United front to help save regiment from closure
A NEW wave of support has come in for Kenilworth’s closest battalion after a motion was put to councillors calling for action to help save the regiment from sweeping nationwide cuts.
The 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers is under threat of disbandment amid Government plans to significantly reduce the UK’s armed forces.
And in a new bid to have the decision overturned for the regiment, which has short but personal significant links with the town, Cllr Richard Davies put forward a motion that Warwick District Council add its weight to the call to save them ahead of a crucial House of Commons debate next month.
Former battalion members gathered outside Leamington Town Hall before the meeting last night (Thursday) when members debated the motion.
Cllr Davies expressed his “deep and heartfelt sympathy” with the regiment which he argued is well recruited and should be spared from disbandment or mergers in the cuts. “We believe that Her Majesty’s Government should allow the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers to remain in the Order of Battle and be neither disbanded nor merged with another unit.”
“I have a sense of fair play and that sense is outraged by what is beginning to happen to this regiment.
“I hope we can send a message to the Government and the Ministry of Defence that we are not happy with the shabby proposal that our local heroes be stood down.”
The regiment first arrived in Kenilworth in April 2010 when they were invited to march into the castle and came carrying the Queen’s Royal Standard - being the first to do so in 350 years to the day.
Cllr George Illingworth, who seconded the motion, said the regiment was truly at the heart of the town. “We fell in love with them two years ago when they marched through Kenilworth and I think the feeling is mutual,” he said. “We will do our very best to help.”
A petition in the town to save the regiment now has over 5,000 signatures and the town council has already written to ministers
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Weather for Kenilworth
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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Temperature: 8 C to 16 C
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