain an integral and well supported part of our Regimental family.

4. Helping maintain our History and Heritage. The HCF is extremely proud of our Regimental history and ethos. The Household Cavalry Museum boasts locations at Horse Guards and Windsor, the latter acting as an educational source and additionally housing the unique archives, both of which will be of benefit to the HCF. The Charity will seek wherever possible to promote our Regiments’ unique heritage to a wider audience and help to maintain our physical artefacts and memorabilia for generations to come.

5. Horses remain at our heart. The Government does not provide funding for our horses in their retirement years. The HCF will help and work closely with external charities and individuals who ensure the welfare of our horses post service. In addition the Charity will provide, when necessary, funding to provide training for soldiers to ensure the highest levels of equitation and horse welfare are maintained.

Household Cavalry Museum Trust Limited (Charity Reg No 1108039) Objects: to educate members of the general public and Household Cavalrymen about the regimental history of

all regiments that now constitute the Household Cavalry, to preserve regimental memorabilia, and to operate the Museum at Horse Guards and the Archive at Windsor. In addition there is a trading fund, the Household Cavalry Museum Enterprises Limited (HCMEL), which handles the Horse Guards Museum trading as well as incorporating the stock for internet sales and in due course regimental PRIs. Items for military personnel would not be sold to non-HCav personnel.

HCMEL is trading at a profit: profits from the Museum will go towards helping past and serving Household Cavalrymen and their dependants who are in financial hardship.

The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust (Charity No 229144) from 25th October 2010 This charity, established by a Scheme dated 25th October 2010, was formed from the previous three LG Association charities, namely the Helping Hand Fund, The Life Guards Charitable Trust and the Sir Roger Palmer Fund.

The objects of The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust are: 1. To relieve members or former members of The Life Guards (‘the Regiment’) or their dependants who are in need by virtue of financial hardship, sickness, disability or the effects of old age by: a. making grants of money to them, or b. providing or paying for goods, services or facilities for them including education or training, or c. making grants of money to other persons or bodies who provide goods, services or facilities to those in need.

2.

To promote the efficiency of the Regiment in any charitable way as the trustees from time to time may decide including, but not limited to: a. maintaining and promoting contact between serving and former members of the Regiment and providing for social gatherings for them; b. fostering esprit de corps, comradeship and the welfare of the Regiment and perpetuating its deeds and preserving its traditions;

c. providing and maintaining a memorial or memorials to those members of the Regiment who have died in the service of their country; d. advancing the education members of the Regiment;

of

e. promoting the advancement in life of members of the Regiment by the provision of assistance to enable such persons to prepare for or to assist their re-entry into civilian life.

The objects of the Association and the Charitable Trust are identical. They have separate legal identities for the purposes of clearer lines of responsibility, especially important for management of the Trust’s funds. The new Trust’s objects were expanded to include all the reasons most regiments have a regimental association, including now also the overall object of promoting the ‘efficiency’ of the Regiment which simply means that the Association can support the serving Regiment more closely if it ever wishes to. Hitherto, the Association’s charitable trusts had no legal power to support the Regiment. The priority for any cash grants by the new Trust remains to help members and former members who are in need because of hardship.

Also, although the new Charity rules allowed the three old charities to be merged, the existing funds in the three charities were ‘ring-fenced’ so that they can only ever be used for hardship cases.

This means, for example, they can never be used to pay for a memorial or a social function: only new money received after the establishment of the new Trust can be used towards any of the new ‘efficiency’ objects.

The Blues and Royals Association (Charity No: 229144) The Blues and Royals Association is itself a registered charity reformed in 1968 after the amalgamation. Its aims are very much similar to those of LG Assn.

The Blues and Royals have two charities, The Blues and Royals Association (Charity No. 259191) and the Oliver Montagu Fund (Charity No. 256297) which have similar, but not identical, objects to The Life Guards Association Charitable Trust. The Oliver Montagu Fund has less restriction on how its funds may be spent. Also subsumed in RHG/D funds is The Rose Fund.

