BCR Cadet wearing hackle.

[D. Nicholson]

Wow, thanks very much for those links. If only I found this website a year ago I would have saved so much time - darn Google filtering things regionally makes most of these websites impossible to find!

Cheers

[Pylon1357]

Originally Posted by Voltigeur

Mr. Nicholson thank you for your explanation about the BCR/Irish Fusilier connection.I appreciate the distinction now.As for your search for green hackles I have taken the liberty of including a UK-based website known to some of our members who did business with them, and a link to William Scully's (I know that up to a few years ago they still had green hackles in stock but at about $15.00 ea.)
Regards and Good Luck.
Jo
William Scully's: http://www.williamscully.ca/gallery2...mes_2.jpg.html

The UK-based Co.: http://www.military-badges.co.uk/Hackles.htm

Hey Jo, Scully still makes the Green Hackle. I had our QM send in a sample of ours so they knew our specs. They are quite nice, However not as nice as the early issued ones. The Irish Regiment of Canada Veterans Association is now being supplied our Hackles from Wm. Scully, not certain where the 2nd Bn gets theirs. IIRC when I replaced my Hackle last year it cost me $5.00

[Voltigeur]

Hi Clifford,good to hear from you. Well if you got an hackle for that price,count yourself lucky.About two years ago Michel P. wanted to buy some and was told that the current price was $15.00.....no discount.
Take care.
Jo

[langet]

Hello all......Thought you might be interested to know that the BC Regiment, in addition to adopting the Irish theme collar dogs, and as mentioned several other fusilier traditions, have formed a Irish Pipe and Drum band, wearing the uniform of the Irish Fusiliers of Canada (the Vancouver Regt), and they parade along side their military band.
Being a former Seaforth Highlander I kinda consider this blasphemy.....(except on St Patrick's Day), but we always try to humor the BCR's.....;o)
Cheers....Jeff

[Voltigeur]

Hello langet, if you have a chance to post some photographs,I'm sure some of us would be interested in seeing the "new" BCR Cadet band.
Jo

[langet]

Hi Voltigeur.....The band is part of the militia unit(or, sadly like most Canadian military bands, a volunteer or regt association sponsored band), so isn't part of the affiliated cadet units. As for pictures, http://www.irishpipesanddrums.com/ should give you some good pics. I believe that the badge on the bass drum is the regt's new collar dog. They also have some great shots of the original Irish Fusiliers band during WW2.
Cabar Feidh.......Jeff

[Voltigeur]

Thanks langet. I went to the website and tried to enlarge some photos, but nothing doing.There are a few interesting ones there mainly the pre-war ones.
Regards
Jo

[Seathanaich]

Originally Posted by Voltigeur

Hi Wyn thanks for thee explanation but, wouldn't be easier to just "write off" those units that have been inactive for a number of years instead of keeping them on a list in the hope,I guess, of reactivating them in case of another conflict? Some of these units have been inactive since the early '60s. Are we to end up like our British friends with so many big regiments "a la Royal Regiment of Scotland"???
Jo

This is an interesting topic and question. There were two mistakes the British made: (1) they failed to foresee just how many infantry and armour units their army would cut over the next 50 years (can't blame them for that); and (2) once the extent of the cuts became apparent, they didn't rectify the situation, and compounded it by trying to keep everything active in the regular force instead of moving some units to the TA (Territorial Army), thereby amalgamating their infantry into units which essentially have no history at all, and might as well wear "Ubique" for their battle honours.

It would be quite easy for all of the regiments that fought in the First and Second World wars to still exist: all could have a TA unit, and a few could have regular army battalions as well. Scotland, for example, could field 1 Scots Gds, 1 Roy Scots, and 1 Blk Watch in the Regular Army. In the TA, you could have every Scottish infantry unit: the KOSB in Edinburgh East / Musselburgh (with a platoon in Dumfries); 2 Roy Scots in Edinburgh West with a platoon in Livingstone, West Lothian; Cameronians (Scot Rif) in Lanarkshire (Airdrie and Motherwell); Roy Scots Fus in Glasgow South and Ayrshire (Kilmarnock); Arg & Suth High in Glasgow West; High Lt Inf in Glasgow North and West; 2 Scots Gds in Stirling and Fife (Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy); 2 Blk Watch in Perth and Dundee; the Gordons in Aberdeen; and the Seaforths in Inverness and Elgin. TA infantry units already exist in all or almost all of these locations, so this wouldn't be an expansion, just a reorganisation.

Ditto for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Cavalry would have to territorialise too. I think territorialising the infantry and cavalry would be a lot better than the current situation, where the TA units generally have NO actual history as fighting units, and get re-named after every round of defence cuts; and the regular force units might as well be called Regiment 1, Regiment 2, and Regiment 3.