Colonel Stuart Williams,Royal Anglian Regiment

Today’s speaker was Colonel Stuart Williams from the Royal Anglian Regiment and he was accompanied by Lt Colonel Keith Spears ,who is the commanding officer .

Stuart was born in Cleethorpes,  educated locally and  he is a Grimsby Town fan. He has been to Wembley to support the team.In reality it was a double act with both officers addressing the club.

There have been some changes in the army structure in that ,currently ,they are recruiting from the County  of Lincolnshire but not in  North or North East Lincolnshire. There are historical ties with  both areas and particularly in Grimsby with our WW1  ”Chums “who were part of the 10^thBattalion Lincolns.

They both want to change this and recruit from the historical County of Lincolnshire ie N and NE Lincolnshire .The base is on Westward HO and they are the reserve battalion.Keith thought that the army decision was wrong  to exclude Grimsby because of our historical connections. We will see them at the Armed Forces Day.

Ex army personnel are much sought after when they leave the army said Stuart.

The army has four duties;protecting the UK, fighting the enemy,prevention and dealing with disasters.In the latter it has been decided that in a disaster eg flooding the army should be there to help quicker (than before) and to stay longer.They had helped in the recent flooding in Yorkshire and the Lake district.

Finally the question was asked “ What can the army do for you?