Page 107 - MERCIAN Eagle 2018

Lt Col Rob Prentice speaking at the memorial to the Cheshire Regiment at Audregnies, Belgium
This year, with the kind permission of the Trustees, we were able to meet in the courtyard of Chester Military Museum for an afternoon and evening when over 400 members crammed into every available space to enjoy one another’s company.
In early August, the Cheshire Regiment Association was represented at the Royal British Legion’s “One Hundred Days” ceremony, to commemorate the centenary of the launch of the ‘Hundred Days Offensive’ by members of Stockport Branch who joined the parade of Standards through Ypres to the Menin Gate where a wreath was laid during the moving ceremony.
Later in the month, Lt Col Rob Prentice, Commanding Officer of the EJSU at SHAPE HQ, invited members of the Association
to a dinner at SHAPE in order to celebrate and commemorate the 22nd’s feat of arms at the Battle of Mons. We sat down to an excellent meal in the form of a regimental dinner. Between courses we listened to short vignettes describing different aspects of the events around Mons in 1914. The next morning, we assembled for a battlefield tour led by a very knowledgeable WO2
Pete Thomson RAMC. We began our tour on the spot where the first British action of the Great War took place. We visited many sites and ended our tour on the battlefield at Audregnies. We stood on the spot of the memorial to the Cheshire Regiment, dedicated on the 100th anniversary of the battle in August 2014. It was there that our guide became slightly lost for words – not because he did not know the details of the actions, but because he knew that he was in the presence of those who already had those actions ingrained in their souls.
The next morning, 26th August, saw
us at Audregnies Cemetery, where the Bourgmestre and other local dignitaries and villagers held their annual memorial service to commemorate the British actions in defence of Belgium in August 1914. It was heart-warming to hear the villagers affirm their love and respect for the British and
Lt Colonel Rob Prentice laid a wreath to
lie with those of the local citizenry and the descendants of those
who fought there.
service, his time as Commanding Officer
of the 1st Battalion and later as Colonel of the Regiment. Following the dedication, we remembered the deeds of all of all of those who served in the Cheshire Regiment’s 38 Battalions during the Great War.
The last event of the Association year was the East Cheshire Reunion which takes the form of a short memorial ceremony followed by a hotpot supper. This year’s
We then returned
to the battlefield and
it’s memorial where
Lt Colonel Prentice
again laid a wreath and
spoke to the assembly
about the close
relationship between the
22nd and the Mercian
Regiment and the village. He spoke about the villagers who helped the soldiers after the battle and he recounted the story of the brave villagers who helped to conceal the miniature colour to prevent its capture by the Germans. We ended the pilgrimage at the invitation of the village to a reception where copious quantities of the local beer were on offer, but sadly had to decline as most of the contingent were driving back home.
At the beginning of September, we assembled at the Regimental Chapel in Chester Cathedral for a short service to dedicate a memorial stone to the late Brigadier Mike Dauncey DSO. We joined with 40 members of the Dauncey family, Brigadier James Percival gave a tribute to his life, mentioning his outstanding war
commemoration marked the 70th anniversary of the original concept of the Commanding Officer of the 7th Battalion in Macclesfield. The CO, one ‘Pug’ Durtnell, had been a Company Commander during Dunkirk evacuation. It
followed a discussion in the Mess in 1947 about the battalion’s most harrowing time during the second world war. The CO decided that this function should be an annual celebration of all their achievements, focussed on the period from mobilisation through to the evacuation at Dunkirk.
So, in 1948 under the auspices of
‘The 7th Bn Reunion Club 1939-45’, the ‘Hotpot supper’ was born in Macclesfield where for the next 40 years it became an annual event until the Drill Hall was finally closed. It then moved to The Armoury TA Centre in Stockport and continues as the East Cheshire Reunion, organised by the combined forces of Stockport branches
of the Cheshire Regiment Association, the Mercian Volunteers Regimental Association and the Mercian Regiment Association.
It was heart-warming to hear the villagers affirm their love and respect for the British...
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