16 Air Assault Brigade
The cyclists hit the road
Five Army engineers have cycled 650 miles around the country in less than three days to raise money for charity and say goodbye to their old neighbours and hello to their new home.
23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault), Royal Engineers, part of 16 Air Assault Brigade based at Colchester, is currently split across four different barracks in the UK: Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire, Ripon in North Yorkshire, Aldershot, Hampshire and Maidstone, Kent. In summer 2006, however, the whole regiment is due to move into new purpose-built barracks at Woodbridge, Suffolk.
To mark the occasion, a team of five engineers cycled a total of 650 miles between the four locations, leaving from Waterbeach on Sunday, 9 October, at 6pm, before arriving at Woodbridge on Tuesday 11 October a day earlier than planned.
The five man team, who cycled 20 mile legs each, are all currently based at 12 Squadron, Waterbeach. They are: Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1) Tom Armstrong, WO1 Stevie Hough, Staff Sergeant Nelson, Sergeant Dave Mills and Corporal Tommy Atkins. The aim was to raise money for the Army Benevolent Fund, the British Wheelchair Sports Association and Woodbridge Community Centre.
After Waterbeach, the team visited 51 Field Squadron (Air Assault), at Ripon. The next leg took them back down the country to 9 Para Squadron in Aldershot - these two stages already covered about 450 miles.
The team then set off for 61 Field Support Squadron in Maidstone. This was one of the hardest stages because the terrain is hilly all the way. After crossing the Thames on the passenger ferry at Gravesend, they finished at their new home at Rock Barracks in Woodbridge.
WO1 Armstrong, Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of 23 Engr Regt, said: It was our opportunity to say farewell to the existing locations and hello to Woodbridge.
It was a bit of an endurance test as we were doing all our own cooking along the way, but we enjoyed it and we are looking forward to all being under one roof at Woodbridge next year.
