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Drumbeat Issue 140

Tidworth, Netheravon & Bulford Community Newsletter January 2009

What’s on at a glance...

 Sun 4 Jan 11:15 With effect from Sun 4 Jan 2009, morning services at Holy Trinity Church, Tidworth, will begin at 11:15  Mon 12 Jan 09 19:00 - 21:00 New Senior Youth Club for ages 11+ at The Beeches in Bulford. All will be able to take part in a community space project; ages 14+ will be able to gain a level 1 Sports Leaders Award. Details from Lou Carter on 07900-262119  Tues 13 Jan 09 19:00 - 21:00 Bluez ‘n’ Zuz Youth Disco at Clarendon Junior School.  Mon 19 Jan 09 19:00 Tidworth Residents’ Forum at Wylye Road Community Centre  Fri 30 Jan 19:30 Sat 31 Jan 14:30 & 19:30 Rumplestiltskin, the annual panto from The Bellinger Players at the Shipton Bellinger Village Centre. Tickets: Adults £6, Concessions £4 from Parkhouse Stores or call Helen on 01980 846341. Bar, Raffle, Refreshments. Fun for all !  Sun 1 Feb 13:30 - 15:30 Table top sale at Shipton Bellinger Village Centre. £5 per table Contact 01980 - 847 204. Entry : 50p in aid of Shipton Pre-School.

Another new shop for Tidworth ! Tidworth continues to buck the national economic trend with yet another new shop opening last month. Affinity Flowers has opened in Pennings Road, alongside the Garage, the Tempo Training Centre and the Post Office.

Another Super Building is on the way !

A new Garrison Super Gym is being built in Tidworth - and it is going up fast ! In the same way as the ‘Super-Diner’, when it is completed the SuperGym will serve the two Artillery regiments, the two REME battalions, the Brigade HQ and its Signal Squadron. It will be known as the Garrison Gym. The new Gym will have two fitness suites with new equipment and two gym halls which, if necessary, can be opened out into one big hall almost the size of a full football pitch ! The building will also house the offices of the RRU, the Regional Rehabilitation Unit, which is currently located in Bulford. The RRU will have its own fitness suite and will also have use of the gym halls. “This is one of the first buildings to be designed with such enormous wooden beams spanning the whole roof”, Major (Retd) Richard Luedicke from the Garrison Management Team told Drumbeat. “The beams are made of laminated planks of wood - there would never have been a tree large enough to be able to do it ! In fact, the lamination gives strength to the structure.” With each beam weighing about 10 tons, installing the 10 beams has been a massive feat of engineering !

Sports Facilities Second to None ! When the building phase of Project Allenby is completed in 2013, the Garrison will be very well equipped with the most modern of sporting facilities inside the wire : Tidworth will have 3 gymnasia and 5 fitness suites; Bulford will have 2 gymnasia and 2 fitness suites. The Garrison will also have 4 astro turf pitches, 4 x 5-a-side astro turf pitches and 3 natural grass 5a-side pitches, several rugby sized fields and several full sized football fields. “Sporting facilities for our soldiers in the Garrison will be second to none”, Major Luedicke concluded. The new Gym is due to be ready by early Autumn 2009.

Army Ladies’ Cricket The Army Ladies Cricket team will be running two pre-season training sessions on 26 & 27 February 09 at the Drummer Cricket Centre, near Basingstoke. We will be conducting a range of cricket skills workshops for players of all standards but are keen to hear from any new players who want to give cricket a go and join one of the Army’s most successful ladies sports teams. For more information, contact the Manager, Major Ruth MacGill on 94329 4711 or email [email protected]

Happy New Year to all Drumbeat Readers !

A Farewell Message

Brigadier drops in to New Post !

Colonel Aubrey Fletcher reflects on developments in Tidworth during his tenure ... It used to be said that the best view of Tidworth was in the rear view mirror! That this sentiment can no longer be said to hold true is testimony to the far reaching changes which have occurred in the community over recent years. As my time in the Garrison draws to a close, now is an appropriate time to reflect on how these changes have come about. My position as both Deputy Garrison Commander and Chair of the Tidworth Community Area Partnership has given me a unique insight into how organisations and individuals can come together to build strong, resilient communities, able to identify and articulate local needs and also prepared to take charge of delivering the solutions. The welcome injection of long overdue capital into the maintenance of the living and working conditions in our barracks through Project Allenby Connaught has been exciting to be part of and undoubtedly contributed to a greater sense of well being amongst us all. But you will all recognize the significant changes which have occurred in the Town; I would suggest that it is these changes which have been both more difficult to achieve and had the greatest impact. The Tidworth Leisure Centre, the opening of Castledown Business Park, the arrival of Tesco and other new business, the opening of Wellington Academy in September 2009 and the prospect of a mix of new military and civilian housing (to name but a few) have been made possible through the long-term partnership of a wide range of statutory bodies, local groups and far sighted, hard working individuals striving together to see the Town develop into the thriving community it is today. I have particularly enjoyed my association with this enterprising work, which I have found both heartening and enlightening. The net result for the military community is that Tidworth is increasingly seen as a posting of choice - a far cry from what it was!

The Clash of the Titans !

Amid loud cheers of support from all sides, the Buglers of 4 RIFLES sounded the advance to mark the start of the first round of the Army class A Inter Unit Boxing Competition between 4 RIFLES and 2 R WELSH at the Nuffield Gym in Picton Barracks last month. 4 RIFLES won the night, 5 bouts to 4, with the award for Most Gallant Boxer being given to Pte Cotterill from 2 R WELSH and the award for Best Boxer to LCpl Coombes from 2 R WELSH. 4 RIFLES go through to the quarter finals to be held later this month.

