Page 6 - MERCIAN Eagle 2020

Pte Derby XXXII
Cpl Philip Thornton, Ram Major
2020 has been a very strange year for myself and the Ram Orderly, Pte Joe Holmes, and I’m sure for everyone else too. We began the year heading up and down the country with a trip to ITC Catterick for a pass out parade, which saw around 14 MERCIAN soldiers see the end of their 6-month long training, followed by our first Derby County football match of the year marching the Rams out.
At the end of January, we were once again back up to Catterick to see 17 more Mercian soldiers pass out.
In February the news of COVID-19 sweeping through the UK started gaining national attention. Very soon measures were put into place place with the use of face masks and lots of sanitiser to help keep things running.
On the February 6th, we attended a street unveiling in honour of one of our much-loved fallen soldiers, LCpl Jamie Webb, at the Sanctuary Wilmslow development called Jamie Webb Drive. It was a sad but a poignant honour for Jamie, attended by family and friends of Jamie.
On February 13th we made a trip to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate for the first time to witness some of our fine Mercian Warriors pass out; something we hope will be repeated again in the future. The following day once again we made
the trip to ITC to see more Mercian soldiers pass out after their gruelling training. At this point we started to see lots of cancellations start to come through and the jobs slowed right down.
For the rest of February and March there were only a hand full of jobs. Then at the end of March things started to grind to a halt. Due to COVID-19, it was decided that the Mercian RST was going to take on a different role, and was attached to our sister battalion, 4 MERCIAN, where we started
our training for Op RESCRIPT. We were trained to conduct COVID-19 testing and deployed to Halton Camp in Cumbria to do this. Pte Derby was left
in good hands with the Ram Orderly, Pte Joe Holmes, looking after him.
Once Op RESCRIPT ended for us, things sadly had not gone back to normal. Shorter weeks and periods of working from home were conducted, and here we are in early December with things still looking strange for the next few months.
The Ram Orderly and I are looking forward to seeing what 2021 has in store for us and we are hoping for things hopefully start to go back to normal at some point.
Pte Derby XXXII and Notts in May 2020 showing off their summer haircuts, meanwhile the rest of the nation started to resemble the mascot before his trim...
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