Notices ■ 135

The Major General surrounded by his heavy mob!

Colonel C A Lockhart MBE, Silver Stick, Major General C J Ghika CBE, Lieutenant Colonel R R D Griffin, Silver Stick Adjutant

Subscribe to

THE GUARDS MAGAZINE The Journal of the Household Division

The Guards Magazine is now available in both a digital and printed format. The digital archive goes back to 1862 and the latest edition of the magazine is also online and downloadable.

New and existing subscribers who wish to receive digital access to The Guards Magazine should complete a direct debit mandate by following the appropriate link in the table below. Existing subscribers who wish to subscribe to the printed edition only (with no digital access) should take no action; their current standing order remains in place where applicable.

For those who complete the new direct debit, subscriptions include digital access and the printed edition (new subscribers should provide a postal address to receive the printed edition). Overseas subscribers pay the UK subscription rate if they opt for digital access only. Any existing standing order will be cancelled in favour of this new direct debit.

Once an application has been registered, each subscriber will receive a Unique Identification Number (UIN) from the Treasurer’s office at Horse Guards with instructions on how to access the archive and latest edition.

Category

Cost

Link to Direct Debit

UK and BFPO (hardcopy included)

£20

https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002NTF2VYFC

Europe (hardcopy included)

£30

https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002NTG4Q2KB

International (hardcopy included)

£35

https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002NTG6G79T

Digital copy only (overseas subscribers)

£20

https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002NTG87ERX

This information is also on the Household Division website at the Guards Magazine tab: www.householddivision.org.uk.

Any questions should be addressed to: info@householddivision.org.uk Please send your comments and feedback on the new digital access to the Editor at: editor@guardsmagazine.co.uk

136 ■ Household Cavalry Associations

Household Cavalry Association North Staffs Branch President: Lt Col (Retd) R R Griffin formerly The Life Guards Chairman: Mr B A Lewis formerly The Royal Horse Guards Secretary amd Treasurer: Mr I J Taylor formerly The Royal Horse Guards

W

e had expected the situation with the Coronovirus to be over and done with and we would be back to normal by now, but this it seems is not to be the case. It’s now dragged on for another year, but maybe we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Face to face contact is slowly getting back to what we knew, although some are not so sure. The Branch has continued this last year pretty much the same as the year before, but with Branch meetings being now held every couple of months or so; they have become more as a social event when wives and partners can congregate at our favourite Hotel to while away a pleasant couple of hours with friends.

Despite many functions being cancelled early in the year, as the situation eased we were able to hold our

annual Luncheon event in November, and we did have a good turnout supported by our Regimental Association’s Secretaries. Unfortunately, our President could not be present but Colonel Harry Scott spoke in his absence.

It has been a sad year for us, having lost several members, our dear friend and Branch Treasurer Roger (Seth) Adams passed away in the summer. In October we were to lose our special colleague John Heath, known to all that knew him as Smiler! Early in January came the sad news that our Vice President Peter Thellusson had passed away. Peter was formerly a Captain in 1st The Royal Dragoons during National Service and had been our Branch Vice President for over thirty years, he will be sadly missed. Peter was a great supporter of the Branch and did much to promote anything we got involved with. In the early days, when he lived near to Ashbourne, on an annual basis when we wished to raise funds for our chosen charity of the time, (Riding for the Disabled etc), Peter would plan a sponsored walk, or rather a trek, around the Derbyshire Dales ending with a buffet back in his garden, provided by his dear wife Polly.

Through his contacts, Peter was instrumental in having a local quarry owner

donate a five-tonne lump of Derbyshire stone to install as a memorial focal point on the modified RHG/D memorial at the NMA, and later, another stone to place on the new Life Guard memorial.

