Page 60 - MERCIAN Eagle 2020

British Water Polo Championships
Captain Christopher Bermingham represented the Army as the Vice-Captain of the Water Polo Team in the British Water Polo Championships, season 2019-2020. This was the Army’s second season in the Championships having been newly promoted into League 4.
The standard in League 4 has been a lot higher than in the previous years spent playing in League 5. Opposition teams have included ex-international players and were feeder teams for the Premier Water Polo League clubs. The Army water polo players dedicated themselves to pre- season training camps in preparation for the higher quality and better organised competition they were going to face.
The season had a mixture of highs and lows with some unexpected wins against the top teams in the League and some unfortunate draws and losses against teams in the bottom half where wins were expected.
The Army Water Polo Team’s fate as to whether they would be relegated came down to the final game of the season where the Army played against another team in the relegation zone. In the first half of the game the Army were trailing, but
of beating the Army, especially in such a physically demanding sport. The crowd are behind them and at times you can feel that the scales are unfairly balanced towards the opposition who get to train with each other every week; which we
by the end of the 4th and final quarter the teams were matched; assisted by a goal by Capt Bermingham. The final relegation spot was decided by goal difference and the Army were successful in staying up.
The underdog spirit of the Army and unwillingness to let down our teammates shines through and allows us to overachieve time and time again
unfortunately can’t do. However; the underdog spirit
of the Army and unwillingness to let down our teammates shines through
and allows us to overachieve time and time again. I would recommend every serving and veteran Mercian to find a sport they are
Capt Bermingham’s
thoughts on
representing the Army
in the British Water
Polo Championships: “It is an honour to represent the Army in such a public spotlight. Every team wants the honour
passionate about and experience that Warrior camaraderie.”
58
COVID Support Force 30
Maj M K Bowden-Williams
As the reality of the Coronavirus pandemic came to light, 4 MERCIAN were conducting Exercise WARHAMMER 20, a live firing concentration in Warcop, Cumbria. As
the governments of the western world struggled to come to terms with the reality of enforcing a lockdown in a modern democracy, it become apparent that a general mobilisation the likes of which had not been seen since WW2 was becoming
a reality. 4 MERCIAN being on the front foot, quickly organised a pre-deployment camp to prepare soldiers for mobilisation in response to what had now been named the COVID-19 crisis.
This camp was conducted in glorious weather at Altcar, Merseyside and involved the completion of all MATTs as well as mission specific training on what was considered to be the most likely tasks. Orders were received in early April directing 4 MERCIAN to form a COVID Support Force sub-unit (CSF SU) and deploy to Cumbria ready to deliver Military Aid to the Civilian Authority (MACA) on orders. A platoon and HQ elements were deployed forward to Halton Training Camp, Lancaster with the remainder, 144 soldiers, dispersed and
held in reserve. 4 MERCIAN CSF SU also provided a Military Liaison Officer (MLO), Maj Bowden-Williams, to integrate into
the team at the Cumbrian Local Resilience Forum and to feed information back into the CSF SU.
The situation initially looked very grave
THE MERCIAN EAGLE