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The eCavalry Memorial Parade and Service is on Sunday 9th of May 2021 starting at 1100hrs.

Herewith the YouTube link for this year’s Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association’s Parade and Service on the 97th Anniversary of the Unveiling and Dedication of the Cavalry Memorial:

Please note the following:

• The Order of Service can be found on Page 2.
• The screening will be running on YouTube (you don’t need an account to view it).
• The introduction by the President of the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association (Lt Gen Sir William Rollo KCB, CBE) will start at 1100 hrs.
• You can logon to the link at your convenience anytime prior to 1100hrs, and following this initial screening it will remain on YouTube for people to watch at a later date / time.
• Please feel free to use the chat function, but note that you will need a YouTube account (and be logged in) to do so.

We sincerely hope that next year we will all be able to meet in person in Hyde Park to hold the normal Parade and Service. As this is, once again, not possible this year we hope that you enjoy this virtual alternative.

Lt Col (Retd) Richard Watson | RAC Corps Secretary

As you will be aware, the ceremonial royal funeral of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, our Colonel-in-Chief, will be held at St George’s Chapel, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, at 3pm on Saturday 17 April. The event will be televised.

Further information can be found on Page 2.

On Monday 22 March, the SofS for Defence briefed Parliament on the Defence Command Paper: ‘Defence in a competitive age’. The paper is the Defence extraction of the the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy (IR): ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age’. It lays out how Defence will adapt to implement the findings of the IR including the additional £24Bn investment for Defence announced in December 2020. You may wish to read the paper in slower time, particularly the emphasis it places on the UK’s aspiration to be best in the world at looking after its veterans.

I don’t intend to summarise the paper but I do want to give you the key facts as they relate to QRH. The paper reaffirms the threat to the UK from Russia and that NATO remains the cornerstone of UK Defence and Security Policy. This top-level decision lends itself to the retention of warfighting capability in 3 (UK) Division, including a commitment to invest £1.3Bn into 148 x Challenger 3. Looking in more detail, the Armoured Infantry Brigades that form the heavy end of the Army’s warfighting capability will evolve to become Heavy Brigade Combat Teams. This is more than a change in name. It has implications for the armoured infantry who will no longer be equipped with the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle. The decision has been taken to build the Heavy Brigade Combat Teams around Challenger 3, Ajax and Boxer.

There will be no cap badges deletions or redundancies but the Army will reduce to 72,500 full-time, trade-trained strength by 2025. There is no indication that the Army intends to re-role the Regiment from MBT. You may ask whether the decision to reduce the number of Challenger 2 from 227 to 148 Challenger 3 is a threat to the Regiment. The answer is that 148 is the number of Challenger 3 required for 2 MBT regiments (227 was the number required for 3 regiments as was decided in the 2010 Strategic Defence Review).

These are the facts as they relate directly to QRH. There will no doubt be a lot of good and bad analysis of the Defence Command Paper and what it means. The combat arms are going through another period of change as the nation adapts to new threats to national security but the commitment to invest in MBT is a good outcome for the Regiment.

The following message from Maj Gen Arthur Denaro CBE DL who commanded the Irish Hussars Battlegroup, can be found on page 2:

The following has been received from Harry Bucknall, Gamekeeper PR, Communications & Book Events:

“Voices of the Gulf War, is a special podcast produced by ABF The Soldiers Charity to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Gulf War – an episode in history that, to quote Maj Gen Arthur Denaro, was probably “the last really big high speed manouevre war”.

It was my great privilege to interview among others, Gen Sir Rupert Smith, Maj Gen Patrick Cordingley, Maj Gen Arthur Denaro, Brig Jim Tanner, Kate Adie, Alfie Roberts and Brian Ricky Richards, the youngest soldier to deploy on Operation Granby – I hope you enjoy the programme.”

The link to the podcast is below:

The following is from Matthew Cart, British Forces Resettlement Services (BFRS):

“Good Morning,

I am contacting you from British Forces Resettlement Services (BFRS) to advise you about our next Employment Fair for the Armed Forces Community (AFC). As a social enterprise we have key social objectives, one of these being that those who have served, or part of the AFC are not disadvantaged when moving into future careers due to that service.”

Further details about this event can be found on page 2

The Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association (CCOCA) is well advanced with putting in place plans to deliver some form of Cavalry Memorial Parade and Service, with contingency plans seeing ever reducing regimental representation, which of course will be driven entirely by HMG COVID restrictions in place at the time.

Further details can be found on page 2.

This week the Regiment were pleased to finally be able to place the 4th and 8th Hussar Memorials outside the RHQ building in Tidworth.

Due to some confusion with the original plans the concrete plinths on which they were to be mounted were not of the correct size and were in the wrong place. After resubmitting the plans (and some gentle persuasion from the QM) new plinths were requested and installed in late December.

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In preparation for the memorials being moved to their new home the RSM provided a merry band of volunteers to clean and polish them as they had been stored in the QM department for over 18 months since they were moved from Athlone Bks in the Summer of 2019.

The 3rd Hussar flagpole memorial will hopefully be in place just after Easter this year. The delay is due to various engineering surveys that have to be completed prior to its installation.

The Cavalry Lunch Club (CLC) will be meeting for lunch and a talk from Sir Richard Dearlove on Thu 1 Jul 21.

Booking information and notes about the speaker can be found on page 2.

Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was commissioned into the 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars in February 1885. He spent 9 happy years with the Regiment including a period as Adjutant.