The Sirmoor Rifles) Regimental Trust 60 Property and PRI 61
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0 The Queen’s Truncheon at the 200th Anniversary Lunch (see story p.48) 1 http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com CONTENTS President’s Foreword 3 Chairman’s Letter 5 Editorial 7 Honorary Secretary’s Notes Membership 8 2GR Website 8 Diary of Forthcoming Events 9 Notices 10 The Sirmoor Register Deaths 11 Obituaries 11 Sirmoor Club Members’ News 21 Sirmoor Club Activities - Sirmoor Golf Society 24 - Sirmoor Shooting 26 Royal Gurkha Rifles Newsletters 37 Articles General Frederick Young 43 The Sirmoor Club 200th Anniversary Lunch 48 A Sirmoor Tale from Kohima 54 Gurkha Stamps 55 Books 56 Trustees of the 2nd Goorkhas (The Sirmoor Rifles) Regimental Trust 60 Property and PRI 61 Editor: Nick Hinton, 24 Gilpin Avenue, London SW14 8QY; Phone 0208 876 3136 or 07808 247861, Email: [email protected]. All rights reserved. Contents of The Sirmooree may not be reproduced without prior permission of the Editor. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Sirmoor Club or the Editor. 2 http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD Dear Sirmoorees, This is my first foreword as the new President of the Sirmoor Club, having taken over the reins from Lieutenant General Sir Peter Duffell in September last year. I must therefore start with an apology, in that duty precludes me from being with you all physically until December this year. I am currently the Chief Mentor leading a team of British, Australian, New Zealand and Danish Mentors who are developing the Afghan National Army Officer Academy and training their instructors, at Qargha, Kabul on a 14 month tour. It is a beautiful location surrounded by hills and snow-covered mountains at 6000 feet. From a Regimental perspective, we are literally on the road that the then Major General Frederick Sleigh Roberts marched along with his column on his way from Kabul to Kandahar. It is not difficult to imagine soldiers of the 2nd Goorkhas picketing the high ground all around us. It is a deep privilege and honour to be your President. I am a committed and dedicated 2nd Goorkha, RGR and Brigade officer and hope to be the bridge between the old and new Brigade within our Regimental community. Like most of us, the Brigade has been my life for the last 36 years and it will continue to be so. It is my avowed intent that we will flourish as a Regimental Association as the years go by. We have a rich heritage and a thriving membership and long may it continue. We are a family, and friendships forged in peace and on operations and in the shared comradeship of being in a marvellous Regiment make us, like all other Regiments, unique in our own way. It is also the way of all Regiments that we learn from each other and pass our traditions on. I would like to publicly thank two of my mentors, Lieutenant General Sir Peter Duffell and Brigadier Bruce Jackman for their leadership of the Sirmoor Club and Regimental Association. 3 http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com Sir Peter is a modest man, and I know that he is uncomfortable with praise or fuss, but he deserves our sincere thanks and admiration for the way he has led us over the last 10 years. As a Brigade officer, aside from his personal courage, he has had some of the most difficult duties to perform, not least the drawdown of the Brigade of Gurkhas when he was Major General Brigade of Gurkhas. As a RGR officer, I have nothing but the greatest admiration for his foresight in creating RGR and, as our first Regimental Colonel, steering us to develop the strong ethos we enjoy today. He has provided exactly the same guidance as our President, and he will be a tough act to follow. I am, however, sure that he will continue to be a source of wise and considered advice in the future, supported, as always, by Annie. Brigadier Bruce has been the power behind the throne of the Sirmoor Club in various guises for most of the last 23 years, a remarkable and selfless achievement from a true son of the Regiment. His irrepressible humour, cheerfulness and dedication have been an example to us all and we could not have been better served. He deserves our deepest thanks and is in large part responsible for the fact that we are thriving, and for coordinating the intricacies of our 200th Anniversary last year. He is replaced by Colonel William Shuttlewood, another mentor of mine, and a deeply committed Regimental Officer. Between us we will continue to shape things so that we keep on moving forward. I commend this edition of the Sirmooree to you, most ably compiled and edited by Nick Hinton. I am sure that you will enjoy it and that it will keep you both up to date