Page 47 - RAPTC Number 102 2018/19

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Irish Guards Community Engagement
with the head teacher and learn a bit more about the background of the school and realistic goals we could meet and improve the school.
During the discussion, the topic of poverty constantly cropped up, with the head teacher telling us that if it wasn’t for the provided school lunch, some children would go all day without eating. We then learned that the school had no running water or electricity something that is a basic necessity in the UK, once the meeting had finished we thanked the head teacher for his time and said we would come back with some ideas which could help improve the school, a clear message we gave was that we couldn’t promise anything but would give it our best effort to help the school.
Driving back to NYATI Bks the committee discussed things we wanted to do, we had 2 aims which we wanted to achieve, the first was to bring happiness to the children and the school staff, our second was to leave a legacy and something the children could use daily for the considerable future. Looking at the skill set and trade background we had we then decided we would split the classes down into groups of 3 which would rotate throughout
Masai
the day. As the RAPTCI, I would facilitate sporting activities. Sgt Johnson (4 Med Reg) would run a health and hygiene clinic and Sgt Gurung (1 IG Catering Dept) would run cooking classes, culminating with the school providing lunch at the end of the morning. Looking at what legacy we could leave, Sgt Gurung was keen to build a playground area using tyres and the OC and I wanted to build goal posts, leaving them a football pitch for the future.
We consulted with SO2 Community engagement BATUK and presented our ideas, thankfully all our proposed classes and infrastructure projects were approved and we began putting plans into place.
The delivery phase was a fantastic experience, spending 3 days making local children excited and happy. The whole community came out to watch what was happening at the school, with locals asking for leftover food and wishing to play football with the children. The community engagement project left me feeling hugely grateful for the life we have in the UK. It was an extremely humbling experience.
2018 proved to be another eventful year for the Battalion in which the diversity of the role in HQ LONDIST meant numerous challenges and experiences for me personally.
After a brief Battlegroup exercise in Dartmoor during the coldest February on record briskly reminding the Soldiers’ of their Infantry Core Skills; providing first class State Ceremonial and Public Duties was the Battalions’ main effort throughout a long summer.
People had warned me of the intensity and pressure placed upon the Battalion selected to Troop their Colour at the Queen’s Birthday Parade (QBP) in June. I was also told that all Physical Training would stop for 3 months. However, the Chain of Command were determined not to change the mindset that had been generated over the last year. In an alteration to previous preparation phases, every morning the Bn formed up to conduct 45 minutes of PT prior to boarding the buses for Drill Practice. In a bid to minimise the injury rate, loaded marches were completely stopped and only 1 impact session focusing on aerobic capacity was allowed. From my perspective it was great to hear positive feedback across all levels on how the varied PT was being received as a release from the ‘time on the square’ as opposed to a nuisance.
After a busy period in preparation for the QBP 2018, 22 footballers from the Battalion embarked on a 7-day tour to Cyprus to prepare for the upcoming football season. Nicely slotted into the opening week of the World Cup, the tour also presented a fantastic
Trooping the Colour
opportunity for the squad to build morale and team spirit away from Windsor.
It was an honour to have planned the tour for the players who had worked extremely hard in previous months to produce a successful parade in front of Her Majesty. It was also great to have gained a familiar assistant-manager for the week after a last-minute drop out. A huge thanks to the ASPT for releasing him and to Sgt (SI)
1ST BATTALION COLDSTREAM GUARDS
SSgt (SSI) G Baily RAPTC