On Thursday 14 May, Heriot-Watt University warmly welcomed Lowland RFCA members to its James Watt Centre for the Association’s Annual Association Meeting.
The university currently holds a Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award and is deeply proud of its long-running relationship with the Armed Forces Community.
Delivering his welcome address to the Association membership, Principal and Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Williams CBE spoke of Heriot-Watt’s beliefs in ‘community, resilience and humanity’, paid tribute to the Officer Cadets of the Universities’ Officer Training Corps, Air Squadron and Royal Naval Unit and their positive influences in their local community, and highlighted the university’s working partnerships with organisations such as Leonardo to develop new technologies relevant to Defence.
Next came the official business of the evening – the confirmed appointment and authorisation of Lowland RFCA Chair, Vice Chairs and Board members from Ms Moira Niven MBE, the Association’s President and Lord-Lieutenant for West Lothian.
As part of her introduction to the evening’s proceedings, Ms Niven was pleased to welcome several of her fellow Lord-Lieutenants and their accompanying Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadets to the meeting, and reflected on how, in the midst of the gloomier Defence headlines dominating the news in recent months, the Association meeting would instead focus on the good news stories of Lowland Reservists and Cadets.
To emphasise the themes of positivity and progress, Ms Niven was pleased to highlight a recent string of successes for 215 (Scottish) Multirole Medical Regiment, who received the Royal College of Nursing’s Nursing Team of the Year Award and Reservist of the Year from the Scottish Veterans Awards for Sergeant Iona Stuart.
Once the initial formalities had been covered, Lowland RFCA’s Chair, Air Commodore James Linter OBE, delivered his report on Association and wider Defence activity from the past year. Highlights included the publication of the Strategic Defence Review and how the Defence and political landscapes have already shifted since then. Air Commodore Linter also reminded attendees that, whatever may be going on elsewhere, the Association remains committed to the ‘Lowland Approach’ of making its own luck and getting on with the job in hand to continue supporting its Reservists and Cadets.
Next came presentations from guest speakers on the Association Meeting’s theme: Partners in Progress. First up was Lieutenant Colonel Doug Bertram: former Commanding Officer of 105 Regiment Royal Artillery; a Heriot-Watt alumnus; an active member of Glasgow Universities’ Military Education Committee; a chartered water and civil engineer, and a practising academic at the University of Strathclyde.
Lieutenant Colonel Bertram offered the attending Association members some reflections on his time in command of 105 Regiment, which he described as a ‘period of considerable change’.
Despite facing challenges in the form of budget constraints, personnel deployments and loss of equipment to support NATO High Readiness operations, the Regiment still enjoyed a number of highlights, including the opening of the new Merlano Lines Army Reserve Centre for its Livingston-based team, and receiving the Army Benevolent Fund’s Famous Grouse Trophy, an annual award that recognises the Army unit that showed outstanding support to the charity over the past year.
Next came a briefing from Professor Gerri Matthews-Smith, whose distinguished titles include: Director of the Centre for Military Research, Education and Professional Practice at Edinburgh Napier University; Chair of the Edinburgh Universities’ Military Education Committee (MEC); Co-Chair of the Council of Military Education Committees (COMEC), and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Army Leadership.
Much of Professor Matthews-Smith’s work focuses heavily on partnership, in particular how the single Services of the Armed Forces currently work together and what they can do to make those partnerships even better. Referring to the Strategic Defence Review, her presentation outlined the need for a ‘whole-of-society’ approach to Defence in the current political, social and economic climates, with greater awareness and stronger partnerships forming between the military and civilian communities.
With regard to how this can be achieved within the academic sector, Professor Matthews-Smith emphasised the importance of strengthening connections with the Reserve Forces, raising their awareness of the work of the Military Education Committees, the universities that have pledged their support through the Armed Forces Covenant, and the various qualifications and transferable skills that students are gaining through the Universities’ Officer Training Corps, Air Squadrons and Royal Naval Units throughout the UK.
The final update of the evening came from Lowland RFCA’s Deputy Chief Executive, Mr David Pettigrew, and dealt primarily with local Cadet activity. In keeping with the objective of delivering good news stories to the Association Membership, Mr Pettigrew had the pleasure of announcing the RFCA’s recent purchase of Kirkstyle Primary School in Kilmarnock, which will undergo extensive refurbishment to become the new Headquarters, complete with training, accommodation, dining and office spaces, for West Lowland Battalion Army Cadet Force.
This news was eagerly welcomed by all in attendance, given that the purchase of the now-vacated school building proved to be considerably more cost-effective than either overhauling the current Battalion Headquarters in Ayr or building an entirely new Cadet Training Centre elsewhere. An additional advantage of the new premises will be the five acres of outdoor training space that will become available to the Cadets and adult volunteers upon completion of the school’s refurbishment – a resource that their current facility sorely lacks.
Further good news came in the form of the expansion of the SQA qualifications scheme that was initiated by Lowland RFCA’s former Chief Executive, Colonel Robbie Gibson. Since last year, the scheme has been rolled out beyond Scotland and into the rest of the UK, with Battalions south of the border keen to adopt it and enable their Cadets to gain industry-recognised qualifications outside of their regular school grades. Of the 961 SQA qualifications that were awarded last year – an impressive number in itself – 53 went to Cadets from Gwent & Powys Army Cadet Force in Wales.
Another project seeing positive results in the Lowlands came courtesy of Mr Pettigrew himself, who has been keen to bridge the gap between young people aging out of the Cadets and entering the workforce. To that end, he has been liaising and working closely with the Lowland network of Forces-friendly employers, over 40 of whom have now agreed to facilitate Cadet apprenticeships and work placements. These will not only allow senior and former Cadets to showcase the diverse skills they have gained through their training, such as leadership, communication and time-keeping, but will also enable them to develop even more practical and professional skills, and underscore that recruiting great candidates into the workforce is about much more than what is on their CV.
Following the presentations, the Association members eagerly accepted the invitation to participate in an Open Forum discussion, voicing their thoughts and posing questions on the topics covered by the President, Chair, Deputy Chief Executive and guest speakers, including how best to foster productive conversations between Defence and the wider community, and the role that academia can play in facilitating these conversations.
Many thanks to everyone who joined us for the meeting at Heriot-Watt, and to the university staff for their hospitality throughout the evening. We hope it was an insightful and enjoyable evening, and we look forward to seeing everyone at our next Association Meeting in the autumn.
