FAREWELL 5SCOTS, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders

[Grandad]

Canterbury has been a garrison city for centuries and that association with the army effectively came to an end today. Howe barracks (soon to close and be redeveloped) has been home to a range of regiments but the current and final residents is 5SCOTS, The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. The defence review has meant that some regiments are being amalgamated, reduced or disbanded. 5SCOTS is to be reduced from its present 600 men to one company of 100 men and those are being relocated to Edinburgh. Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders has a distinguished record of service since its formation in 1794. In recent years the regiment has seen service in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The regiment said goodbye today with a parade through the city, and as is their right as Freemen of the City, with swords drawn, bayonets fixed and regimental colours flying. They were led by the sound of the Battalion pipes and drums. The parade was followed by a service at the Cathedral and on Friday The Queen will visit the barracks to say her farewell. That will be a fairly private event and photo opportunities are unlikely.

I took some pictures of the parade and here are a few that I liked.


Pipe and Drums of the Regimental band

The Regimental Colours

One of the six Companies

Some of the young soldiers

I think it is a sad day for Canterbury that has had such a long history of association with the British Army and also a sad reflection on the state of our military, continually being reduced until we no longer have First world capability.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Sad to see them go. Also very sad that their numbers are being reduced. Interesting how these decisions come about and the rationale behind them.

The uniforms and parades are quite stunning and there is nothing like the sound of bagpipes in the world. I personally love to hear them and no parade is 'real' unless there are Pipers present IMO. I have several cousins who are Pipers and several cousins who were very involved in Highland dancing as little girls.

Terrific photos Grandad. Sad to see your Pipers go. Unfortunate decision.

[Jayway]

Sorry, Grandad, that your country is falling apart, hope you get into "survival mode" like me. Grow your food,buy your seed from the seed bank clubs, get your drinking water from the spring in the hills and look into alternative medicines and solar power, you will need that in your winters - - Today I bottled beetroot, made plum sorbet, started drying my oregano and sage, picked a bucket of "fruit in packets" to juice tomorrow and tried not to think about the drones and clones that are coming instead of live soldiers - -

[LovelyLadyLux]

All it will take to bring us all down is for one switch that runs computers to be thrown/shut off and none of us will know what happened. I think we're all so dependent on cyber world that we wouldn't know how to live otherwise.

I have a feeling that we're eliminating military bodies cause we no longer need live bodies in case of armed conflict/invasion. I think we can drone them into oblivion.

Sometimes when I think about the world I grew up in and the world I'm living in now it makes me sad. It was a much simpler time but I'm not convinced it wasn't a far better world than the one we're in now and I dread to see where we are heading to.......makes me shudder to think........

[Kiya]

My heart misses a beat everytime I see/hear a pipe band very sad day indeed Grandad to see them go

Great photos

[Grandad]

Thanks for your comments ladies

Jay you really seem to be living 'the good life' and I am a teeny bit envious. The only thing I hate is solar panels. Some rooves nearby are completely clad in panels, they look horrible and are certainly not cost effective. That said, I suppose in a changing world we have to accept and get used to changes.

The same goes for our military. Combat is nothing like in the past and I agree with LLL that there will be more and more automatic weaponry. I was playing devils advocate to some extent in bemoaning the reduction in our armed forces. I just believe that we can rightly take great pride in our military heritage and the young men who even today are at risk of the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts for which there is no justification or hope of 'winning'.

I included the picture of the young soldiers because any one of them may not have been able to parade with pride but for the grace of God. 5SCOTS lost a number of men in Afghanistan and they could have been any of those on parade yesterday.

They marched proudly and I felt proud of them. But I am a bit of a softy and an old RAF man

[Horus]

Nothing so smart as a marching Scots regiment in full regalia and a pipe band playing.