THE commanding officer of the Territorial Army's 93 Signal Squadron has retired after thirty-two years service.

Major Aidan Unwin, 56 from Accrington, had worked his way up from a raw-recruit to the chief position in the unit after moving to Lancashire from Northern Ireland in 1969.

He works for the DSS during the day and has a wife, April, and three grown-up children, yet he has managed to dedicate much of his time to the squadron's work. His unit provides emergency assistance in times of communications crisis, such as the period of uncertainty surrounding the millennium bug.

He had just left the RAF, in which he was a reconnaissance pilot performing search and rescue missions, when he saw a TA advert for volunteers.

"They were looking for people who were ex-servicemen," said Mr Unwin, "and I had just moved to the area and went up there and the rest is history. I didn't expect to stay for more than two years, but I started as an officer and kept working up until I was commanding officer.

"Sometimes you thought on Friday after work, 'Oh God I have to go there', but I wouldn't have stayed there if it was bad. I can honestly say that there has never been a bad memory and I am going to miss it."