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this year so keep an eye out for the adverts and the opportunity to book a place.
Throughout the year we were lucky enough to be able to provide family passes to “4 Kingdome Adventure Park and Farm”, allow- ing our families to enjoy a local attraction at a discounted rate. As always, we continue to support and advertise activities that are provided by the Army Welfare Services and HIVE. The Salis- bury Plain Area is alive with activity for all serving members and their families and especially for children of all ages. These vary from different types of online training and working groups to the simplest of things such as coffee mornings and toddler groups. They provide an excellent opportunity for families to engage with volunteers and professionals from all backgrounds to help in so many different ways with what can be a stressful lifestyle for the families of serving and deployed Service Personnel. It’s also a great way for family members to meet up with other Service fami- lies in the area.
The Regiment’s welfare house in Larkhill has become a hugely popular asset for use by 1 RHA personnel and their extended families. The house is fully furnished with 3 bedrooms, sleeping up to 6, a fully equipped kitchen and a SMART TV. It provides low-cost accommodation for relatives from around the country and in some cases other parts of the world, so they can enjoy precious time with their serving loved ones. The next step will be for internet to be installed, bringing us into the 21st Century to enable all the different streaming available to keep the little ‘uns occupied during periods of classic British weather!
There has been the usual amount of staff churn in the team over the last 12 months. We sadly said goodbye to Staff Sergeant Claire Collins, who after returning from maternity leave and slip- ping very quickly back into her role, was just as quickly moved on
from us back to the frenetic pace of regimental life as the SMS, such is her versatility. We also lost LBdr Kelly Latham, who has moved to a job in recruiting where I’m sure she will be just as adept at getting people to join the Army as she was at manag- ing sensitive welfare issues in the team. Greatly missed by me, is WO2 Paul Keast who after 2 years of amazing support to the team and the Regiment has moved to the Joint Effects Team working for the Land Warfare Centre. I’m certain that him going has highlighted how much he knew about the job and how much I still need to learn. A huge thank you to all of them for all their efforts and commitment to the regiment over the last couple of years in the Welfare team. We also wait with bated breath for WO2 Keast as he runs to the BSM board later this year, fingers crossed, we wish him the best of luck. We welcome in WO2 Fiona Rushmore and Sgt Sam Richards into the team.
There are still several events that will take place before the year is out with Welfare team assisting in the provision of the Larkh- ill Garrison Children’s Halloween party and already planning the Children’s Christmas party.
We are glad to see the safe return of E Battery from Estonia and wish B Battery the very best as they embark upon the first 9-month tour for the regiment. The Welfare team will continue to provide the same support for those deployed and those fami- lies remaining, and we look forward to seeing as many people as possible at the upcoming visits and events that will be organised throughout the next year.
For information on any upcoming events please follow us on Facebook – 1 RHA Community Group. For those MODNET users please remember that information on activity, events and training can also be found on the Welfare SharePoint site and on the 1 RHA Welfare Group Defence Connect site and keep a look out for the updated and improved Linktree App that will also start to contain as much welfare information as possible.
It will undoubtedly be another challenging year for us as there is more staff movement anticipated but we look forward to being able to support the regiment in all aspect of homebase and deployed welfare as it continues its commitment to Op CABRIT into and through 2024.
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
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The Welfare Team
Maj J S Harvard RHA WO2 Rushmore Sgt Richards
Posted in
WO2 Rushmore Sgt Richards
Posted Out
WO2 Keast SSgt Collins LBdr Latham