Gurkha Majors, Officer Commanding, Queen’s Gurkha Orderly Officers and Regimental Sergeant Majors from across the Brigade units came together on Saturday 3rd August 2019 in the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment Officers Mess to show their appreciation for Colonel James Robinson CBE (Colonel Brigade of Gurkhas) commitment, direction, dedication and drive in leading the Brigade of Gurkhas for the past seven years.
At the dinner, the Deputy Chief of Staff Major Narendra K Gurung valiantly attempted to capture the many achievements of a man of true giant stature and the generational relationship he has to the Brigade of Gurkhas, which was followed by a special ‘khada’ ceremony wishing the family best of health and prosperity in their future endeavours.
Brigade of Gurkhas will surely miss his fatherly guidance.
Since the inauguration of the Brigade of Gurkhas Cricket Club (BGCC) in 2018 by our presiding Secretary, Major Buddhibahadur Bhandari MVO, BGCC has been fortunate enough to carry the Brigade Of Gurkhas reputation widely playing against a few big names including; Lord Traveners last year and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) this year. Currently, there are 32 BGCC players formed across the Brigade of Gurkhas.
This year BGCC had a cracking start with a very successful week of training sessions during our AGM playing and practicing against few local Cricket club in the Army Cricket Pitch, Aldershot. We are progressing and few resolutions have already been identified by our Secretary for the next year to bring more fixtures.
The B
rigade of Gurkhas Bhela will take place on 13th July 2019. More information can be found on this link..
Nepal Cup, Tug of War, Ladies Volleyball ( V/Ball) and Thelo
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Time |
Event |
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0940 |
Players line up for third place match of the Nepal Cup |
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0955 |
2 x Pipers from the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment (QOGLR) escorts Nepal Cup third place match. |
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1000 – 1045 |
Nepal Cup third place – first half. |
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1030 |
Thelo Preliminary Round. |
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1050 |
Ladies Volleyball semi-final Team escorts by Numati Panchai Baja. |
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1100 |
Ladies Volleyball semi-final matches start. |
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1100 – 1145 |
Nepal Cup third place – second half. |
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1200 |
Tug of War Semi final 1 and semi-final 2. |
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1230 |
Tug of War Final. |
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1250 |
Ladies Volleyball Finalist Team escorts by Naumati Panchai Baja. |
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1300 |
Ladies Volleyball Final. |
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1430 |
Thelo Final start. |
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1450 |
Brigade of Gurkhas Band escort Nepal Cup Final Teams. |
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1500 – 1545 |
Nepal Cup Final – first half. |
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1545 – 1600 |
Brigade of Gurkhas Band Display and followed by Recruit Intake 19 Gurkha Company Catterick Display. |
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1600 – 1645 |
Nepal Cup Final – second half. |
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|
1700 – 1725 |
Prize Presentation |
Colonel Brigade of Gurkhas |
|
1730 – 1800 |
Cultural Dance and Live Concert by Preety Ale Magar |
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Activities
Family Fun Fair
General Stalls
Food Stalls
Retail Stalls
NB: Timings may be subject to change. Changes will be broadcast on the PA system.
Nepal Cup 2019 started at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 4th July 2019.
Nepal Cup 2019 scores update for 4th July 2019:
Group D
1 Royal Gurkha Rifles (2) – Gurkha Company Catterick (0)
Group B
2 Royal Gurkha Rifles (7) – Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas (1)
Group C
Queen’s Gurkha Signals (3) – Gurkha wing Mandalay (1)
Nepal Cup 2019 scores update for 5th July 2019:
Group D
1 Royal Gurkha Rifles (2) – Queen’s Gurkha Engineers (1)
Group A
Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment (3) – Gurkha Company Sittang (0)
Group B
Gurkha Staff and Personnel Support (4) – Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas (1)
Nepal Cup 2019 scores update for 8th July 2019:
Group C
Queen’s Gurkha Signals (7) – Gurkha Company Tavoleto (1)
Group B
2 Royal Gurkha Rifles (3) – Gurkha Staff and Personnel Support (0)
Group A
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Support Battalion (2) – Gurkha Company Sittang (1)
Nepal Cup 2019 scores update for 9th July 2019:
Group A
Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment (3) – Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Support Battalion (1)
Group C
Gurkha Wing Mandalay (2) – Gurkha Company Tavoleto (1)
Group D
Queen’s Gurkha Engineers (2) – Gurkha Company Catterick (1)
Nepal Cup 2019 Semi Final scores update for 11th July 2019:
1 Royal Gurkha Rifles (3) – 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles (1)
Queen’s Gurkha Signals (4) – Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment (1)
Nepal Cup 2019 Third Place Match scores update for 13th July 2019
Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment (2) – 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles (1)
Nepal Cup Final Match score update for 13th July 2019
Queen’s Gurkha Signals (1) – 1 Royal Gurkha Rifles (0)
The Top scorer for Nepal Cup 2019 was awarded to Lance Corporal Prasant Tamang.
