Wakefield Freedom Parade
On Saturday 13 March, a special ceremony took place in which the Metropolitan District of Wakefield presented the Freedom of the Borough to the Yorkshire Regiment. Earlier last year, the council voted to grant the freedom to the Regiment for its service and recognise the strong historic connections with the Borough and West Yorkshire.
During the ceremony the Regiment's senior representative, Colonel SC Newton MBE, invited the Mayor, Councillor Heather Hudson, along with the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, to inspect soldiers of the 3rd Battalion.
Thereafter, a presentation ceremony took place whereby a special scroll was presented by the Mayor of Wakefield, This honour grants the Regiment rights to march through the Borough with Colours flying, bayonets fixed and drums beating, according to tradition. The 3rd Battalion's Corps of Drums carried out a victory beating for the crowds of onlookers.
The Battalion's Commanding Officer, Lt Col TG Vallings, then asked for permission to exercise the newly granted freedom rights and, lead by the
Band of the King's Division, proceeded to march the Battalion through the town.
This is the second time The Yorkshire Regiment has been directly granted a Borough Freedom since its formation on 6 June 2006. All 16 existing antecedent Freedoms have been transferred to the Regiment.
The Regiment was represented by soldiers from across Yorkshire and in particular the 3rd Battalion, whose heartland is the West Riding of Yorkshire. The soldiers wore desert uniforms in recognition of the Regiment's current deployment to Afghanistan.