The maintenance to the memorials is now carried out by the ground works staff at the NMA and seems to be going well. Despite having had some flooding, which is quite normal, at least we’ve lost no name plaques this year. We have also had the unpleasant task of adding three more name plaques to the RHG/D memorial recently. Of all the memorials at the NMA, The RHG/D is the only one with every name shown.

With getting back to some sort of normality, the RHG/D Association dinner is scheduled to be back on course. This Branch is looking forward to the next annual event this coming November.

Hoping by now that our serving colleagues are well acquainted with their new location and vehicles, we wish them well for the coming year.

Any serving or former Household Cavalryman who wishes to know more about us, please contact: ianandann.taylor@btinternet.com or the Regimental Secretaries.

Vice President Peter Thellusson leading the North Staff Branch on a ‘forced’ march

Household Cavalry Associations ■ 137

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Household Cavalry Wales Dining Club

T

here is a rich history of Welsh representation among both The Life Guards - Men of Harlech is a Second Life Guards’ March - and The Blues and Royals that encouraged me to establish a Dining Club for Welsh Association members of both Regiments in the Household Cavalry. The inaugural dinner was held at the Cardiff and County Club in 2019. The attendance at and support for this first iteration was fantastic and confirmed that this annual event should and could be a fabulous opportunity for members of both Associations, serving personnel from both the Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR) and Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR), along with those serving at ERE to enjoy a wonderful evening in each other’s company.

In 2019, we were blessed to have generous sponsorship support from Ajax’s creator General Dynamics through Major (Retired) Gerry McCullough RHG/D. This enhanced the wonderful opportunity to listen to an inspirational address by Sir Gareth Edwards CBE, former British & Irish Lion, Welsh Scrum Half of infamous prowess on the rugby field and arguably the best player to have ever donned a Welsh jersey. During his address, I was more surprised than anyone to find out that my grand-father, Cliff William Jones OBE, President of Welsh Rugby Union through the Welsh rugby centenary year of 1980-81, had selected Sir Gareth for his first Welsh cap and catapulted his career onto the international stage.

A fabulous evening was relished by all, including a mandatory tour of the highlights of Cardiff’s nightlife! We were also privileged to have Colonel Paddy Williams MC RHG/D the then

Major David Bevan LG exemplary host at Cardiff’s City and County Club

Major BJ, Sir Gareth and Colonel Paddy.

The moose knows greatness when it sees it!

Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Giles Stibbe enjoying the company whilst Nige Griffiths and Gene Hackman, both formerly RHG/D and Blue Mafia, ignore his riding prowess!

Household Cavalry Associations ■ 139

Major BJ giving it full on Welshness!

Commanding Officer of HCMR give a fascinating roundup of Regimental life; this provided confirmation that the Household Cavalry continues to provide the most exciting, dynamic and varied roles for service personnel, and an insight into the challenges faced by all serving personnel in this modern era of soldiering.

2020’s pandemic put paid to any regimental gatherings globally. So, it was not until September 2021 that the Household Cavalry Wales Dining Club paraded again at the Cardiff and County Club, thanks to the kind hosting by Major (Retired) David Bevan LG a current member of the club. Although the number of attendees was slightly reduced by positive Covid cases in the run-up to the evening, it was reassuring to see so many members and the enjoyment of all having been cooped up for some 18 months!

Deserved appreciation was shown to Major (Retired) Eoin Carson RIFLES,

who through the generosity of his company (Foxbury Solutions) sponsored the event and effectively became an honorary Welsh HCavman on the spot! Apart from a few minor medical mishaps, as a result of outstanding food, drink and camaraderie, the dinner was a genuine highlight of what had been a dreadful two years till then. Some ladies did eventually sneak in to spy on their men, and they were made exceptionally welcome!

