Page 48 - Bugle Spring 2023

8 RIFLES
Key Events
• Joint 8 RIFLES and QOY Team achieve CAMBRIAN PATROL Bronze.
• 8 RIFLES informed Field Army future plans as the lead unit for Homeland Resilience Pilot 1 (NORTHEAST).
• Provided Honour Guard to Sunderland Association Football Club’s Remembrance match.
• 8 RIFLES will deliver a Potential Junior Non-Commissioned Officer Cadre (JNCO) to the Reserve Battalions within the Regiment.
• 32 personnel will go to France on Ex NORTHERN FROSTED SWORD, an alpine skiing Adventure Training exercise.
• Supporting 6 RIFLES on Op INTERFLEX, providing initial training to Ukrainian allies.
48 RIFLES The Bugle
The Honour Guard at the Stadium of Light
8 RIFLES Community Engagement
We have kept ourselves busy across Community Engagement, and with help from all four companies the Battalion
has organised or supported over 60
events ranging from Bugle Breakfasts to Remembrance football matches. A constant strand though out all of our engagement
is the involvement of as many of the five regimental pillars as we can muster with a particular focus on the Cadets, the Veterans and our communities. By virtue of this surge of engagement, the Battalion has reaffirmed its position within our widespread communities and local authorities, ranging from the Northeast through Yorkshire to the West Midlands.
One of our targeted themes across the period was alignment to our local sporting teams which has seen great success. 8 RIFLES are now aligned to Sunderland Association Football Club (SAFC), Hartlepool United, Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity, to name but a few. In early November, SAFC dedicated their match against Cardiff to Remembrance.
it was such a success that we have agreed with the club to make it
We were honoured to provide wreath layers and an honour guard prior to the match, whilst the Band of Bugles of Durham Army Cadet Force provided magnificent entertainment
for the 40,000 strong crowd – it was such a success that we have agreed with the club
to make it an annual event in the Battalion’s calendar.
The Remembrance period is always a special and poignant time of the year, and this year was no different. Members of the battalion were spread across all of our regions laying wreaths and remembering our fallen.
D Company were honoured and privileged
to provide the Honour Guard and muster troops in Durham Cathedral, once again, for both the Festival of Remembrance and the Remembrance Day Service.
We look forward to the year ahead with planning ongoing to support events including The Tall Ships Race in Hartlepool and the Cleveland Hike 2023.
Capt Ridley
an annual event
in the Battalion’s calendar
Rededication Services for the fallen of the First World War
In September, Lt Al-Azzawi and LCpl Elliot travelled to various Commonwealth Cemeteries throughout France and Belgium, alongside the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The purpose was to rededicate four war graves which were previously labelled ‘known unto god.’ After research, those graves were discovered to have belonged to four fallen Riflemen from the Royal Berkshire Regiment and the King’s Royal Rifle Corp. 8 RIFLES played a big role in the running of these services providing the bugler, LCpl Elliot, delivering speeches, and speaking to the families of our fallen Riflemen.
Lt Al-Azzawi
LCpl Elliot (left) and Lt Al-Azzawi (right) at a First World War rededication service
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