Regiment Soldiers Help With Fort Clean-Up
Full-time staff from the Royal Bermuda Regiment helped with a chainsaw clear-up of trees in a historic fort.
A group from the RBR signed up as part of the drive to restore Fort Cunningham on Paget Island off St George’s.
RBR Training Officer Major Beasley said: “We were delighted to help. The modern Regiment is a versatile, well-equipped organisation and we have training in the use of chainsaws as part of our disaster relief role.
“We’re also approaching hurricane season, so it’s good practise for our role in assisting the Bermuda community in times of natural disasters.”
Colour Sergeant Harry Hunt takes down a tree with a chainsaw at Fort Cunningham on Paget Island as part of a restoration project at the historic site.
The restoration is being led by the Mirrors Programme, set up ten years ago to provide young people with opportunities to transform their lives and keep them away from at-risk activity.
Maj. Beasley and a team of soldiers used chainsaws to cut down trees growing in and around the dilapidated fort to make the area accessible to Mirrors volunteers and their equipment.
He said: “Mirrors and the RBR share the same ethos of providing fun, exciting training and encouraging a sense of responsibility among our young people so we were happy to lend our expertise to help them gain access to the fort.”
Maj. Beasley added: “Fort Cunningham would also have been manned by soldiers from one of our predecessor regiments, the Bermuda Militia Artillery, so we’re also pleased that part of our history will become more accessible to members of the public.”
Sergeant Major Jason Harrell, Colour Sergeant Shaun Williams and Sergeant Major Peter Ramm on overgrown Paget Island, where they helped cut back trees as part of the restoration of Fort Cunningham.
RBR soldiers spent a day earlier this month cutting back thick vegetation to clear a path large enough for a wood chipper, which reduces branches to fragments, to get across the island and up to the fort.
Another team cleared a path into the fort and through to the gate.
Maj. Beasley said: “This is just another way we can assist the community we serve outside our more usual roles of hurricane relief and back-up to the police in times of national emergency.
“It’s also a privilege to help in the preservation of both the history of Bermuda and the history of our own Regiment.”
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