Click the image above to watch Queen’s Gurkha Signals Free Kick winning goal score by Lance Corporal Prasant Tamang against 1 Royal Gurkha Rifles (1-0) in Nepal Cup 2019 Finals Match.
The Brigade of Gurkhas Annual Golf Championship was held on Tuesday 2nd July 2019 at Windlesham Golf Club played between Brigade of Gurkhas unit teams. This event marks the official start of the Brigade of Gurkhas Brigade Week 2019. The day also sadly marked the Colonel Brigade of Gurkhas (Col BG) Colonel James Robinson CBE last participation in the BG Golf championship as he retires from the job very soon. Col BG leaves behind a great legacy which he initiated in 2015 and has since been contested annually by the best Gurkha golfers.
Overall Unit Champion:
Individual Top 5 of the Brigade of Gurkhas:
Novelty Prizes:
Dear all Gurkha Brigade Association friends, please find below the link to all online version of Parbate.
This is June/July’s edition and it covers some events including:
The Brigade of Gurkhas Media Team.
The Haig Housing Council, South London Nepali Association (SLNA), local Councillors and members of the public attended an opening dedicaion for the Kulbir Thapa VC House for veterans. The ceremony started with Corporal Nirmal Thapa piping the guests to the court yard in front of Kulbir Thapa House. Once group had assembled, the CEO of Haig Housing, Brigadier James Richardson MBE addressed the gathering followed by the GBA Secretary, Major Manikumar Rai MBE who gave an abbreviated account of Rifleman Kulbir Thapa’s actions which earned him his Victoria Cross. The block was officially opened with a “Ribbon Cutting” ceremony to conducted by David Williams. (Haig Housing Trustee) and Major Manikumar Rai.
Haig Housing
Haig Housing Trust, known as Haig Housing, was formed in 2008 as a ‘sister’ charity to Douglas Haig Memorial Homes (Haig Homes). The two Trusts were amalgamated on 1st October 2013.
The object of Haig Housing is to provide housing assistance to ex-Service people and/or their dependants. Currently this object is achieved by letting general needs homes at affordable rents to the ex-Service community and providing tailored housing solutions to suit the individual needs of severely wounded and disabled Veterans.
New Build
The Haig Housing Trust completed building of 68 new homes on their Morden Estate in May 2019. Prior to the completion, The Haig Council decided that each block would be named after gallantry award winners. The first block to be completed was to be named after Rfn Kulbir Thapa Victoria Cross (VC), 2/3rd Queen Alexanders Gurkha Rifles – the first Gurkha to be awarded the VC.
Rifleman Kulbir Thapa VC
On 25th September 1915 in Fauquissart, France, Rifleman Kulbir Thapa, having been wounded himself, came across a wounded soldier form The Leicestershire Regiment behind the front line of German trenches. The soldier is believed to be Bill Keightley a 20-year-old soldier from Melton Mowbray. Although urged to save himself, Kulbir Gurkha stayed with Keightly all day and night. Early next day, in misty weather, he dragged Bill him through the wire, within spitting distance from the Germans, and, leaving him in a place of comparative safety, returned to brought in two wounded Gurkhas, one after the other. He then went back, and, in broad daylight, fetched the British soldier, carrying him most of the way under enemy fire.
Such an incredible act of compassion and courage attracted a good deal of attention, and when he emerged from his trench for the third time with one more wounded comrade over his shoulder, the German soldiers actually clapped to encourage Kulbir on. Heartened by the German support, Kulbir stood up and walked right across the No-Mans-Land back to his own side
The ceremony then moved to the Village Hall where sumptuous Nepali food prepared by the “Didi Baini” of the SLNA and sandwiches awaited us. Lunch followed a Nepali cultural show which was a delight, the young girls and ladies did themselves, their community and Haig proud.
A huge thank you goes to the CEO, Brigadier James Richardson and Housing Manager Lisa Waterman the who orchestrated the whole event and made it the success it was.
The Gurkha Khud Race will take place on 20th July 2019 in Pen y Fan, Brecon Beacons. The Infantry Battle School aims to re-ignite this long-lasted custom of the Brigade of Gurkhas. This time the race is open to all the general public who can compete alongside serving Gurkhas Soldiers.
