Salute our heroes at big celebration

Ali Powell • Published 17 Jun 2008 14:00 0 Comments

THE public gets its chance this weekend to officially salute members of 7 Rifles who completed a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province.

The occasion is the celebration of 100 years of the TA, when there will be a weekend of military pageantry and homage on Saturday and Sunday.

It will also be an opportunity for the town and the rest of Berkshire to meet some of the Territorial Army members of 7 Rifles whose performance in Afghanistan was widely praised.

TA officers and soldiers based at Brock Barracks, Oxford Road, will be joined by the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, the mayor of Reading and members of the Veterans' Association, Cadets Forces and Army Benevolent Fund for an open day on Saturday.

Members of the public can visit Brock Barracks between 2-5pm to meet the soldiers from 7 Rifles. There will be displays on the history of the barracks itself, the original Royal Berkshire Regiment, with modern military equipment being demonstrated by TA soldiers who will be talking about their experiences in Afghanistan.

On the Sunday morning three TA units - Hermitage-based 135 Geographical Independent Engineer Squadron, 94 (Berkshire Yeomanry) Signal Squadron and 7 Rifles - will mount displays of equipment and weaponry in Reading town centre between 11am-4pm. The Territorial Army's Waterloo Band will be playing during the day alongside the exhibition in Broad Street, near the Marks and Spencer store.

The weekend celebrations will come to a close on Sunday at 4pm with a service of thanksgiving at the Minster Church of St Mary in the Butts, which will be attended by civic dignitaries from across the county and the address will be given by the Bishop of Reading, the Right Rev Stephen Cotterell.

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 17 Jun 08

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