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The Regiments Issue
2nd May
Black Watch Battle Bus on its way to London!
The Black Watch have been privately funding a "Battle Bus" for the last two
weeks which has been touring in support of the Campaign and specifically the
locally endorsed Save the Scottish Regiment candidate.
The Sponsor is heading South tomorrow with the aim of arriving in London on
Wednesday, probably in mid-afternoon, and to Parliament Square for a photo
opportunity.
Conservative
pledge to save the Regiments
Scottish Conservatives - ANCRAM PLEDGES TO SAVE REGIMENTS AS
DUNCAN DEMANDS TROOPS HAVE RIGHT TO VOTE
Howard: "In week one of a Conservative Government, we shall
reverse Labour's cuts to Scottish Regiments
10th April
Successful March and Rally in London.
Save the Regiments was well supported with some 1,500
participants.
Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Campaigners march on to save
regiments
Sky News : Old Soldiers Join Merger Protest March
Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond told the rally:
"Scotland's historic regiments provide the army with the best
infantry soldiers in the world bar none.
"The strong links that exist between the regiments and the
communities they serve is one of the key reasons behind their
success."
ITV News: Scottish soldiers in protest march
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Election 2005 | Scotland | Scots march in
Army cuts protest
Shadow Scottish Secretary Peter
Duncan accused the government of betraying Scotland's regiments.
He added: "And their crass cuts to our Army at a time when they
are fighting on behalf of our country have staggered and
alienated the nation."
the Mail online | Mail - news, sport, showbiz, health and more |
Campaigners bid to save regiments
ThisisLondon
24th March
Scotsman.com News - UK - British troops to stay in Iraq 'until
2006'
Telegraph | News | Britain's troops take the strain as Dutch
pull out
How can it be right to cut the
infantry in these circumstances?
22nd March
Save the Regiments London March and Rally, Saturday 9th April
2005 from 1300 hrs
This is the big one to put a stop
to the cuts!
Quite apart from the values and
traditions of the Regiments set out below, never was there
a less appropriate time for damaging cuts in the infantry when,
quite evidently, peace has not broken out across the
world, as some had predicted.
Timings/Locations of the March and Rally:
Assemble at Speakers' Corner area at 1300 hrs onwards
Hyde Park - March off 1400 hrs into Park Lane
along Piccadily/Piccadily Circus down Haymarket
into Trafalgar Square - arrive approx. 1500 hrs.
2nd March
Scotsman.com News - News Archive - PM's face-to-face with
regiments' campaign in Black Watch territory
Armed Forces' Pay Review Body Report 2005
Read
the Report that
Major Hamilton quoted from in Liverpool:
"In it, they admit that on operations last
year, the Army worked an AVERAGE of 75.9 hours a week – it’s in
here – in paragraph 2.45. ... The Government’s Working Hours
Regulations set 48 hours a week as a maximum fair civilian
working week. Our men worked 75.9 hours ... (for) less than the
national minimum wage but they don’t give details... That is
what they pay a young private soldier in Iraq.
They visited single and family service accommodation. Here is
what they say: ... “We have seen accommodation that varies from
excellent to appalling. (Paragraph 1) Almost half of the
unmarried living accommodation is in the lowest grade...
(Paragraph 1 again). 99% of service family accommodation in
Germany is below Standard 1. (Paragraph 4)."
And the Regiments are blamed for failing
to recruit fully?
1st March
PRESS CONFERENCE - LONDON - HOUSE OF COMMONS - 15th March
Following on from our successful Press Conference in Edinburgh
earlier this month we are holding a second Press Conference in
London on Tuesday 15th March (day before budget).
Details of further endorsements for mainstream political parties
plus candidates for Save the Scottish Regiments standing against
another Government minister and a Scottish MP will be announced.
09:45 - Press Photo Call outside Parliament
10:15 - Press Conference inside Portcullis House (part of Houses
of Parliament!!)
