Saturday saw a momentous day for the cadets of Penmaenmawr Detachment with the formal rebadging of the detachment to The Corps of Royal Engineers.
Penmaenmawr has historic links with the Royal Engineers as young men from the historic quarry that dominates Penmaenmawr were conscripted to the Royal Engineers Quarry Corps due to their knowledge during the First World War. A lot of the men from Penmaenmawr quarry went into the 320th quarry company including an officer CS Darbishire who was a member of the family that owned the quarries at Penmaenmawr and Trefor.
The detachment has been formally affiliated with 75 Engineer Regiment, the Army’s Light Role and Close Support Reserves, who’s sapper reserves support operations overseas by providing light role, close support military engineering to 4 Light Brigade Combat Team.
Maj Si Mayers, the Regimental Quartermaster, and WO1 (RSM) Dean Penn were delighted to present Royal Engineers cap badges to the detachment staff and cadets.
Maj Mayers said “The RSM and I had a fantastic visit. From the outset we witnessed keen and motivated Cadets that had enthusiasm in abundance. Much of this reflects from the hard work the Instructors and Volunteers put in to make the training fun and enjoyable. We had an excellent arrival brief linking the history of the Quarry to a longstanding relationship to the Corps of Engineers showed detailed, was very interesting and presented with confidence by Sgt Chamberlain and Cpl Williams. We visited some of the training taking place and it was evident that there is as much passion in the quality delivery as there is in the Cadets learning and developing.” Adding “The instruction was provided with immense patience, and it was clear the Cadets were learning in a positive environment. The range was conducted both professionally but offering solid and sensible coaching support, which clearly reduced the nervousness of firing live weapons, and there were some accurate groupings on targets!
Burma Company Commanding Officer Tracey Cooper said “I am delighted that this rebadging is taking place, bringing our cadets from Penmaenmawr closer to the history of our quarry villages, and forming a positive association with such an important Regiment”
