NMA 2020 small service

Ten members and wives assembled today at the Ulster Ash Grove to represent all our members for the Act of Remembrance. ...

It is our sad duty to inform you that Ken passed away on Thursday 19th March 2020 after a brief struggle with cancer.
A full obituary will be published in the forthcoming Newsletter.

The NIVA Annual Service of Remembrance was booked with the NMA to take place on Saturday 12th September 2020. Since that booking was made, we have been advised that the NMA is closed for the foreseeable future. Alternative arrangements may have to be made. Keep logging in to follow and

...

NIVA Annual Service of Remembrance 2019
This will be held on Saturday 14th September. All are welcome.
Most of you will be aware that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the deployment of Operation Banner.
We embrace this commemoration within our Annual Service of Remembrance and to mark that, we will be laying some 2000 Poppy crosses each bearing the names and unit of each of the Fallen; they will be laid in Regimental lines close to the Ulster Memorial. The sacrifice of those members of the civilian services, Police, Prison Officers, CSU and others, will marked by Poppy crosses laid in their respective unit lines.

...

The Association is pleased to announce and welcome our new patron, General Sir Robert Pascoe KCB MBE and Mentioned in Despatches (twice) who has kindly agreed to act as the Association’s figurehead.

General Bob as he prefers to be known as these days was commissioned into the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1952 and served in the Suez Canal Zone, Osnabruck and Cyprus.

He has served with the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Royal Green Jackets and was first mentioned in despatches serving in Borneo in 1966.

The award of the MBE followed in 1968 as a Company Commander 1RGJ in Cyprus. General Rob went onto be Commanding Officer of 1RGJ in BAOR from where he served two tours of Northern Ireland being once again mentioned in despatches in 1974.
...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday that letters issued to Irish nationalist militants telling them they were no long wanted by police should no longer be relied upon as a guarantee of immunity from prosecution. As part of a 1998 peace deal that largely ended three decades of violence over Britain's rule of Northern Ireland, around 200 suspected members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) received 'comfort letters' saying they were no longer considered 'wanted' by police. ...

A man has been arrested in England by detectives investigating a sectarian murder in Northern Ireland almost 40 years ago. The 62-year-old was detained in Blackpool by officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Serious Crime Branch, with the assistance of officers from Lancashire Police and the North West Counter Terrorism Unit. He was held following a review by the Historical Enquiries Team into the shooting of John Huddleston in Durham Street, West Belfast, on March 24 1973. Factory worker Mr Huddleston, a 28-year-old Catholic, was shot a number of times on his own doorstep by loyalist paramilitaries as he returned from a night out. His brother was wounded in the attack. ...

40 years ago today. Sergeant Michael Willetts 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. killed on 25/05/1971 aged 27 Awarded the George Cross and honoured in Harvey Andrews song "The Soldier". A terrorist entered the reception hall of the Springfield Road Police Station in Belfast. He carried a suitcase from which a smoking fuse protruded, dumped it quickly on the floor and fled outside. Inside the room were a man and a woman, two children and several police officers. Sgt Willetts held the door open while all passed safely through and then stood in the doorway, shielding those taking cover. In the next moment, the bomb exploded with terrible force. Sergeant Willetts was mortally wounded. ...

A Northern Ireland Veteran is planning to trek to Mount Everest basecamp in aid of Help for Heroes.

"Shaun the Sherpa" who lost his son Phillip in Afghanistan has undertaken the challenge to raise money for the charity who provide help and support for wounded members of our armed forces and their families when they need it most.
...

Bloody Belfast is a fascinating oral history given a chilling insight into the killing grounds of Belfast’s streets. Wharton’s work is based on first hand accounts from the soldiers who experienced the violence in Belfast. The reader can walk the darkened, dangerous streets of the Lower Falls, the Divis Street, and new Lodge alongside the soldiers who braved the hate-filled mobs on the newer, but no less violent streets of the ‘Murph, Turf Lodge, and Andersonstown. Wharton’s reputati...

From all the NIVA Administrators, welcome. Well, it's finally happened and we've taken the plunge to update the site with new software which will be more secure, easier to administer and better supported. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to take you through a few things you might find useful, we've tried to keep the overall experience familiar and recognisable, whilst offering new and improved features for our members. The first thing you'll notice of course is this new CMS (or Community Management System) that takes over these ...