The Royal Artillery Assembly 2015 was another resounding success. Over 500 Gunners, both serving and retired, with their families enjoyed a weekend of comradeship, entertainment and the Grand Gala Dinner on the Saturday night.
The Saturday morning was taken up by the RAA AGM chaired by Maj Gen John Milne CB, ably assisted by Brig David Radcliffe CB and Lt Col Ian Vere Nicoll, each of whom reflected how well the past year has gone and how busy the Branches and our Standards Bearers have been.
The Regimental Colonel, Col Richard Collinge ADC attended for the first time and gave an informative and thorough breakdown of what the Royal Regiment is involved in how the Regiment stands within the new 2020 Army structure.
There was also a presentation from Lt Rob May RA and LBdr Swatland from 16 Regt RA. Their presentation covered the life of a soldier while deployed to the Falkland Islands. It was well received and very interesting for our Veterans that served at the time of the Falkland conflict.
The annual awards were this year presented by Maj Gen J Milne. The awards are presented for outstanding service and support to the RA charities. There were many proud winners and Artillery House would like to send its warmest congratulations to all recipients of awards, a full list of which will appear in June’s edition of The Gunner magazine.
The Standard Bearers competition was held on Saturday Afternoon in the Norcalympia. This year we had a record number of entries and it was a close fought competition that was eventually won by Mr J Young from 1st Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery Branch with Mr Mark Elliot and Mr J Boyd coming second and third respectively. We would like to thank the Judges; the RASM, RABSM and Mr T Wilson and also the Branches for supporting their entrants.
The Sunset Ceremony, performed by the Lancashire Artillery Band from 103 Regt was a splendid start to the Saturday evening and with the added pleasure of having the band entertain us throughout the Gala Dinner it truly was a great evening; everyone that took part and attended should be congratulated on a truly magnificent event.
I simply could not write this report without including a special "Thank You" to all those who helped in the organisation and running of this year’s Royal Artillery Assembly. Without some outside help our small team could not come close to putting on such a marvellous and worthwhile event. Most noticeable this year were 47 Regt RA and103 Regt RA which provided much appreciated support in terms of manpower, transport, equipment, displays and the band.
Also, a thank you to all those regiments who supported us by allowing their representatives to attend; we had nearly 200 serving soldiers this year and hope that this only grows over time.
I would like to add a special thank you to the RASM, WO1 Roger Bramall and his team WO2 (RABSM) D Greenland, WO2 B Green and Sgt P Rutt for bringing all the military elements together so seamlessly - without their assistance we could not have achieved yet another high quality event. Thank you also to our small and dedicated team from the North West. Finally, thank you to all the branches who supported the assembly and to all the standard bearers who, once again, did us and themselves proud.
A full report will be in the Gunner Magazine
A full Gallery to follow very soon.
Sarah Davies
Membership Assistant
Royal Artillery Association