College signs covenant, strikes silver!

A busy day at HRFCA concluded on the evening of 6 October with the annual meeting of the Association’s North-Eastern Area Committee at Gordon Barracks, Bridge of Don, in Aberdeen. 

The meeting was preceded by the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant – the third of the day – by Mr Simon Mills, Head of Robert Gordon’s College, with Lt Col Piers Strudwick, CO of 7 SCOTS, finding time in an already busy diary to represent the Armed Forces as Covenant co-signatory.

HRFCA Chief Executive Mark Dodson congratulated the Head of College and said he looked forward to working with him and his team, headed up on the CCF side by Wg Cdr Daniel Montgomery who has been instrumental in not only the Covenant signing but also in securing a prestigious Employer Recognition Scheme silver award for the College – which we’ll be covering next month.

The area meeting followed, and was rounded off by a fascinating insight into the world of military medicine by Maj Kevin Forbes, OC of A Detachment, 205 (Scottish) Field Hospital.

Maj Forbes had deployed to Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK 20, with responsibility for assisting in the drawdown of capacity – but not the capability – of Camp Bastion’s famous Role 3 hospital.

Descriptions of the dedication, professionalism, speed and efficiency of the hospital’s multi-national military medics greatly impressed the audience, who were again reminded of the huge benefit to civilian medicine gained from operational deployments.

Congratulations to Kevin for an outstanding presentation and to Area Chair John Lemon for putting together a successful and well-attended meeting.

The other organisations signing the Armed Forces Covenant earlier that day were Fife Chamber of Commerce and Moray Council.

Main image: Lt Col Piers Strudwick, Commanding Officer 7 SCOTS, congratulates Mr Simon Mills on the double honour for Robert Gordon’s College.