Army wives give Kinloss thumbs up

ARMY wives have visited Moray ahead of the deployment to the former RAF Kinloss base of their soldier husbands later this year.

And the feedback from their fact-finding visit was very positive as the transition from RAF to Army continues.

A small group of wives were shown the living accommodation on the base, spoke to people in the local community and visited the local schools.

"What they found was really positive," said Lieutenant Colonel Andy Sturrock, boss of 39 Engineer Regiment, "and they have gone back to spread the word."

Zoe Mills, RAF press officer at the base, revealed how one of the women was blown away by what she saw.

"One of the ladies already said to her husband that if he gets posted away in future the family will be staying here," she said.

The visit earlier this month was another bid to make the process of redeploying 770 Army personnel and many families hundreds of miles from their current base at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire.

Lt Col Sturrock admitted the job of moving the regiment and their dependents was huge logistically.

However, he said the ongoing support of the remaining RAF community at Kinloss - there are 224 RAF personnel still on the base - and other local agenicies has made the process much smoother.

And he said the warmth of the welcome so far from the Moray community has delighted him and other members of the regiment.

A small number of families have already relocated to Moray as preparatory work is done ahead of the move.

The base is set to be handed over to the Army towards the end of July or beginning of August and the soldiers will begin moving after that.

While the regiment has a total personnel of 970, some 200 of them are based at RAF Leeming and will not be moving north at present.

And of those who are being redeployed to Kinloss, most are single officers but there are 200 families relocating to the area.

That will see 50 youngsters from Army families start the new term at nearby Kinloss Primary, with another 12 signed up for Kinloss Nursery, 16 at other day centres and 12 heading for Forres Academy.

After some initial and understandable concern among families about the distance involved in the redeployment of 39 Engineer Regiment, Lt Col Sturrock said there was a sense of anticipation ahead of the move.

"There has been a great welcome from the local community and the RAF community. People are pretty positive about the move," he said.

To find out more about the Army move to Kinloss, see 'The Northern Scot'.