Page 91 - Mercian Eagle 2014

parades for 3 MERCIAN who returned home from Afghanistan earlier in the year.
On the first Sunday of July, I encountered a further Regimental duty, an extremely proud moment for myself, Pte Derby and Pte Roberts, on his final duty as Ram Orderly. We were in attendance at the Crich Memorial Tower, in which hundreds of people attended. We were most fortunate that the weather was on our side and the sun continued to shine throughout the parade.
In October, we travelled to Ashbourne
in Derbyshire to meet a strong supporter
of the Mercian Regimental Charity, Tony Millwood, who, very kindly, presented us with a £4,500 cheque for the Mercian Regiment, with Pte Derby in attendance. The following weekend saw us return to Ashbourne, after being invited to see Tony be presented with the British Empire Medal, a most honourable moment for Tony, for all his effort and hard work in raising funds for the Mercian Regiment.
On the 8th November we returned to Derby County FC for their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was aired live on Sky Sports, which gave great publicity to the Mercian Regiment.
A final highlight of the year was when Private Derby was invited to turn on the
Christmas Lights at the end of November
in Ashbourne. The interest in the event was phenomenal, catching national headlines, and he was received brilliantly by the local crowd, and even managing to annoy the local Santa Claus because he proved more popular.
Finally, Pte Derby has been relocated from Chilwell to a new home at the Mercian
RHQ in Lichfield, which has taken more man hours than originally expected.
As 2014 draws to a close, I am looking forward to the new challenges that 2015 will bring and who knows where our travels may take us!!!!
Stand firm, strike hard.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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