Soldiers hold homecoming parade in Leamington

More than 180 soldiers of 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers marked their return from a six-month deployment in Helmand Province by marching in a homecoming parade on Tuesday afternoon.

The event culminated in a civic reception at Leamington town hall where Cllr Richard Davies, the chairman of Warwick District Council, awarded Brigadier David Paterson, the regiment’s commander, and his troops the freedom of the district.

The regiment recruits from various parts of the country but its history is strongly connected to Warwickshire with the former Royal Warwickshire Regiment being part of the amalgamation in the 1960s which made up the Fusiliers as it is today.

Capt Rex Anderton, of the 1st Battalion, said Warwickshire is part of the regiment’s “heritage”.

He said: “It’s a great opportunity for the regiment to come back and experience and celebrate with the community.

It’s pretty special, we saw that some of the local schools had taken the afternoon off to see us and people noticing their friends and family in the crowd was a lot of fun.

“It’s a great feeling to be back, we’ve had a bit of leave and now we’re getting back into the swing of things ready for next year.”

The parade included the regimental colours, corps of drums and military band and an inspection of the battalion.

People cheered and waved Union Flags in support when the soldiers approached the town hall.

This was the first time the freedom of Warwick district has been granted, encompassing its four towns and more than 20 parishes.

Cllr Davies, who played a leading role in ensuring the parade would take place and that the freedom of the town would be granted, said: “It’s the end of a job for me and I’m glad that I was fortunate enough to see it through and have the support of the councillors and council officers who have worked extremely hard.

“It was emotional to see and hearing the crowd cheering and clapping really makes the soldiers’ day.

“It’s important for the army to be given these freedoms and honours but it’s also important for us as a district to say ‘this is our local regiment and we support it’.”