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The
Friends of the Green Howards |
The
Green Howards, - Some Stories of Life in the Regiment |
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| Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment (19th Foot) The North York Militia, The North York Local Militia & North York Rifle Volunteers | ||||||||||||||||
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This page presents stories of Green Howards involved in sporting activities
or challenges. Some of the stories may have been written by serving Green Howards
themselves. These stories were written before the Green Howards became the
2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), but are indicative of
the sort of life that can be expected in the modern day Army.
There are also stories on this page of some of the less usual activities in
which modern infantry soldiers may be involved.
All of the stories are intended to help show that service as a modern infantry
soldier can be varied and exciting, and can that there are plenty of opportunities
for different activities. Select a story from one of the buttons below.
SOLDIERS GAIN QUALIFICATIONS USING ARMY LEARNING CREDITS
| 3 of the Green Howards in this story are shown below. Select one of the thumbnail size images below to obtain a larger sized image that opens in a new window. Click anywhere within the window that opens to close it. | ||||
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Lance Corporal ‘Doc’ Halliday |
Lance Corporal Cheesborough |
Lance Corporal Bradley |
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Five soldiers from 1st Battalion The Green Howards decided to take advantage of a new Army learning scheme to gain their Forklift operators licence. The Enhanced Learning Credit Scheme is open to all soldiers in the Green Howards and allows them to gain qualifications in civilian subjects, trades or skills that are not usually open to soldiers through military training establishment. One of the soldiers, Lance Corporal ‘Doc’ Halliday, who is currently taking a number of education courses by distance learning, realised that with a small personal financial contribution a civilian training company would come to the Battalion’s Barracks for a week and deliver the course. He quickly recruited another four soldiers to join him and they are now successfully qualified.
THE "OFFA'S 'ORROR" HALF MARATHON
B (KH) Company are developing something of a love affair with the Wye Valley. The majority of the company watched a hardy few on a fine summers evening run the ‘Tintern Trot’. The runners made claims of near vertical ascents to a place called ‘The Devil’s Pulpit’ but the run was over in less than an hour and the pain was soon forgotten. This was followed by the raft race down the River Wye itself, and just like the ‘Tintern Trot’ it was in theory only about six miles. One raft glided through the water, whilst the other, however, ploughed its way through leaving its crew suffering for a good few days. Then came the aptly named Offa’s Orror, a race that should come with a health warning. A few yards short of a half marathon but the organisers had made up for that discrepancy by adding over 500 meters of ascent! But what goes up must come down and the 500 meters of descent was probably more painful than the ascent due to the steepness and the ground under foot.
Despite the obvious reservations that some would have in tackling the run on
a cool Sunday morning, 13 members of the Company battled along with the other
162 runners and did themselves huge credit. The familiar warm up routine of
a gentle run and a few stretches were replaced with a cigarette for LCpl Freeman
and Pte Hamilton, much to the utter disbelief of some of the more serious runners!
Pte Harvey’s pre-race preparations were also fairly unique. Finishing
a stag party at 6 a.m. that morning, he rolled out the car 15 minutes before
the start, swapped his jeans for a pair of shorts and the less said about his
choice of footwear the better.
In spite of the unconventional preparations there were some impressive performances
to report. For nearly all involved this represented a first ever half marathon.
In more detail Lt Ashworth managed a top ten place with a time of 1.30.41, whilst
Pte Hall, the first soldier in with 1.42.04, was the best junior runner placed
at 32nd and was soon followed by 2Lt Mathieson and LCpl Anderson who came 36th
and 40th respectively. Times and places aside, many of the B (KH) Coy runners
are not exactly natural ‘runners’ and thereby making their efforts
all the more commendable especially when through their efforts they raised £250
for the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA). And what do we do next to beat
this ………..we’ll see……….!!!!
JEA
41st MONMOUTH GREAT CHARITY RAFT RACE, 2005
It is common knowledge that battalion life can throw some random activities the way of its young officers. And so it was for me. After just two days with the battalion, being the newest face in B(KH) Coy, I found myself tasked with taking part in a race which I was previously unaware of.
The Monmouth raft race is an annual trek for the amateur sailor, with the aim of raising large sums of money for local charity. This year the main charity in question was St. David’s Foundation Hospice. The race itself stretches six miles, to be negotiated by teams of between six and ten personnel on rafts of various types. A strict set of rules governs the construction of these rafts. For members of B(KH) Coy, the race formed part of the company commander’s expressed wish to see soldiers engaging in a wider variety of weekend activities.
Those picked for the B(KH) Coy team were split into two teams, with a raft apiece. Our rafts couldn’t have been much more different. One raft we acquired through a family connection, already decked out in Green Howards’ colours. This quickly became known as The Bismarck. The second raft was to be a collection of materials available from the quartermasters’ department, bound together by a lot of rope. This raft turned out to be three windsurfing boards with a wooden pallet attached to the top, arranged thanks to the skill and determination of Cpl Grainger. On seeing the two rafts, protestations of doom were heard from all destined to sail on the windsurf contraption. As expected, I would be skippering this masterpiece of design. Both crafts had been buoyancy tested and we were assured they would both float.