with Brigade affairs, but also rekindle memories of people, places and our amazing Gurkha soldiers, the reason that we are who we are – proud officers and soldiers of a fine Regiment. I will finish by saying simply this, the modern Brigade’s daily motto (taken from 5RGR): ‘Hami Jasto Kohi Chhaina’ – (There is nobody quite like us) – meaning that we are different and unique. We are all 2nd Goorkhas, and there is a definite uniqueness in that. IAR 4 http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com CHAIRMAN’S LETTER This will be my last 'Chairman's Letter' as I stand down from having been your Chairman for the last 13 years and Honorary Secretary for 10 years before that, just before the Regiment was amalgamated to form The Royal Gurkha Rifles. Much has happened since then of which we can be very proud. We have always been very supportive of RGR, 'gifting' them our silver and Regimental chattels, the Queen’s Truncheon and lali. Without question the Sirmoor Rifles Association, which includes the whole Sirmoor 'family', has evolved as the leading Regimental Association in the Brigade, something recognised by the Gurkha Brigade Association (GBA). Indeed, we have instigated many ideas and initiatives taken up by the GBA. The Sirmoor Club has a large membership, maintaining its strength as sons and daughters join to fill the ranks of our veterans who pass on. Please encourage your offspring to continue the movement. We have an active ongoing programme of events, so much so that we attract officers from other Regimental Associations who join us in all of them. Long may these activities continue, but they will only do so if we have volunteers to organise them. Our finances, both in the Sirmoor Club and the 2GR Trust, are sound and healthy, witness how we were able to fund such an outstanding 200th Anniversary last year. Our website is the envy of other Regimental Associations and has led the way in improving communications across the Brigade and within the Sirmoor Rifles Association, thanks very largely to the skill and dedication of our Webmaster, Nigel St George. The website has now been developed into an inclusive Sirmoor Rifles Association website with the Sirmoor Club, Sirmoor Club Nepal and the Sirmoor Sathis having their own areas on the site and control of their own input. This recognises the value of modern-day IT social networks and bodes very well for future 'milap' across the Association. In my last Chairman's Letter I mentioned that our then President, Lieutenant General Sir Peter Duffell, had decided to step down at the end of our 200th Anniversary Year after a very busy decade at the helm. He duly handed over to Brigadier Ian Rigden after the Sirmoor Sathis Delhi Day Reunion in September. As someone who commanded 2nd Battalion RGR from 2003 to 2006 including a tour in Afghanistan, for which he was made OBE, and was 5 http://www.2ndgoorkhas.com then subsequently Colonel Brigade of Gurkhas, our new President not only comes with a unique insight into the running of the Brigade but also provides an important link with our successors in RGR. The Army has posted Ian to run the Afghan National Army Officer Academy in Kabul for his last tour of duty in the Army. Modern technology means that he is able to stay in touch and carry out his duties for the Sirmoor Rifles Association and the Sirmoor Club, but his presence at meetings and Reunions may be difficult until he finally retires in 2017. Now the new President is in place I feel it is the right time for me to hand over as Chairman and for a new generation to take over and guide us through the next era of our history. I am most grateful to Colonel William Shuttlewood for volunteering to relieve me sometime after our Reunion and AGM in May, which will be my last duties as Chairman. By that time he will have retired from his very successful tenure as Director of The Gurkha Welfare Trust. William was Commandant of 1/2GR when both Battalions amalgamated to form 2GR, and then became the first Commandant of the 2nd Goorkhas since 1886. What better qualification than that for assuming Chairmanship of the Sirmoor Rifles Association! William was made OBE for his time in command of both units and especially for his astute handling of a most successful amalgamation. Like our new President, William too held the appointment of Colonel Brigade of Gurkhas at one time so in having both of them at the helm of the Sirmoor Rifles Association we have a formidable amount of Gurkha knowledge and experience gained at the highest level in the Brigade. Also, having been Director of the leading Gurkha charity in the country for 11 years, William could not be better qualified to chair the Board of Trustees of the 2GR Trust, our Regimental charity.