The Rifles & RGBW Regimental Association |
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| | Serving the veterans of the current & former Infantry Regiments of Gloucestershire, Berkshire & Wiltshire |
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| The Rifles & RGBW Regimetal Association June NewsletterSunday, 17 November 2024 |
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IN MEMORIAM | |
| Alan Lloyd died in January 2023. He joined the Army and began life badged as RWF whilst at Cwrt-y-Gollen in 1975. Whilst there he re-badged 1 Gloucestershire Regiment and was eventually posted to D Coy 1 Glosters in Weeton Camp. During the Ballykelly tour of 1977-1979 Alan was an integral member of the Close Observation Platoon (COP). On leaving the army in 1989 Alan initially worked for the Royal Mint, later becoming a gamekeeper. On retirement he settled in Peterston, Herefordshire, where he is remembered with great affection by the regular attendees of the Yew Inn.
John Michael Parker died on 14 February 2023, aged 80. John initially joined the TA with 5th Bn The Gloucestershire Regiment in January 1959. He then joined the Junior Leaders Regiment in 1960 and from there he was posted to 1 Glosters serving with them until 1971. The next two years were spent back at the Junior Leaders Regiment as the Orderly Room Sergeant, before returning to 1 Glosters, then moving on to 1 D and D and back to the Junior Leaders in 1978, 1980 saw him serving with 2 Mercian; all these postings were in the appointment of Chief Clerk. John left the Army as a WO 2.
Wayne Butcher death is recorded on the Gloucestershire Regiment website but no dates of death of other details have been posted.
Graham Wicks died over the Easter period 2023 |
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Montague John Thomas Dermott, known to his Royal Berkshire Regiment colleagues as “Monty” died on 21 March 2023. Monty was a National serviceman who served in Cyprus during the Eoka Campaign prior to the amalgamation of the Royal Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiments |
| Editor's Comments: Apologies for the late notifications of some of the above announcements. These have been caused partly by the refurbishment of the associations two main websites but mainly due to the editor's heavy involvement with the Service of Dedication for the RGBW Book of Remembrance. |
| KOREA 70 | RHQ Rifles have passed to Lt Col Mike Motum information of a Royal British legion event to mark the milestone of the 70 anniversary of the Korean War.
Please do not confuse this with Imjin 70, which was organised very successfully by Len Keeling. KOREA 70 is a Royal British Legion led event and further information may be found at:
https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/remembrance-events/korea-70
- The Royal British Legion will be marking this important milestone in an often-forgotten conflict with a special service of Remembrance at Horse Guards Parade on Thursday 27 July from 11am. The event will focus on telling the story of the Korean War through the testimony and memories of the conflict from those who were there, as well as looking to inform and engage the wider audience and attendees about a war which never truly ended.
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- Korea 70 is a ticketed event open to British and Commonwealth veterans who served in the Korean War, bereaved family members and their descendants (spouse, partner, or family members). The surrounding expo area will be open to the wider public.
Top of Form To register your interest to attend the Korea 70th Anniversary Commemorative Event at Horse Guards Parade on Thursday 27 July, please compete all fields below. More details regarding the event will follow in due course.
Col Mike also offers the following advice to anyone who may be interested in attending:
If you think that you or someone you know might be interested in taking part in this British Legion event on Thursday 27th July 2023 from 11.00 am please consider:
- Going on line, clicking on the link and learn more about the Royal British Legion’s event
- Filling in the electronic application
- Helping someone to fill in the electronic application
- Whether a helper/carer might be able to assist in getting a qualifying individual to and from Horse Guards Parade London on the day.
Getting to and from London is never simple or cheap. The working assumption can only be that an application to attend is a request and arrangement between the applicant and/or their helper and the Royal British Legion. It is not known whether the Royal British Legion will be providing assistance towards travel costs. Should individuals be successful in their bid to attend but then find themselves facing difficulties over travel they might contact the RGBW Management Board via their Association representative or aotaunton@the-rifles.co.uk |
| The Dedication of the RGBW And Rifles Book of Remembrance Wednesday 17 May 2023
at Salisbury Cathedral | Some 15 years after the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment Light Infantry became one of the forming Regiments of The Rifles, the Association was at last able to hold a service to dedicate the Book of Remembrance to all those who had died whilst in service with the RGBW and the 62 members of The Rifles who have lost their lives on operational tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We had originally hoped that our Association Patron, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, would be able to attend, but the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and the first Buckingham Palace Garden Party post his coronation meant alternative arrangements had to be made. Nevertheless on 17 May 2023 the Lord Lieutenants of Wiltshire, the County and City of Bristol, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, the Next of Kin, and members of the Association and serving members of the Rifles, were able to sit in the Quire of Salisbury Cathedral and enjoy a moving and solemn service that paid homage to those comrades who memories are contained in the Book of Remembrance.
Our thanks go to the Venerable Alan Jeans MBE, the Association Chaplain, the Sub Dean Edward Probert, Canon Anna Macham, the Head Verger, Esther Lycettand, the Director of Music, his fantastic choir and the organist for making it all possible. Thanks also to all the association members who took the effort to travel and make the day a special one. |  View of the Service looking towards the High Altar |  The President of the Association handing over the Book of Remembrance to the Sub Dean |  Standard Bearers rehearsing before the Cathedral Service |
| A Rare Event The Interment of Ashes of Cremated ColoursAt an evensong service within Salisbury Cathedral on 7 March 20023 the service ended with an unusual event. Members of the Regimental Association and the Trustees of the Rifles and Wardrobe Museum Trustees were escorted by the officiating clergy to the North Wall of the nave where Regimental Colours were laid up.