The handover of Command from the outgoing to the incoming Brigadier 1 Mechanised Brigade took place in the skies above Netheravon last month as both men marked the occasion by making tandem-jumps from a Chinook helicopter at 11,000 feet. Brigadier James Bashall then handed over command to Brigadier Tyrone Urch. The new Commander is no stranger to this part of the world, having commanded 22 Engineer Regiment in Perham Down, deploying with them as part of 1 Mechanised Bde on Op TELIC 4 in 2004. He arrives back in the Garrison from HQ Land Forces.

4 RIFLES conducts Hostage Rescue Training "B" Company, 4th Battalion, The Rifles, based in Bulford, is currently the UK's Small Scale Focussed Intervention (SSFI) Battle Group ready at short notice to tackle any humanitarian or peace-keeping tasks that may arise around the world. As part of its preparations to be mobilised, it mounted "Exercise Seastrike", at Browndown Training Camp, in Lee-on-Solent. The scenario for the exercise was set in a fictitious north African country and it included a covert beach landing and the threat of an unknown number of terrorists in the disused fort complex. At the start of the exercise "B" Company was scrambled to rescue two British nationals working for the International Red Cross who had been taken hostage by a group believed to be terrorists. Under cover of darkness, a reconnaissance platoon was flown in by Royal Navy Sea King helicopter to gather as much information it could about the location and enemy. A daylight assault began with soldiers landing by ridge inflatable boats onto a shale beach. They engaged the enemy in a fire-fight before gaining a foothold in the concrete fort complex and battling-on as they searched for the two hostages. To add to the smoke and grenades an unknown voice constantly provoked them through a speaker. "It's very confusing especially when you don't really know how many enemy are in a place", said Major Nathan Teale, OC "B" Company. "They've got to work around such problems, so it's testing them. The more realistic you can make it, the better the quality the training and people will remember the lessons they've learned."

Ffarwel a bob hwyl ! Bulford will be losing one of its best known faces at the end of this month when Ministry of Defence Police Constable Viv Phillips moves back to Wales after more than 13 years as Unit Beat Officer in Bulford. Viv joined the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) in 1983 following 14 years’ service with the RAF. He then worked at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, a weapons factory in Cardiff, then at Boscombe and Larkhill before being posted to Bulford in 1995 to be the first Unit Beat Officer for Tidworth and Bulford Garrison starting on his birthday ! Viv began running Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) classes at local primary schools in 1994 while he was in Larkhill; he continued these classes for 10 years, teaching over 2000 children during that time. When DARE was discontinued, he set up “Bee Aware” for our Garrison primary schools. “They all know me !” he joked with Drumbeat. “One of my old pupils came up to me the other day to show me her new baby ... and once, someone from one of my classes recognised me when I was on holiday in Florida !” Viv also gave talks to secondary schools, colleges, cadets and Wives’ Clubs about drugs awareness and dangers on the ranges. He also ran Internal Training Days for Garrison Units. In 1978 he joined with Sgt Paul Oatway (Wilts Police) Sgt Scott Harding (RMP) and Hilary Hollinsworth (Tidworth Community Development Worker) to set up Tidworth Blue Light Day, which is still held every August, to raise local awareness of the work of the Police and the Emergency Services. In July 2006 he received his Long Service and Good Conduct medal from MDP Deputy Chief Constable, David Rae, (picture). In December of the same year he was chosen as the top Unit Beat Officer in the Ministry of Defence Police and, going forward into a national competition to find the nation’s top community policeman, was beaten only by an inner city team from another part of the country. Viv and his wife Sandy will be moving back to Wales in February, where Viv will be the Unit Beat Officer in Brecon. “It is a newly created post”, Viv told Drumbeat, “I am looking forward to the challenge, although I shall be very sorry to leave all the people I have worked with in the Garrison over the years”. We wish him all the best for the future.

Thank you ...

The proceeds from the 3 (UK) Division fortnightly coffee mornings, organised by WO2 Alison Lewis, have been given to the charity, Help for Heroes. The coffee mornings have been running for a year, with different departments taking it in turns to bake the cakes. A cheque for £724.75 was presented to Mark Elliott, Director of Operations for Help for Heroes by the GOC, Major General BWB White-Spunner CBE.

The icing on the cakes ... Army Chefs are just as adept at cooking in field kitchens on the front line as they are at home in the cookhouse. Christmas cake decorating competitions make an ideal opportunity for them to give free rein to their creative imaginations ! 1 Mech Bde and 12 Mech Bde held a Christmas Cake Competition at the Tidworth Super Diner last month - with 50 cakes entered from 14 units across both brigades. LCpl Kerry Bates, 4 RIFLES with her entry: a cake in the shape of a wreath

Three of the four winning cakes came from the Irish Guards in Aldershot. The winning cakes are pictured here with competition organisers Sgt Gus Campbell from 19 Regt RA and Sgt Lee Richardson from 1 Mech Bde HQ & Sig Sqn (215) who both work in the Superdiner. The 43 (Wx) Bde Competition was held at The Duke of Gloucester Barracks in South Cerney, with entries from Units all over the West Country. The winners in every category came from 3 MERCIAN based here in Tidworth. Congratulations everyone !

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