The Household Cavalry Welsh Dining Club will meet again at the Cardiff and County Club on Saturday 10th September 2022; sponsored once again

by Eoin and Foxbury Solutions it will no doubt take pride of place in everyone’s social diary! We would be delighted to welcome members of both Associations and encourage serving members of both Regiments to sign up via our Regimental Secretaries that brace of Household Cavalry Hogs: Captain Chris ‘John Virgo’ Elliott (RHG/D) or Captain Kenny ‘Biker Grove’ Robertson (LG) at

Chris Elliott reassures Will Bartle-Jones that he’s not paying for the next round while the Regimental Adjutant looks typically mellow

140 ■ Household Cavalry Associations

The Welsh Dragons see red!

the earliest opportunity. Incentive: you don’t even have to be Welsh!

Finally, I would like to thank that pair of Lieutenant Colonels (Retired) at Horse Guards, Giles Stibbe LG (Director HCav Foundation) and Ralph Griffin LG (Regimental Adjutant), Major (Retired) David Bevan LG, Major (Retired) Eoin Carson RIFLES, both Regimental Secretaries and all attendees so far at what have proved to be fabulous evenings. See you all in September!

Please contact me via my email if you would like more information.

Major (Retried) William Bartle-Jones RHG/D Chairman - Household Cavalry Wales Dining Club wilbjuk@yahoo.co.uk

Sir Gareth Edwards receives a suitable picture from Glyn Jones, formerly RHG/D

A Squadron LG Operation GRANBY 1991 Old Comrades Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their Desert Storm Victory

Household Cavalry Associations ■ 141

Features Loan Service with The Royal Army of Oman

by Colonel Denis James, formerly The Life Guards

I

n the late summer of 2001, I was 2IC of a CR2 Squadron, headed to Exercise SAIF SAREEA 2 in Oman. After an extensive and testing training year (including two firing camps, validation training in Poland, and a MEDICINE MAN exercise in BATUS), B Squadron RDG were pretty swept up and familiar with our tactics and operating procedures. We were excited, professional, and keen, but complacent. We had underestimated Oman.

The challenges of immediately deploying into two months in the desert were entirely new to us. The desert sun was extraordinarily wearing on our bodies and minds; our vehicle air filters failed; swarms of flies, scorpions and camel spiders found us even in the briefest of hides; the seams and joints of personal equipment built for NW Europe fell apart as the heat destroyed them; there were no rivers, but steep sided wadis were impassable; and those few maps we were provided with seemed the same on both sides! It was certainly the most challenging non-operational deployment of my career and learning to survive and operate in that environment was a personal and leadership challenge.

As you might imagine, we did learn to cope, to dress properly, to drink and eat differently, to really and truly operate at night and to rest in the heat of the day.

Eventually, the hard freezing yards of Poland, Germany and Canada did bear fruit and the highlight of our exercise was an exhilarating forty-mile raid onto an ‘enemy’ comms node.

As we learned to survive in our new environment, we could lift our heads a little. There was more to Oman that just the desert and occasionally our exercises would take us to where we could see up to the austere and forbidding mountains or down to the clear blue sea.

We also got to work alongside the Royal Army of Oman (RAO). The officers and soldiers were charming, simultaneously unmovable and proud on matters of Omani culture, yet wildly appreciative of the British approach to life.

By the time I left Oman 60 days later I

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Need I say more?

had fallen for her, but it took 19 years for the opportunity to present itself for a return.

What is Loan Service?

Loan Service has its roots in the diplomatic and military support provided to our strategic allies’ armies at their inception, or at times of stress or war; it’s just that we never left some of them. David Smilie’s (late RHG) Arabian Assignment best captures the mood and history of Loan Service in Oman and vividly describes the sort of characters that such service attracted. Nowadays, Loan Service exists for different purposes, but still reflects the UK’s strategic alignments. There is certainly an element of presence meaning protection about it.

