The QGEA Committee

I have been a QGEA committee member and Trustee of the Regimental Trust for over 20 years, and Honorary Secretary of the Association since 2018.

My first contact with The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers was as a school boy, as I used to see the boys running up Chatham Hill on morning PT as I travelled to school. I then periodically heard about the Regiment as a Royal Engineers bursar, and was lucky enough to be selected to join the Regiment from my Troop Commanders’ Course.

Whilst serving, I completed all my regimental duty with QGE; always serving with 69 Gurkha Field Squadron. This obviously led to deployments across the globe, both with the Squadron and independently. Particular highlights were: commanding the South Georgia detachment; commanding 69 Gurkha Field Squadron on Op Herrick 12; planning the Queen’s visit to the Regiment in 2011, and an overseas construction tour in Kenya. I was also lucky enough to complete staff jobs whilst still proudly wearing my QGE cap badge, flying the flag across the Combat Engineer School, Battlefield Engineer Wing and Recruiting Group.

Since leaving the Army in 2014, the QGEA has been a great link for me to stay engaged in the Regiment’s and community’s activities. I feel blessed to have been welcomed into the family, and hope to keep serving you as your Secretary for a few more years.

My contact with the Brigade of Gurkhas started back in Hong Kong as a young child when my father was posted to 6GR as paymaster, and we lived in Sek Kong. Further postings for my father saw us in Brunei and back in Hong Kong, but this time in Osbourne Barracks, with ongoing connections to the Brigade and in particular 6GR which continue to this day.

On completing the Troop Commanders Course there weren’t any Troop Commander posts available at 69 Sqn, and I ended being posted to 5 Fd Sqn. However, for my second tour there was a post as RSO / IO in RHQ 36 Regt so I jumped at the chance to at least get to Maidstone. During my time with the Regt we deployed on Op Telic and after various roles in theatre I joined 70 Sqn as Ops Officer. It was a great 3 months in the desert with the Sqn, one of the most rewarding and fun periods of my service.

On my return from Op Telic I was posted at short notice to 24 Trg Sp Sqn for 1 year in order to then return as 2IC 69 Sqn. Unfortunately, it was not to be as illness prevented me taking up post and a few years later I left the Army.

A busy and varied 16 years passed post Sappers, living and working overseas as well as many adventures across the world. Then in early 2022 an interim contract meant I was once again working with Matt Commander, who had been 2IC during my time at 70 Sqn, and he suggested I join QGEA.

So it was that I finally visited Nepal for the QGE 75th Anniversary Celebrations, an excellent occasion and a chance to firmly reestablish my connection to QGE and the Association. It was during another QGEA social gathering that Moore Saheb mentioned the committee was on the lookout for a new Honorary Secretary, so now I find myself entrusted with working on your behalf. The welcome I have received since returning to the fold after so long away has been fantastic, both in reconnecting with old friends from my time with the Regiment but also with the wider membership and I look forward to many more years to come.