This Sunday is Armed Forces Day and the Carfax in Horsham will again host, between 10:30am and 3:15pm, historic military vehicles and the Horsham British Legion Band. The Sea Cadets, Army Cadet Force and the 1015 Squadron Horsham Air Cadets will be present as will the Royal Naval Association and Horsham Community Responders, among others, to promote their many activities. The programme will start with a parade of Royal British Legion Standards led by the Surrey and Sussex Drum and Bugle Corps and culminate in a ceremony at the War Memorial.
Since their inception Reserve Forces have operated alongside their Regular counterparts through every major operation and provide a huge amount of training, support and confidence-building to those that participate. The Reserves are an incredibly useful and effective organisation in their own right – and many employers find the skills and confidence their employees learn as part of the reserve forces invaluable. I am proud of our strong network of Reserve and Cadet forces locally and last week I attended the South East Reserve Forces’ & Cadets’ Association briefing. The themes were inclusion, diversity and youth. Our local senior leaders were unequivocal on the need for the Forces to reflect modern society and the importance of recruiting the most able from all backgrounds to add to the huge talent in the Armed Forces and Reserves.
Finally, it was a pleasure to join the Minister for Defence Procurement, Stuart Andrew, this week on his visit to the Horsham company Chess Dynamics. I am deeply impressed by the world leading technologies developed by Chess, including helping to guard civilians and armed forces personnel against drone attacks. Chess played a hugely important role stepping in over Christmas to protect Gatwick against drones. As Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s Chief Executive Officer put it “Chess Dynamics’ anti-drone technology and ability to move quickly and work closely with the airport’s security teams were vital in allowing Gatwick to reopen without the support of the military after the airport was attacked in December 2018.” It was great to hear from Chess its plans to expand in Horsham and to add to its skilled workforce.
Photo Credit: In advance of Armed Forces Sunday this weekend Jeremy Quin met members of the Reserve Forces at their Annual Community Update last week.