3:40pm Monday 15th March 2010
By David Watkinson
A TERRITORIAL Army squadron being axed as part of a costcutting drive is to be given a top civic award.
It has also been announced that the 93 (East Lancashire) Signal Squadron, based in Canterbury Street, is to march through Blackburn before shutting down before the end of the month.
The unit is being axed after a costcutting review by Army bosses.
Blackburn with Darwen Mayor, Coun James Hirst, said it would be a great loss to the town.
He said: “We are very proud to offer the squadron the civic medal. It is a great shame that we are losing them but it will be a fitting tribute to the huge impact they have had.”
Since it was formed in October 1969 soldiers have been deployed in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The squadron will receive the borough’s Civic Medal and a civic reception will be held on Saturday at King George’s Hall in recognition of its long association with the borough.
Staff administration officer Captain Dale Ikin said: “We are very proud to receive the civic medal but there is a lot of anger that the squadron is being closed down.
“There is a lot of ill feeling because there was no need for this to happen. We were a vibrant, well recruited and well attended group. It was a political decision.”
Last year there were at least 60 reservists, aged 17 to 55, based at Canterbury Street, and about six full-time staff. But no soldiers have been there since January.
Its members have done a wealth of charity work and organised the town’s annual Remembrance Day parade.
The Canterbury Street site is now likely to be sold and developed, although no firm decision on the matter has yet been made.
The medal has previously been given to Blackburn Rovers, Blackburn Music Society and people representing bodies like the Salvation Army and St John Ambulance.
It was last awarded in 2006 to the late long-serving councillor Frank Gorton.
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