Outstanding service recognised

Ex-soldier Mr Harry Wade has been presented with an award in recognition of outstanding services to the Royal Artillery Association.

The award was given to Mr Wade, the Newark branch president, by the Master Gunner at the Royal Artillery Assembly, Blackpool.

Mr Wade, 82, of Walker Close, Newark, was the only member out of 200 in the East Midlands to receive the award.

He said: “There were about a thousand members at the assembly. It was an absolutely wonderful occasion.”

Mr Wade was a gunner for eight years after joining the Royal Regiment of Artillery in April, 1945.

He said: “It was a wonderful career. I never had a single argument with anyone. I cried when I went in and I cried when I went out.”

Mr Wade has been branch president for a year and was secretary and standard bearer for 20 years before that.

He missed only two Remembrance Sunday parades in that time.