Certainly, the presence of British personnel in Oman would give an extra dimension to any decision to operate against her, but mostly we are here to pass on our experiences (or prevent a repetition of our mistakes, if you wish to see it that way) of policy matters, procedures, procurement, tactics, operations and organisation. Directly, we deliver advice to commanders across RAO Army HQ and most elements of her Field Army. Our most tangible deliverable is observing and controlling training exercises during which we come together as a team,

akin to BATUS temporary staff.

Freedom to think, and freedom to advise change Direction from the Commander of the Royal Army of Oman to Loan Service (Army) is minimal. He likes organic ideas borne of our experiences in the UK. This makes one think, to be judicious about what one raises, and to think to the finish; certainly, foolish suggestions are given short shrift!

Here’s an example of the sort of intellectual issues one might wrestle with. It’s transferable across all types of capability and equipment: Factor 1: Oman has a highly professional Armoured Brigade. It consists of a highly deployable but aging tank fleet (CR2 and M60) and spares are dwindling. Support to CR2 and M60 is increasingly hard to finance, or indeed to find at all.

Factor 2: The country is largely perfect terrain for armoured warfare, but also has a high percentage of jebel areas and a huge coastline. Her borders include a failed state (Yemen), an historic rival for areas of sovereign territory who also happens to be an avowed opponent of

an ally (Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively) and a problematic and physically isolated strategically critical piece of terrain (Musandam) to the very north of the country.

Factor 3: Everything we suspect about the future character of warfare indicates that armoured warfare against peer forces is highly unlikely; the least likely risk but the one with the worst impact if it happens. But in the Middle East, deterrence and maintaining face is key.

Having active tank troops has always been important to credibility.

The issue: What to do with the tank fleet? What advice would you give? As an advisor, where might you place the emphasis of your effort? Here are some potential answers: •

Buy British. CR3 is ace and the UK is a strategic ally.

•

What Oman has, or something similar, is good enough; there is no need to chase exquisite irrelevance by buying smaller numbers of the most currently advanced equipment.

•

Forget tanks and invest in anti-tank capability.

•

More important than the decision itself is how it is arrived at; if a judicious and thorough capability management process is undertaken, and if through life costs are

funded, any workable solution is probably good enough.

Answers on a postcard are welcome.

I’m not sure what the right answer is, or if indeed a ‘right’ answer exists. But if that challenge interests you, regardless of your rank (because you will all be asked if you’re out here), then Loan Service might be the place for you.

Give and take The British Army is truly a reference Army and perhaps it is only when stepping away from our own self-deprecating culture that one can see the excellence that we possess in training, operational experience and commitment to achieving outcomes.

However, Loan Service troops take as well as give. We are all learning a lot.

As I have explained, surviving to fight in this environment is difficult; Omani mountain leaders and jebel troops are world class; the RAO is almost 100% deployable at the drop of a hat; the RAO buys off the shelf and brings kit into service rapidly in a way that the UK cannot match. In short, the RAO is a high functioning organisation from which we have much to learn. At the very least its methods should make us all critically analyse our own tactics, processes and procedures.

Loan Service leaves one better educated, better informed, and with a mind that critically analyses problems. Time

away from our own Army should also challenge many preconceptions and prejudices; one should return professionally revitalised and refresh, with a new perspective.

The pros and cons of Loan Service I expect that you can all imagine the cultural awakening one gains living in the Middle East. Loan Service (Army) personnel are taught the beginnings of Arabic before arriving and are afforded the ability to continue to study the language once in country. Travel is easy, and people are welcoming. Outward bound activities are everywhere. One can drive through the desert, sail and dive in the clear waters, hike up the mountains and swim in the wadis. My children are 18, 15 and 13 and they adore the place, racing from school to get to the airport as soon as they have the opportunity.

Why Loan Service is important Deep in the Omani psyche exists the desire for a strategic partnership between our armies and countries. It’s embedded, it’s hung on the walls in photographs, and it’s apparent in the British accents of the Omani Officers and in the Baluchi/Pakistani lilt of the English spoken by the soldiers as they chitter chatter away about the cricket with us. There does seem to be a genuine desire for the answer to be ‘British’ at every turn, be that ideas, capability or courses.

