Soldiers to exercise freedom of Inverness with parade

Soldiers from a Scottish regiment are to exercise their freedom of Inverness with a parade through the city.

Plans by the 19th Regiment Royal Artillery (The Scottish Gunners) to march through the city.

in March 2020 were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The date of the forthcoming parade has yet to to be announced by Highland Council but Inverness councillors have approved a grant of £9363 from the Inverness Common Good Fund to mark the occasion.

The grant is allocated for civic hospitality at Inverness Town House.

The Freedom of Inverness is a rare civic honour which has its origins in the medieval history of the city and was once a mark of elite social and political status.

It is a distinction which has been shared by royals, politicians and people who have shown outstanding service to society and to Inverness.

It was also awarded to The Queen’s Own Highlanders in 1961 following the merging of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and the Seaforth Highlanders and also to The Scottish Gunners, previously the Highland Gunners, in March 1999.

Trained for highly mobile armoured warfare, the Scottish Gunners comprises three-gun batterys, a headquarters battery and workshops of the Royal Electric and Mechanical Engineers.

The 19th regiment traces its history to 17 Brigade Royal Field Artillery which was formed in 1900 but the individual batterys date back to the 18th century.

17 Brigade saw action during World War I and in May 1940 it was the first Royal Artillery unit to fire in World War II while stationed at the Maginot Line. It subsequently served during the North African and Italian campaigns and was re-designated 19th Regiment in 1947.

Known as The Highland Gunners since 1963, the regiment was deployed to Bosnia in 1995 and Cyprus in 1998 for United Nation peacekeeping operations and later saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was officially renamed The Scottish Gunners in December 2012 when the 40th Regiment Royal Artillery (The Lowland Gunners) was placed in suspended animation and some of its batteries were subsumed into the 19th Regiment.

Traditionally, the regiment recruited from the Highlands and although it now recruits from across the UK and Commonwealth, all the soldiers and officers are proud to uphold its Scottish heritage including wearing the Robertson tartan.

The Scottish Gunners have also been granted freedom of the city of Colchester.

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