 Back
to the top
Legal
Challenge
20th February
Legal Challenge by The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB)
The Edinburgh Branch of the KOSB Association have mounted a
legal challenge to the merger of the Regiment with The Royal
Scots into the new "Royal Regiment of Scotland". The Regiment
was raised by an Act of Parliament in 1689, and the
Secretary of State's proposal are therefore outwith his power.
Click
here for a copy of their press-release.
Edinburgh Evening News - Scotland - Court battle looms over plan
to join regiments
Article from KOSB Association website about the Legal Challenge
SAVE
THE REGIMENTS
We support
SAVE THE
KINGS See
BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | City joins fight to save
regiment
Major Hamilton’s speech at the Liverpool Rally: 26 February 2005
The King's Regiment Liverpool March
Scotsman.com News - British armed forces - Ex-Royal Scots join
fight for King's Regiment
Back
to the top
The
Edinburgh Rally on
18th December was a great success. Up to 3,000 marched,
including 800 of The Royal Scots. Click on the their names
for the latest messages about the March from
Col Watson and
Lt Col Blythe.
Other March links:
Scotland on Sunday - Top Stories - On the march to save
regiments
BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Protest over merger of regiments
Telegraph | News | Protesters march against regiment cuts
Headline news from Sky News - Witness the event
the Mail online
They fought for us...
Why the Scottish Regiments must stay as
they are!
"Mr Hoon is
interfering in Scottish history and culture and that, most
certainly, is not part of his remit."
"Scotland has
always provided more soldiers for the British Army per
head of population than the rest of the United Kingdom.
That situation remains true to today: some 13.5% of the
army is recruited in Scotland."
"...all the Scottish
regiments, rightly, get some extra inner strength from
an understanding of their own traditions."
From a letter to the Prime Minister by
Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) R H Paterson OBE BA MLitt FCMI. For
the full argument click
here.
What can
you do?
Some suggestions from
Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) W J Blythe MBE
Click here for details
The famous
Scottish Regiments are to be merged
into a new large regiment of 5 battalions.
The Council of Scottish Colonels met on 4 October and this was
the decision that was been taken by them and recommended to the
Army Board. The difficulty of the instruction given to reduce
from 6 battalions to 5 is to be achieved by merging The Royal
Scots with The King’s Own Scottish Borderers as the First
Battalion of the new Regiment. The full details of the new
large Regiment have yet to be decided, but the original
direction was to create single cap badge, multi battalion
Regiments. This will mean that the new Regiment will have a
new cap badge, name and common uniform. The old names are
set to continue as subsidiaries to the new name, but for how
long?
The Colonels next meet in mid December once the initial
decisions have been ratified by the Secretary of State. It will
be at this meeting that the details will be discussed.
26th October 2004
The Scotsman's petition to save the
regiments
The Scotsman today launches a campaign to
save the threatened Scottish regiments and to impress on the
government the growing public anger over its plans.
"The campaign reflects the fury over the government’s plans to
reward the regiments for their service in Iraq by putting an end
to hundreds of years of history as independent fighting units."
Black Watch: The betrayal of a
regiment
There have been many good articles in the press about the
value of the existing Regimental system, most notably in
with one article in particular poignantly titled
"Hoon ends 370 years of Scots military tradition in 14 minutes."
Many famous names have already been lost. The
Seaforths and the Camerons merged to form the Queens Own
Highlanders, then merged again with The Gordons to form
The Highlanders. The Royal Scots Fusiliers merged
with the Highland Light Infantry to form
The Royal
Highland Fusiliers. The Cameronians have
disappeared, and in the Cavalry, the famous Scots Greys merged
with the Welsh Carabineers to form
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. All we have left
now, unmerged, in their original form are four Regiments,
The Royal Scots,
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB),
The
Black Watch and
The Argylls,
who were only just saved from disbandment by a vigorous campaign
"Save the Argylls" in the early '70s.
The 6 remaining single Battalion Scottish Infantry Regiments are
part of our heritage, and we place great value on them.
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