| We are deeply indebted to Colonel Michael Cornwell OBE who has been the Chairman of The Rifles and The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regimental Association since March 2017. He stood down from his duties on 1st April 2024. Over his seven years as Chairman, he has made an outstanding contribution to the Regimental Association. He has used his military experience and corporate knowledge, particularly of our veterans and Regimental affairs, to great effect, whether planning and running major events, or representing the Association at key Branch commemorations or veterans’ funerals and memorial services. Colonel Cornwell had a very distinguished career as a regular officer in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (DERR) for some 27 years retiring in 1994 under ‘Options for Change’. Thereafter, his service to the Crown continued with full-time administrative posts with 1st Battalion, The Wessex Regiment (Rifle Volunteers) in Devizes, The Royal Wessex Yeomanry in Cirencester and finally with 7th Regiment, Army Air Corps in Netheravon. In 2007 he was appointed Manager/Curator of the DERR Museum at The Wardrobe in Salisbury until 2011. His voluntary appointments have included Commandant of the Wiltshire Army Cadet Force, Chairman of the Society of Friends and a member of the Committee of The Wardrobe and Museum Trust. In 2007 he assumed the appointment of The Rifles County Colonel for Wiltshire which he held until 2017. He has been a volunteer at The Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Museum at The Wardrobe since 2011. In addition to his various military roles, Colonel Cornwell continues to volunteer at the Wiltshire Museum in Salisbury and as the Treasurer and Bell Tower Captain of his village parish church. Perhaps closest to his heart are his roles as a cricket umpire and scorer for his village team as well as for the Army and other UK Armed Forces teams, and as development officer for the English and Welsh Cricket Boards. It is said that if you want a job done, give it to a busy man! Colonel Michael Cornwell has demonstrated that adage in spades and our Regiment, among many others, owes him a huge debt of gratitude for all that he has done and continues to do for us. Brigadier P E O’R-B DAVIDSON-HOUSTON CBE DL President, The Rifles and The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regimental Association |
