Fusiliers Homecoming Parade

9.03.57pm GMT Thu 3rd Dec 2009

On Monday 30th November, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers marched through Rochdale on their Homecoming Parade after long service in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

The Royal Regiment has absorbed the Lancashire Fusiliers, but has never lost its strong links to Lancashire, and to Bury and Rochdale in particular.

On a dry Monday morning, hundreds of Fusiliers dressed in desert kit marched along the Esplanade outside Rochdale Town Hall, accompanied by the band of the Gurkha regiment. The regiment was formally welcomed by the Mayor, Councillor Keith Swift.

They received a very warm welcome from Rochdale people who came out in large numbers to show their appreciation. Later, in the Great Hall of the Rochdale Town Hall, the men and officers remarked how appreciative they were of the welcome they had received in Rochdale.

The Fusiliers continue to recruit many men from the borough of Rochdale and other parts of Lancashire and North Manchester.