The oldest of those stand of colours was the fourth stand of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment which had been lost in a storm on the River Ganges whilst being carried on a ship transporting the regiment from one station to its next one.
Having been submerged for some 6 months it is hardly surprising the having bee laid up for 175 years that they have in recent years become something of a sorry state to the eyes of visitors to the Cathedral.
Many of us, as veterans, had always believed that once Colours were laid up, they remained in situ until literally they turned back to dust. What we did not know that once Colours are laid up the location that becomes their resting place, assumes the role of custodians of those Colours. If, in the opinion of the custodians, the Colours deteriorate to such a state as to become so dilapidated as to cause concern, the custodian may ask for the Colours to be defined as “disintegrated”.
In 2019 that is exactly what Salisbury Cathedral asked for the fourth stand of Colours of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot. A meeting was convened with representative of the MoD, in the guise of Major Andrew Greenwood (Secretary to the Army Honours and Distinctions Board), the Cathedral, the Regimental Association Chairman and Chairman of the Rifles Wardrobe and Museum Trust. |
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|  The Regimental Colour of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot being lowered for the last time |  Clergy and Regimental representative of DERR, RGBW and Rifles and the Rifles Wardrobe Museum Trust | Suffice to say all of those assembled for this meeting learnt things from Major Greenwood that surprised and amazed us. The conclusion of the meeting was we all agreed that the Colours met the criteria of being “disintegrated” and what we needed to arrange was when and how the Colours would be returned to the Regiment and how the Colours would be dealt with.
As the Colours would be handed back to the Regiment, we would be left with three options.
Option 1 was for the Pikes and Colours to be buried in an unmarked grave in consecrated ground. This option could not be carried out within the confines of Salisbury Cathedral and there wasn’t any suitable consecrated ground close by within Wiltshire that the Regiment wished to have as the final resting place for these Colours.
Option 2 was for the finials to be removed from the pikes, for the pikes and the remnants of the Colours to be cremated and the ashes of the remains to be scattered on consecrated ground. This option was not one favoured by the Regiment.
Option 3 was to remove the finials, cremated the pikes and remnants of the Colours and inter the ashes in a suitable approved locations. Within the Wardrobe premises there is memorial garden which is quartered so that there is an element for the Royal Berkshire Regiment, The Wiltshire Regiment, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) and for The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment.
It was Option 3 that we found suited the Regimental aspirations and it was on that basis that after the Evensong Service on 7 March the Colours of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot were removed from the North Wall of Salisbury Cathedral’s Nave, handed back to the Regiment, and for the final time marched back to the Regiment’s home to be cremated.
Once back in the regimental home of The Wardrobe, the finials were removed so that they became museum artefacts and then the pikes and remans of the Colours cremated. In the meantime, Major (Retd) Nigel Walker, Chairman of the Rifles and Wardrobe Museum Trust made a suitable oak casket to hold the ashes.
On 17 May 2023, following the Service of Dedication of the RGBW Book of Remembrance in Salisbury Cathedral, a short service was held in the gardens of the Wardrobe to inter the ashes of the fourth stand of Colours of the 62nd Regiment of Foot. As the Last Post was sounded by 96 year Fran Cowley, a veteran of 2nd Battalion The Wiltshire Regiment, Lt Col (Retired) Norman Minty and his son, John Minty lowered the casket into its final resting place. Norman Minty and his son John, are the fifth and sixth generations of the family to have continually served since Serjeant William Cooper, their direct relative, served under the Colours being interred.
Whilst this ceremony is not unique it is very rare and one would go as far to suggest there will be very few who will witness such a ceremony in their lifetime. |
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|  The ashes of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment's fourth Stand of Colours |  96 year old Fran Cowley, a former member of the band of 2nd battalion The Wiltshire Regiment playing the Last Post and Reveille. This may be the last time Fran plays after having done every year since he was 9 years old. |  Lt Col (Retd) Norman Minty and his son John Minty, preparing to lower the casket of Ashes |  Norman and John Minty, descendants of Serjeant William Cooper who served under the fourth stand Colours of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot. Norman was the fifth and John the sixth generations of Minty's to have served in 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment, The Wiltshire Regiment and The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment. |
| Future Changes to the Distribution of the Association Newsletter | MailChimp has made an announcement that is is altering its pricing strategy which for the Association would mean a distinct probability of our having to pay for the emailing of the Newsletter to our membership.
Jim Waterfall, the Association webmaster has been working on an alternative process using the website administration back office. To that end members will probably received this newsletter twice, once by the MailChimp process, followed a few days later by a delivery process from the Association's web site.
We would appreciate any feedback on the delivery of either method, but particularly the Association's website delivery system, as that being free in terms of cost will be our preferred method of delivery.
NB this version of the Newsletter has been sent using the new system via he association website
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| The Rifles & RGBW Regimental Association
The Wardrobe, 58 The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2EX, United Kingdom.
Copyright 2023 The Rifles& RGBW Regimental Association www.rgbw-association.org.uk |
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