On Saturday 1 September 2007 a new Regiment enters the order of battle of the British Army. The Regiment will be known as THE MERCIAN REGIMENT and will be formed by the merger of all regular and territorial elements of three (historically four) famous Infantry Regiments:  The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment, The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment and The Staffordshire Regiment.

Appropriately the Formation Ceremony will take place in Tamworth, which was the Royal capital of the Kingdom of Mercia a thousand years ago. The Mercian Regiment being the last of the new regiments to form under the Future Army Structures reorganisation.

The Formation Day in Tamworth will be a large scale event, which as well as the ceremonial elements, will feature displays of men and machines in action and cadets competing in the “Mercian Cadet Challenge”.  Old Comrades from the current Regiments will attend to march past for the last time to the strains of their own Regimental marches.  The day will demonstrate the pride of the Mercian Regiment in its heritage, its strong and enduring links to the five counties as the “Infantry of the Heart of England”, its current flexibility and combat effectiveness to meet the challenges of today’s busy and uncertain world and its hopes for the future, as embodied in its affiliated cadet detachments.

The new Regiment will comprise three regular battalions, based on the three existing Regiments and a Territorial Battalion which will draw together all of their affiliated Territorial Army companies. Thus 1 MERCIAN will be based on The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment, 2 MERCIAN on The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment and 3 MERCIAN on The Staffordshire Regiment. The Territorial Battalion, 4 MERCIAN will have its headquarters in Wolverhampton and companies in Birmingham, Widnes, Mansfield, Crewe, Shrewsbury and Burton on Trent. There will also be independent platoons in Stockport, Stoke, Wolverhampton and Kidderminster. It is hoped that the Army Cadets and Combined Cadet Forces affiliated to the present Regiments will re-badge to become Mercians and they are expected to play a significant part in the Formation Day at Tamworth on 1 September.

The Mercian Regiment, wearing its new cap badge in the form of the Mercian Double Headed Eagle surmounted by a Saxon Crown, will continue to maintain the strong ties of loyalty to and pride in the counties of Cheshire, Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, as well as parts of the Black Country and the metropolitan areas of the West Midlands, Merseyside and Greater Manchester, established by the present county regiments. These ties will take the form of continuing to recruit men from the region as well as embracing the Regimental Associations made up of the old comrades of the current Regiments. Therefore the Mercians will continue the 300 year record of unbroken service to the crown, established by their predecessors, by maintaining a tight knit family of locally recruited fighting men.

The new Regimental Headquarters will be established in Whittington Barracks, Lichfield with outstations in Nottingham and Chester. As to the fighting elements of the Regiment, they will continue to be as busy as ever despite their new titles. 1 MERCIAN will be based in Catterick from next year and is expected to deploy on operations in late 2007, 2 MERCIAN will be based in Belfast from 2008 and will be away on operations from spring to autumn 2007 and will change its title and badge from WFR to Mercian mid-tour, 3 MERCIAN (in their present guise as 1 STAFFORDS) are currently on operations in Iraq. 4 MERCIAN will augment and support all three Regular Battalions wherever they deploy.

The ethos of the new Regiment is manifested by its motto which will soon be familiar throughout the lands of the ancient Kingdom of Mercia, between the Trent, the Severn and the Mersey; “Stand Firm and Strike Hard”.

As well as the chance to take part in the March Past, in static displays and in exciting arena displays, in the arena will be 32  ACF and CCF detachments competing in the Mercian Cadet Challenge.

Outline Timings: (more details with your joining instructions, tickets and car passes)