Please forgive me for taking so long to write to you, but we have been particularly busy of late. I thought it prudent to write to you personally to thank you on behalf of the Royal Navy Junglie Sea King detachment out here in Afghanistan, for the generosity and effort demonstrated by you and the village members of East Chinnock. We were all pleasantly surprised at receiving mail from yourselves and it was an excellent morale boost, for which we are very grateful.
Your efforts and those of your village have a profound effect on all the men and women working out here in Afghanistan. Receiving gifts makes life that little bit easier, and gives the inevitable routine of day to day life here a little more flavour. Perhaps more importantly, these packages confirm that we are in the thoughts of people back home, and that support should never be underestimated in its ability to heighten moral.
You might be aware that the RN Commando Helicopter Force has been at the forefront of military operations for many years. Its Squadrons and Support Elements have served with distinction in many challenging and hostile Theatres from Northern Ireland, the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Sierra-Leone, Beirut, Iraq in Gulf War 11990- 1991 and the initial invasion of Iraq on Operation TELIC 1 in 2003 through to its enduring deployment to Iraq from 2004 to 2008.
In November 2007, the first Sea King detachment from CHF was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation HERRICK. In addition to the constant threat from insurgents, the operating conditions are tremendously challenging, due in part to the extremely hot and dusty conditions with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees C in the summer months to —15 degrees C during the winter.
The Sea Kings have seen frequent action at close quarters with the enemy throughout Helmand Province and in the harsh mountainous areas surrounding Kandahar. CHF aircraft are based mainly at Camp Bastion, with elements also based at Kandahar Airfield; the majority of missions are over the volatile Helmand region, 80 miles to the West of Kandahar, which is bordered to the South and West by the vast expanse of the Red Desert and to the North by the rising foothills of the Hindu Kush. This benign starting point belies the daily danger faced by crews when they ‘cross the wire’ to conduct tasking in the infamous Green Zone.
847 Naval Air Squadron returned to Afghanistan in January 2011 and will remain in Theatre for 4 months. They will be supporting British forces in Helmand Province; as well as Coalition and Afghan allies. The squadron previously deployed to Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan, for seven months in September 2008. At that time the squadron successfully operated the Mark 7 variant of the Lynx Battlefield Helicopter.
Whilst you can see from above that we are an extremely busy Force we find it all worthwhile when we have such terrific support from citizens like yourself, so thank you once again.
Kind regards
Jim Birchall
Lieutenant Commander Royal Navy
Detachment Commander
Arthur calls it a day… after seventy three years!’
Over eighty souls attended the 9.30am Holy Communion service at St Mary’s East Chinnock on Sunday 3rd April to honour Arthur Harris who retired as Organist after seventy three years.
Rev David Wilson paid tribute to Arthur’s long service and his role in providing music and hymns to nurture our hearts and minds in a wholly positive way. Also, he read out a greeting from the Bishop which praised Arthur’s achievement as,‘wonderful and quite extraordinary’ and thanked him ‘for serving God and the Church of England so faithfully’.
On behalf of the congregation John White, a churchwarden with Arthur many years ago, praised Arthur’s energy and enthusiasm for his various roles within the church and the wider parish for which he had received the MBE and Maundy Money from the Queen. Sue Adcock, churchwarden, the presented Arthur with an engraved silver salver, a framed photograph of Arthur at the organ and a DVD of the service for the dedication of the Church windows made and installed by Gunther Anton.
In his response, Arthur said that the secret of keeping going for so long was to ‘enjoy what you do!’ He remembered his dear wife Muriel and his family, many of whom were present at his last service, with love and affection. Arthur hoped the musical tradition at St Mary’s would continue and we shall make every effort to ensure that it does, not least in honour of Arthur’s legacy.
After the speeches the congregation tucked into the refreshments – a retirement cake and a glass of wine, and exchanged remembrances of a truly remarkable man.