Add to this the location of the country.

Its position is such that it can either enable or disrupt oil trade, frustrate or enable Middle Eastern peace, and hamper or support movement into the Far East.

The UK is lucky to be here and both friends such as the US and France, with Russia and China are constantly seeking to replace our influence.

Loan Service anywhere would be equally fulfilling, I imagine. But Loan Service in Oman is a jewel in the crown.

Why not give it a go?

Dinner ................. too small to be a camel, I think?

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Guards Parachute Platoon

M

by Captain F Wellesley, The Blues and Royals

y final six months as Platoon Commander of the Guards Parachute Platoon have been both enjoyable and eclectic. Despite the pandemic, the Platoon deployed to Dartmoor, Corsham Mines and on the Battalions annual validation Exercise JOINT WARRIOR. Dartmoor is normally the stomping ground of the Royal Marines and not the usual haunt for the Parachute Regiment.

Therefore, with some trepidation, B Company arrived at Dartmoor national park for a week of Live Fire Tactical Training. The topography is not dissimilar to that of the Falkland Islands, with vast expanses of wet Moorland and steep, rocky hillsides. So difficult is the terrain that the Daily Range Clearance is conducted by locals on horseback and with dogs, HCMR would have been proud.

It is an unusual training area not just for its terrain, but also as it is one of the few places in the UK where the Range Danger Area is not pre-scripted and so allows the planner a chance to be really creative and avoid the predictability of most UK ranges. However, what was not factored in was the inclement weather which made for a very wet and cold week! Despite this, the Company was put through its paces with each Section doing 3 separate and very different live attacks both day and night. In line with 3 PARA Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), all night attacks were conducted without any form of illumination which made for some very challenging ranges indeed.

After recovering from Dartmoor, the Company soon deployed for a week of Fighting in Woods and Forests (FIWAF) and Subterranean training at Salisbury

Door checks

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End of Exercise JOINT WARRIOR

Plain and Corsham mines. The latter is a phenomenal training facility, an old Government nuclear bunker with 25 miles of underground roads and tunnels, now turned into a military training area. It is the perfect place to hone Close Quarter Battle skills in an environment that is alien to most soldiers.

At Company level, it posed some real challenges for communication as radios failed to work below ground. As is so often the case, the old ways are the best.

Messages passed by link men, and the field telephone proved to be the most effective. With simunition paint rounds, the Company and the Platoon developed SOPs which should set the Platoon up for success on JOINT WARRIOR in a few weeks.

Colchester garrison has been lucky enough to have received a huge development and uplift in funding for urban training. The result is the state of the art ‘Urban Training Facility’ (UTF) located within the walls of Merville Barracks.

The UTF is based around the system used by the Special Forces for their ‘Kill

House’ and allows for moveable walls, battle noise simulation, video playback in both light and dark. The facility is designed for use with simunition paint rounds and is large enough for a full Platoon to train. It comes with a suite for After action reviews where 30 different cameras can playback the tactical action.

It has been sad to say goodbye to the Guards Parachute Platoon. In my view, it contains the best of Household Division soldiers and NCOs. It was with great pleasure that Lance Corporal of Horse Foster joined the Platoon in November 2020. He has been a great flag bearer for the ability of HCR soldiers to fight on their feet. I am pleased to say that the platoon manning looks healthy and they remain operationally relevant as they prepare for their first Operational deployment since Afghanistan in 2019.

Half of the Platoon are already in theatre whilst the remainder will deploy in the new year. I wish them all the best on tour.

Five step entry drill in the Urban Training Facility, Colchester

H O U S E H O L D C AV A L RY

H O U S E H O L D C AV A L RY

TO O R D E R V I S I T R OYA L B R I T I S H C O L L E C T I O N . C O M