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B(KH) Coy team B (the surfboards) flying the flag:
2Lt Mathieson, Ptes Lancaster, Harvey, Donachie, LCpl Jeffries, Pte Collinson |
The weather on the day was perfect for our journey: plenty of sun, with enough wind to keep us cool on the water. As a result of the relatively hot weather, the water level was low and we anticipated a lot of paddling through the shallows.
On arriving at the river side we were met with all sorts of crafts, from all sorts of materials. There were many disparaging looks from veteran rafters as we hauled the surf boards to the waterside. At this point, this second team still appeared less than trusting of the raft’s ability to afloat. Whereas “The Bismarck” team packed their raft with people for extra paddling ability, we pared down the numbers to ensure speed through the water.
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B(KH) Coy Team B (The Bismarck) getting that sinking
feeling: Ptes Henderson, Dobson, Lt Ashworth, Sgt Gedney, LCpl Mannion, Pte Simpson, LCpl Anderson, Cpl Shields, Pte Stevenson 67, Cpl Mealor |
All doubts were immediately shattered on hitting the water. Within the first ten minutes, the surfboards had raced past at least twelve other rafts. The Bismarck was still being manhandled down the riverbank. As we made our way downstream, we noticed high spirited crowds developing on bridges high above us and soon felt the impact of egg, flour and water balloons. Our light raft and aerodynamic construction meant we spent little time as potential targets for throwers. As were sped past other seemingly experienced rafters, with company flag fluttering in the breeze, a previously unknown faith in the hastily prepared craft was found by all on her. Eggs, flour, mud and water cannons couldn’t stop us. Meanwhile, The Bismarck crew (decked out in their number 2 shirts and hats) were, we were to later find out, struggling over rocks and vegetation in the shallow water.
Reaching the half way point, we decided not to make any personnel changes and raced past our intended substitutes as they watched from a nearby pub, pint in hand. Before we knew it, the finish line was in sight, along with the company commander, knee deep in water, camera in hand. The rest of the company party was, of course cheering us on from the event bar.
Once we had landed our raft, all that was left for us was to sit and wait for the other team to arrive, a wait which turned out to be considerable, as the times listed below clearly show!
B(KH) Coy team A (The Bismarck): 3hrs 7mins
B(KH) Coy team B (The surfboard contraption): 1hr 58mins
The fastest team of the day came in after 1hr 22mins of paddling, while the slowest team put in 5hrs 42mins of paddling. Overall the company raised £300 for charity.
2Lt E S Mathieson
OC 5 Pl
B(KH) Coy
"SLEEPLESS IN THE SADDLE" MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE
The Team at the finish – Major Mark Coleman, Major Paddy Little,
Adam Kelly (Retired !), and Private Shane Pavlovic
It was a Thursday when Major Little called me unexpectedly, even more unexpected was his request. A twenty – four hour mountain biking race was much beyond anything I had done previously. Inconveniently my grandmother (who I only see once a year) had just got into Scarborough and wanted to see me, so I had to tell the OC (Major Little) that I couldn’t do it. However throughout the day it played on my mind and decided that it might be possible to do the race and still get to spend some time with my Nana. The OC was delighted when I told him I was up for it, and it was set.
The race was on the Saturday Morning and despite a scare on the Thursday when I snapped my rear derailleur clean off my bike I was up for the challenge. There were a lot of pre race nerves (and regrets) in the team of three officers, (one retired) and me.
Major Little started the race for us, which included a sprint to the bikes. This turned out to be at least BPFA distance. The first lap was a good solid lap that probably had us in a respectable position at that point. The second man to complete a lap was Adam Kelly a retired officer of the Green Howards, followed by Major Coleman then me. The race was done in a relay format with a baton being passed to the next man just before he began his lap, so we didn’t get much rest in between laps.
Through the night there were only three of us due to Adam had baby sitting responsibilities to look after his young son. As the night grew older and colder, commitment was tested and we all must have struggled to put on those cold, wet cycling shorts again. However, we somehow managed to maintain pretty constant riding, despite having to share only one set of powerful riding lights (different to normal bike lights for riding on roads).
When the sun came up relief was short lived as it quickly turned into an extremely hot day. However, with the sun drying up the track and raising morale, lap times improved once again. It all ended with Major Little completing the final lap and rejoining a team of very relieved men. We were all tired and agreed not to stay for the handing out of prizes – it never seemed likely we were in the running for a podium spot !
Our fastest lap was by Major Little, and was still about eight minutes slower than the fastest man altogether. I got our second place spot, and in actual fact all the team’s fastest lap times were faster than the Army B Team’s times – very satisfying. The OC was definitely happy but more than anything else we were all relieved that we did it, and came away with a good t-shirt and no broken bones. Would I do it again ? Hmmmm………….. Would I recommend it ? Of course I would !!!!
