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Colonel R J J Ellis Late QG SIGNALS BSc (Eng) CEng MIEE MBCS CITP CDipAF sq(W)TEM JSDC

Colonel Jeremy Ellis was born in 1955. After commissioning in 1973 he graduated in 1976 with Honours from Loughborough University of Technology in Electronic, Computer and Systems Engineering. During 1977 he was attached as a troop commander to 7 Armoured Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron in Germany and then carried out his special to arm training at the School of Signals, Blandford. In early 1978 he joined Queen's Gurkha Signals in Hong Kong. After language training, he served for a year as a radio troop commander, then a year as Adjutant. In 1980 he was appointed as Aide de Camp to Commander British Forces Hong Kong

In 1981, he returned to the United Kingdom as Adjutant of 71st (Yeomanry) Signal Regiment (Volunteers). In 1984 he moved to 22 Signal Regiment in Germany as Second-in-Command of a corps commcen squadron In 1985 he again returned to the Adjutant's desk for a further and final year, before 7 months employment in 1986 as a squadron commander In 1987 he attended his Corps' long engineering course, the Telecommunications Engineering Management course, at the School of Signals, Blandford.

In 1988 he took command of 8th Infantry Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron in Londonderry, for which he was Mentioned in Despatches. This was followed in 1990 by two years at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Malvern as the military liaison officer for special projects. In 1992 he returned to Hong Kong as Second-in-Command of Queen's Gurkha Signals and Chief Planner for the annual Trailwalker long distance charity race. In 1993 he was promoted to take up a Staff appointment within the Directorate of Communications Staff (Army) in the Ministry of Defence Main Building. In 1994 he attended the Joint Service Defence College at Greenwich. This was followed by a six months attachment to the 50th Anniversary of the End of War in Europe Commemorations Team.

In 1995 he was appointed Commander Queen's Gurkha Signals and Head of the Joint Communications and Information Systems Staff in Hong Kong. During the next two years he was intimately involved in the planning and preparation for the withdrawal of the British Garrison and the transfer of Sovereignty of the Territory to the People's Republic of China. His final act was to command the formal handover parade of the Prince of Wales Barracks to the People's Liberation Army at midnight on 30th June 1997.

After 8 months in the land based Electronic Warfare team at the Defence Procurement Agency Abbey Wood, he moved to the Special Projects Procurement Integrated Project Team with responsibility for the procurement of search and counter-measures equipment for Counter Terrorist and Special Forces operations. In early 2001 he was promoted and moved to the Defence Communication Services Agency first as Assistant Director Customer Account Management, and subsequently as Assistant Director Customer Relationship Management. For much of 2004 he underwent Defence Attache training. Colonel Ellis is married to Fiona. They have two daughters, Rebecca (22) and Hannah (19). He retains a keen sporting interest both as a participator, particularly as a cyclist and skier, and as a spectator.

Colonel Ellis assumed the appointments of Commander British Gurkhas Nepal, Defence Attache Kathmandu and Director Gurkha Welfare Scheme on 28 January 2005. We wish him well for his tour in Nepal.

David Tiffin.

David reports that a lot has happened in their life since he and I (Paddy) last met. After leaving the Army, he and Fiona pursued business careers, mainly in the telecommunications and IT sectors and, most recently, lived in Paris. They left Paris at the end of last year and since then have been at their house in Bedfordshire. The purpose of coming home was to make another major career change in that Fiona and he are now about to depart for 2 years or so on Voluntary Service Overseas. He says the idea of doing VSO developed over a number of years and they are excited about the prospect of using some of their business experience to help developing communities. The really good news is that they are going to work in Nepal and will be based in Kathmandu from 14th September, working with Nepalese national charities representing minority groups. For them, going to Nepal will be great, particularly since their trek together in 1980, when they fell in love with the country. This time, they will be living amongst the local community on very modest budgets, but for them that is the great appeal  at this stage!