A ROYAL salute was heard around York today to mark the 64th year since Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne.

Major General Giles Hill CBE, General Officer Commanding 1st (United Kingdom) Division hosted The Leader of the City of York Council, Cllr Chris Steward, who inspected the troops in Museum Gardens.

The 21 gun salute was the first of six annual events in York, as the city joined 12 other saluting stations, including London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, to mark the occasion.

The Royal Salute was fired at noon on Saturday by 3/29 (Corunna) Battery, 4th Regiment Royal Artillery based at Alanbrooke Barracks in Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, using three 105 mm Light guns.

Twenty-one rounds were fired from three guns at fifteen-second intervals. The light field guns, which were brought into service for Royal Salutes have been used in service in the Falklands and Afghanistan.

Major General Hill took command of 1st (United Kingdom) Division in April last year with the Divisional headquarters completing its move to Imphal Barracks in July.

Addressing the guests after the Royal Salute, Major General Hill said:

 ”Service is very important to me, to all our soldiers and actually to all the other people here today.

"Service to our country is a common endeavour in one form or another and it makes me hugely proud to be wearing this uniform.


"I think this has been reflected in the floods where two Battalions from 1st UK Division worked literally on our doorstep, more broadly in West Yorkshire and across the Pennines.

"I would like to say what a great privilege and honour it was to work with those agencies and the civil society that worked so hard and made such a difference to the local community.

“I also want to say thank you on behalf of all the parts of the Division who work and live in Yorkshire - thank you to those in the health, the business and the education domains for making the Division’s integration back into the UK so seamless and frankly, just giving us a warm Yorkshire welcome.”