No. 122 November 2012
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No. 122 November 2012 THE RED HACKLE RAF A4 JULY 2012_Layout 1 01/08/2012 10:06 Page 1 their future starts here Boarding Boys & Girls aged 9 to 18 Scholarship Dates: Sixth Form Saturday 17th November 2012 Junior (P5-S1) Saturday 26th January 2013 Senior (Year 9/S2) Monday 25th – Wednesday 27th February 2013 Forces Discount and Bursaries Available For more information or to register please contact Felicity Legge T: 01738 812546 E: [email protected] www.strathallan.co.uk Forgandenny Perthshire PH2 9EG Strathallan is a Scottish Charity dedicated to education. Charity number SC008903 No. 122 42nd 73rd November 2012 THE RED HACKLE The Chronicle of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), its successor The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Affiliated Regiments and The Black Watch Association The Old Colours of the 1st Battalion The Black Watch and 1st Battalion 51st Highland Volunteers were Laid Up in Perth on 23 June 2012. This was the final military act in the life of both Regiments. NOVEMBER 2012 THE RED HACKLE 1 Contents Editorial ..................................................................................................... 3 Regimental and Battalion News .............................................................. 4 Perth and Kinross The Black Watch Heritage Appeal, The Regimental Museum and Friends of the Black Watch ...................................................................... 8 is proud to be Correspondence ...................................................................................... 12 home to the Book Reviews .......................................................................................... 13 Black Watch Obituaries ................................................................................................ 14 Articles ..................................................................................................... 22 Museum and The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland ... 33 Home 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland ......... 55 Headquarters The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada ................. 59 The Tyneside Scottish ............................................................................. 60 Angus & Dundee Battalion Army Cadet Force .................................. 61 Delivering Quality to the Black Watch Battalion Army Cadet Force ........................................... 64 Heart of Scotland Association News .................................................................................... 68 Accountants to The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) For over 60 years the primary concern of Morris & Young has always been to provide sound business advice which is truly appropriate to the client’s needs. In order to achieve this it is vital to understand the commercial objectives, structure and nature of each client’s business and/or their personal financial aspirations. Our clients range from private individuals to public limited companies who require a rapid response to take advantage of new opportunities and whose activities may present major tasks requiring specialist knowledge. Long connections with The Black Watch give the firm a genuine understanding of the needs of those connected with the Regiment. For a copy of our brochure and/or a no obligation consultation contact Peter Young. 6 Atholl Crescent, Perth PH1 5JN Tel: 01738 626257 Fax: 01738 630845 e-mail: [email protected] Registered to carry on audit work by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for investment business. 2 THE RED HACKLE NOVEMBER 2012 THE Editorial Over the last 8 years, the Regimental Family have witnessed and lived through a RED HACKLE period of unprecedented and unwelcome change brought about by the rebalancing of the Army to achieve the Future Army Structure (FAS). This resulted in the removal of the single battalion Regiments and the forming of The Royal Regiment of Scotland and last year, at Holyrood Park, our old Colours were marched off parade in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. On 23 June 2012 the final military act in the life of the Regiment was executed. The Laying Up of Colours Parade and Service which took place in Perth brought to a close 267 years of history and it was fitting that the final parade should be held on the banks of the River Tay 272 years after the first muster at Aberfeldy. As well as the Colours of the 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), those of 1st Battalion 51st Highland Volunteers were also Laid Up. The latter Battalion was originally formed from the famous Black Watch Territorial Battalions, the 4th (City of Dundee), 5th (Angus), 6th (Perthshire) and 7th (Fife) as well as from other Highland Regiments. Led by a massed Pipes and Drums, the parade numbered well over 450 marching person- nel and between 800 and 1000 people attended the Church Service which was held beside the 51st Highland Division Memorial on the North Inch. The Regimental Family turned out in force and the whole day was carried out with great dignity and style. The occa- sion was greatly enhanced by the presence of a strong detachment of The Black Watch of Canada, including the Honorary Colonel, Colonel Daniel O’Connor and the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Bruno Plourde. They all looked resplendent in No1 Dress The Chronicle of and reminded us of better days. A full report and copies of the sermon and speeches are The Black Watch recorded in this Edition. (Royal Highland Regiment) The parade and service were followed by the launch of Volume 1 of the new its successor Regimental History, “The Highland Furies”. Victoria Schofield the author gave a short The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion talk and was on hand to sign copies of this most well written and researched history. We now look forward to 2015 and the publication of the second and final volume. At the The Royal Regiment of Scotland same event Colonel O’Connor presented a picture to the Museum. It celebrated the The Affiliated Regiments 150th anniversary of the formation of The Black Watch of Canada. Running and concurrently with the Book Launch, a very successful Reunion was held in the Bells’ The Black Watch Association Sports Centre. It was so successful that the bar had to be re-stocked on no less than three occasions! November 2012 On 6 July, Her Majesty The Queen as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations vis- No. 122 ited Perth. Accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh and looking happy and relaxed, Her Majesty was welcomed by Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin, Chairman of the Regimental Museum who duly invited her to unveil a bronze plaque to record the occa- Published for The Black Watch sion. Colonel Alex Murdoch, Chairman of the Regimental Association presented some of the staff and Association members and she was briefed on the planned building works and shown some artefacts which have Royal connections. The visit only lasted 20 minutes but was a memorable occasion. The builders have arrived in force, the development of the Wavell Gardens to create a car METHOD PUBLISHING park was completed in early July and the Museum was closed to the public from 1 September Sutherland Press House, Golspie, with a planned reopening date of April 2013. Sutherland, Scotland KW10 6RA The long awaited announcement on the reduction of the Army and how it would Telephone (01408) 633871 Fax (01408) 633876 to whom all enquiries regarding affect the Royal Regiment of Scotland was made in early July. Whilst Royal Regiment advertising should be addressed. of Scotland plans were well advanced to finally remove antecedent Regimental names Editorial Matter and Illustrations © Crown Copyright from the current battalions, political expediency trumped their intentions and Scotland’s Design and Typography © Method Publishing 2012 Infantry escaped quite lightly. Because of the Independence for Scotland debate it was only the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the 5th Battalion, that was affected, being The opinions expressed in the articles of the magazine reduced to Company (Balaclava Company) strength and confined to a Public Duties role are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy and views, official or otherwise, of the Regiment or in Scotland. the MOD. This publication contains official information. As part of the planned restructuring under the terms of Army 2020, RHQ of the Royal It should be treated with discretion by the recipient. Regiment of Scotland based at Edinburgh Castle has decided to reorganise its outstations to “The Red Hackle” is published every six months in no longer reflect antecedent regimental areas, rather to direct its influence to the three pop- May and November. Contributions large and small will always be welcome. They should be typewritten in double ulation “hubs” of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. Each of these offices will look after spacing on one side of the paper only. Photographs, community relations, now known as Community Engagement, within a defined geographi- cartoons and sketches of Regimental interest are also cal area of Scotland, thus disbanding the MOD office, amongst others in Balhousie Castle. welcome and will be returned if requested. Significantly, Representative Colonels’ are no longer responsible for providing the interface All material for inclusion in the various issues must reach the Editor not later than 1 April and 1 October between the antecedent regiments