The Queen’s Royal Surrey Regimental Museum, at Clandon Park, near Guildford, reopens this weekend after a project to carry out vital conservation work. Through its collections of memorabilia and uniforms, the museum explores the history of Surrey’s infantry from 1661 to the American War of Independence, the Crimean War and both world wars. It now also includes the story of soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.
The £100,000 project was undertaken by the Queen’s Royal Surrey Association, with help from a Heritage Lottery fund grant. It has been completed in time for the 350th anniversary of the formation of the Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey), the oldest English infantry regiment, in October. The museum is now hoping to recruit volunteers to help with its running.
It opens on Sunday from 12-5pm. For details of opening times: 01483 223419; www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk
British Minehunter tops the class in the Mediterranean
A Royal Navy minehunter has been scoring top marks in a Nato mine-killing exercise around the Strait of Gibraltar. As part of her six-month deployment with Standing Nato Mine Countermeasures Group 1, HMS Brocklesby has been taking part in Exercise Noble Mariner. It involves 21 warships from 17 Nato countries and is designed to test a task group sent to keep lines of communication free in disputed waters.
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Thanks to the weeks they have spent together already, the Group was able to begin its task of mine clearance almost immediately, working in shallow water off the south coast of Spain. To date, HMS Brocklesby has identified and recovered five dummy mines in her area of operations, the most recovered by any ship during this exercise.
The task group has taken part in warfare generation, with Spanish Navy personnel acting as attacking forces. In an exercise, one helicopter flew less than 50ft (15m) from the surface of the sea, skimming the wave tops as HMS Brocklesby manoeuvred at top speed to keep her close-range weapons trained.
Wounded soldier makes free with his new bionic arm
A 23-year-old soldier who lost his arm during a fire fight with insurgents in southern Afghanistan last September has become the first military amputee to receive a prosthesis with new technology that could bring hope to hundreds of forces personnel who have lost limbs in the line of duty. Corporal Andrew Garthwaite is a regular visitor to the new Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak Hospitals in Birmingham, where two weeks ago, he was fitted with an advanced new bionic arm.
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As Corporal Garthwaite admitted: “When I first got here, I was sat there thinking, ‘Oh God, this is it — I can’t ride my bike again — I can’t do this. . .’ I was thinking of everything that I couldn’t do.” Now, by flexing his pectoral muscles, back muscles, or a combination of both, he can pick up and put down objects, switch the mechanical action to bend at the elbow, and open and close the hand of his new bionic arm. Remarkably, it took him only half an hour to get to grips with operating the prosthesis.
HMS Bulwark rejoins the Fleet
After an 11-month upgrade which has improved her flight deck capability, upgraded her floodable dock, increased night-vision capacity for her landing craft and air assets, improved crew comfort for her ship’s company of 380 and given her hull and superstructure an 8,000-litre lick of paint, the 21,500-tonne amphibious landing ship Bulwark has returned to the Fleet ready for worldwide action.
The refit by Babcock Marine at Bulwark’s home port, Devonport, was her first docking period since she was commissioned in April 2005. Her CO, Captain Alex Burton, said: “Acceptance back into the Fleet is an important date for HMS Bulwark and her future role as the fleet flagship in October this year.”
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Parachute troops leap into new virtual world
A virtual reality parachute trainer, recently opened at RAF Brize Norton’s Parachute Training School, uses the latest digital imagery to create a realistic virtual world in which to train Service personnel. The trainer allows parachute students to be suspended by harnesses and wear virtual-reality goggles to practise jumps in a range of realistic environments. Instructors are able to simulate rain, fog and snow, and can choose any time of day or night. Wind speed and direction can also be adjusted to make the descent more challenging. Simulated emergencies enable parachutists to practise drills realistically but safely.
Flight Lieutenant Rich Pike, an instructor at the school, said: “The new parachute trainer gives us the ability to put paratroopers through highly realistic simulated parachute descents, in which they can be tested on the correct drills to a level previously only achieved by jumping from an aircraft.”