The Hill Race was first introduced by Major The Honorary (later Brigadier General) C G Bruce of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) as a protest against the Indian Army attitude which considered that Gurkhas could not compete on equal terms with Punjabis, Sikhs and other Indian Army castes. Unsurpassed among athletic contests as a spectacle, it had important consequences, for it not only established the reputation of the Gurkha as practically invincible on the hill-side, but also had the effect of improving military skills associated with hill-work generally in the context of operations in the hills of the North West Frontier. In 1890 the first year of the Punjab Frontier sports competition, a hill race was run with 133 starters of all classes. The first thirty-three places were won by Gurkhas, the first Punjabi coming in 34th.
Three annual local races followed and in 1894 the 5th Gurkha Challenge Cup was presented to become the Hill Race Trophy.
This silver trophy now resides in the Gurkha Museum. The Trophy is a silver statue of a Gurkha in national costume, and was commonly known as “The Little Man”.
One of the most notable of all the hill running performances was in 1899. Havildar Harkbir Thapa had been with Bruce in England when they went to the Isle of Skye. As the result of an argument between the Laird, McLeod of McLeod and some of his ghillies, a small bet was made that Harkbir would not run from Sligachan Inn to the top of Mount Glamaig and back in an hour and a quarter, the ghillies saying that their dogs could not do this. The distance is two miles open moorland to the foot, and a rise of 2,817 feet to the summit. Harkbir accomplished it by himself in thirty-seven minutes to the summit, and eighteen minutes back to the Inn without fatigue. This record remained unbroken until 1997; many athletes in the North had tried to beat it, but it took a professional fell runner in running shoes, nearly a hundred years later to shave off five minutes from the time set in 1899.
After the transfer of the four Gurkha Indian Army Regiments to the British Army on 1st January 1948 operations in Malaya interrupted the reintroduction of the Gurkha Hill Race Trophy. With the formation of 48 Gurkha Infantry Brigade in Hong Kong in 1960, the first 48 Brigade Khud Race competition was run on a hill called “Nameless” in the New Territories that same year. The course was one mile and 164 yards long, and involved a steep climb up a 1,300 foot slope followed by a perilous descent of 1,200 feet.
The Hong Kong record time was set by Colour Sergeant Gobinda Rai 10 Gurkha Rifles in 1981, in a time of fifteen minutes and twelve seconds before the last Khud Race was run in Kong Kong in 1996.
The last Brigade Hill Race was run in the United Kingdom on a very wet and windy day in Wales on 6th June 1995 which was won by 3rd Royal Gurkha Rifles. After 106 years of Gurkha Hill Racing this spectacular sporting event has ceased to be run in Britain’s Gurkha Regiments.
On Saturday the 8th June 2019 serving members of the Brigade of Gurkhas, veterans and members of the Brigade Association came together at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) for the annual reunion church service and lunch. The church service commenced at 1100hrs with approx 300 members in the The Royal Memorial Chapel Sandhurst where the service was led by The Reverend David Crees MA BSc CF (Academy Chaplain) and Padre Chris Kellock MA BD CF.
O God, who in the Gurkha, has given to mankind a race exceptional in courage and devotion, resplendent in its cheerfulness, we, who owe them so much, ask your special blessing on them, their families and their land. Grant us your grave to be loyal to their best interests, as they have been to ours in the past. Amen.
Read by Reverend Peter Clement BA – Honorary Chaplain the the Gurkha Brigade Association.
Philippians Chapter 3 verses 7-14
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
After the service the congregation stepped outside the chapel and formed up around the All Ranks Memorial situated directly opposite the main doors to the Chapel for the Act of Remembrance led by Padre Chris Kellock.
We are here to worship Almighty God whose purposes are good; whose power sustains the world he has made; who loves us, though we have failed in his service; who gave Jesus Christ for the life of the world; and who by his Holy Spirit leads us in his way.
As we give thanks for his great works, we remember those who have lived and died in his service and in the service of others especially those who have served in the Gurkha Brigade. We pray for all who suffer through war and are in need; we ask for his help and blessing that we may do his will, and that the whole world may acknowledge him as Lord and King.
Also leading the Act of Remembrance were:
Last post was sounded and a piper played a lament.
Post the Act of Remembrance the piper led the way to New College for lunch and speeches. After a fine meal and time to catch up with old colleagues, Colonel David Hayes thanked all those for attending and gave a short update on the Brigade of Gurkhas.
