THE new commander of the Army in York is Brigadier David Shaw, who has just taken charge of the largest brigade in the UK.

Brigadier Shaw, 45, has been promoted from his previous post as head of the Army Presentation Team to command 15 (North East) Brigade, which covers north east England from the Scottish Borders to North Lincolnshire.

He said he was delighted to be back in the area, adding: "I was posted to Topcliffe, near Thirsk, twice during my Army career and am very fond of the area.

"I also headed up presentations to local dignitaries in all the major towns from Newcastle to Hull and Halifax to Scarborough - an important job when you consider approximately a quarter of all soldiers in the British Army have their roots in the north east and Yorkshire."

The brigade he is taking command of has responsibility for 10,500 regular and Territorial Army soldiers, and provided support to the local community during the floods in the York and Selby areas in 2000.

Brigadier Shaw was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1976, and commanded a Swingfire anti-tank missile troop in 3 Regiment Royal Horse Artillery when it was stationed at Alanbrooke Barracks, Topcliffe.

He served there again when he commanded 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, which is equipped with the AS90 self-propelled gun.

The regiment deployed to Bosnia from July 1997 to January 1998 and took part in a variety of peacekeeping missions, including collecting illegal weapons and monitoring two elections.

Brigadier Shaw's career has taken him to the Falkland Islands, Canada, the Balkans, Germany, Cyprus, Kenya and Hong Kong.

He ran media operations and was spokesman for the Multi-National Division (South West) in Bosnia during the first six months of the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR).

He was a member of the directing staff at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham before becoming Commander of the Army Presentation Group in October 2000. He recently gained a Masters degree in Defence Administration, and is married with two sons, aged 13 and eight.

Brig Shaw takes over in York from Brigadier Andrew Farquhar, who has taken up a new role in the Balkans.

Updated: 08:33 Friday, September 13, 2002