Page 46 - 4RA Regimental Journal 2019-2020

4th Regiment Royal Artillery Regimental Welfare Department
We said farewell to Maj Andrew Wadsworth in October 2020 as he moved on to pastures new at 1MI Battalion in Catterick. As the position of UWO remain gapped, WO2 Cartwright, UWWO took over the running of the department with support of Sgt Lee and Bdr Wilson and Gnr Hindle.
We were joined in December by our new Padre Ailsa Whorton on completion of her Officer Training at Sandhurst, full of enthu- siasm and ideas and she is an extremely welcome addition to the team.
The second lockdown hit during Novem- ber which interrupted the planned silly season Christmas Programme of events for our families and their children (cheers Boris!) which was extremely disappoint- ing but the grinch was not going to steal Christmas from the regiment!
However the Welfare Department never say die and thanks to a contact through WO2 Cartwright were able to provide some Christmas cheer with the generous donation of over 200 shoe boxes filled with tons of goodies for our children.
This was supported by the donation of a large Chocolate selection pack for every child of the regiment donated by the Wel- fare Department.
Armed with mince pies and mulled and the new Padre “Olaf” and the Christmas elves delivered the gifts round the patch on the decorated sleigh (mini-bus).
As the third lockdown announced in Janu- ary 2021 further impacted any activities a Valentines window comp was run during February with Padre demonstrating the art of pancake making on line. This was followed up with an Easter window comp and Easter Egg drop in April. Of course the new dispersed working environment pre- sented a real challenge to both the Welfare Department and the commander respon- sible for our soldiers.
As the winter months carried and the weather became colder and darker it became increasingly obvious that morale within the Regiment was going to suf- fer. The instigation of the Regimental PT programme was vital to keep everyone in good spirits. Additionally, the Welfare
Department was constantly reviewing how it could bring some form of contact to those of our soldiers who may be isolated far from their friends, family and loved ones.
Obviously returning to work is excellent news for everyone at 4th Regiment but it will represent a fragile time for the Welfare Department. There will be those individuals who have been forced to isolate and work at distance for over a year. The transition back to anything resembling a normal working routine will have to be managed carefully and tactfully for all concerned. Indeed even the relaxation of social distancing measures has every chance to increase the anxiety of even our most stoic soldiers and so the Welfare Department finds itself on its toes even as everyone else relaxes.
Our new UWO Maj Mark Davis joined shortly after and we look forward to return- ing to some normality and a programme of events for later in the year.
It has certainly been a year to remember for me and not just because of Covid!
I arrived at Topcliffe on 30th November, straight out of Sandhurst where I had completed the PQO (Personally Quali- fied Officer’s Course). It was a week ear- lier than had been planned due to Covid and we were released immediately follow- ing our Commissioning Parade which we undertook in MTP with no friends or family there. So not the usual Sandhurst fanfare, but then last year was hardly usual.
My first task was to find my house keys and the Guard Room sent me over to the welfare office, at the time led by WO2 Cart- wright, who soon got myself and Hamish (my grouchy Scottish Terrier) settled into accommodation.
Work for me started properly at the Regi- ment the following week and I was looking forward to seeing people. But it was very quiet. It was very, very quiet.
Those few I did meet explained that a significant number of the regiment were deployed in Liverpool supporting in the mass testing of people for Covid.
Liverpool, just a few miles from my home- town of the Wirral, was one of the first cit- ies to be placed into what was then the
recently introduced “Tier 3” or the “very high alert” level and had been completely lockdown from the beginning of November.
The city was then selected to take part in the government’s first trial of citywide mass testing which was introduced in attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus and its new variants and 4RA were part of the 2000 military personnel who arrived in Liverpool to help roll out the trial.
And they did a great job!
I managed to talk to a couple of lads when they returned and asked them about their experiences – boredom was a big problem with the job itself, showing the public how to swab themselves, just so repetitive.
But they stuck with it and over 200.000 residents were tested with an outcome that cases came down quite remarkably.
With leave, then the latest lockdown, it’s been frustrating to not be able to meet sol- diers either at work or at home. As Padre, my role is to provide spiritual, pastoral and moral care to all those who seek it, what- ever their faith and to those with no faith at all. Conversations are completely con- fidential and personnel often find it useful to have a chat and a brew with someone who is outside of their chain of command.
I am delighted to be here at 4RA to serve as Padre to you and your families and look forward to meeting with you as soon as we can all do so again, safely.
ailsa.whorton100@mod.gov.uk 07971 890615
Padre Rev Whorton
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