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REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
The Royal Lancers Old Comrades’ Association ‘Veteran Lancers’
Chairman Vice Chairman 9/12L Vice Chairman 16/5L & QRL Vice Chairman 17/21L & QRL Liaison HHQ Liaison RL Liaison CCOCA Tower Host & Asst CCOCA
In this my first article as Chairman of The Royal Lancers Old Comrades’ Association and Trustee of The Royal Lancers Char- itable Trust, I would like to begin by thanking my predecessor, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) ‘Mally’ Davies who led superbly the Old Comrades’ Association in the first 18 months post amalgama- tion; it is my honour to succeed him.
I took up the a appointment of Chair and Trustee on 8th Decem- ber 2016, the same day the Colonel of the Regiment, Brigadier Andrew Hughes, provided me with his vision for uniting the collective effort of the ‘Serving Regiment’ of Royal Lancers with the ‘Old Comrades’ Association’, a fix of formally amalgamated regiments. He sought to focus my effort in the areas of ‘Remem- brance’, ‘Benevolence’ and ‘Networking’ but he also wanted the Old Comrades to be a living repository of history and tradition – nothing lost; all celebrated. It was with this in mind that I have spent the last two months (at the time of writing) listening and speaking to our ‘Veteran Lancers’ – a term I have coined to ensure that in generic terms I work for all antecedents in equal measure – we are all Veteran Lancers, yet each one of us has a story to tell and each one of us comes from a former Lancer regi- ment, although in my case I have had the privilege to serve in nearly all the Lancer combinations over the last 36 years. It does not matter to me what rank you left at or from which regiment of proud Lancers you came, we are all Veteran Lancers and I will work to ensure recognition for all from the time you leave to the time you and your dependents die – ‘Dignity and Respect for All Veteran Lancers’. But in addition to remembering individuals and regiments past, I would like The Old Comrades’ Association to be a living, pro-active and forward looking body, able to sup- port not just each other in retirement but the Serving Regiment as well; we have much to offer from our experience. Whilst ve- hicles and equipment may change, our ethos and moral code to soldiering endures. As Veteran Lancers we live the values and
Colonel William English
Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) John Pearce Major (Retd) Chris Knight
Captain (Retd) Richard Dzierozynski Major (Retd) Phil Watson
Captain Steven Mansfield
Mr Dick Boorman
Yeoman Warder Steve McMenamy
standards of the British Army as much in retirement as we did as serving soldiers. As Veteran Lancers I believe that we need the Serving Regiment to be a part of our lives as much as we can, and should be a part of theirs.
In order to assist me in providing the widest support possible to Veteran Lancers and the Serving Regiment as Veteran Lancers, I have formed an Old Comrades’ Association Committee. It is made up of Veteran Lancers (Vice Chairmen Late Entry (LE) Officers) representing all our antecedent regiments to ensure that everyone’s interests can be represented equally. You can see us in the photograph above.
Each Vice Chairman will look after an area covering the tradi- tional recruiting counties of the antecedent regiments, and there they will form a close relationship with the Veteran Lancer branches. Any antecedent Veteran Lancer is welcome to call their Vice Chair at any time to discuss a matter. In this way mes- sages will be relayed to the Board; the same will apply to branch- es. I will also be seeking to demark branch areas so that all 10,000 Veteran Lancers country-wide have the opportunity to contact a Veteran Lancer branch leader with access to the Regiment and its support network – everyone will have a voice and it will be heard. Supporting within the Committee will be three Liaison Members from Home Headquarters, the Serving Regiment and the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades’ Association. Their job will be to enable requests that come through the Vice Chairmen and to ensure all antecedent regiments have their remembrance needs coherently attended to. This committee will meet annu- ally in The Tower of London by kind permission of The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. It will be hosted by The Royal Lancer Old Comrades’ Association Banner Bearer who will be a committee member assisting in the thematic of remembrance.
Colonel William English and the RLOCA Committee at the Tower of London