The Chief of Staff HQ Land inspected 380 students from throughout the UK and took the salute when they passed out from the Army Foundation College in Harrogate in front of their proud parents.
The parade was under the command of top
student Junior Regimental Sergeant Major Martyn Cheshire, 17, of Nottingham. He invited Major General Shirreff and College Commandant Lieut-enant Colonel Guy Deacon to inspect the graduates.
The Burma and Alamein Companies marched on to the parade led by the Normandy Band of the Queen's Division directed by Captain Kevin Roberts.
Afterwards there was a prize-giving. Junior Corporal James Nortcliffe from Scarborough, a former pupil of Filey Comprehensive School, won the Quaich for the best contribution to the college. The students, who have undergone a 42-week course combining military skills and vocational qualifications, will now receive specialist training in the Infantry, Royal Military Police, Army Air Corps or Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The junior soldiers have just returned from a
two-week camp at Otterburn, Northumberland, where they practised
their military skills and fieldcraft before a final exercise in which the
college staff played the enemy.