Picture 24: Brizlee Wood's plain white 'golf ball' was transformed last Christmas into a resplendent festive bauble bursting with bright colours and constantly changing patterns [Picture: John Williamson, Northumberland Lights]
Creative organisation Northumberland Lights organised a series of stunning outdoor lighting experiences throughout the North East last Christmas to celebrate the county's stunning architectural and natural environments. From Blyth to the Borders, shows were arranged to suit visitors of all ages, and the winter festival dazzled audiences of thousands with their illuminations. The public were asked to nominate their favourite location to be lit as part of the Guerrilla Lighting programme and the Remote Radar Head (RRH) at Brizlee Wood in the wilds of Northumberland was one of the top choices.
See the Gallery in Related Links >>> to see the previous pictures, which includes the following:
Picture 22: Relatives and friends at RAF Wittering await the return of 3 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment from a six month tour in Afghanistan [Picture: Cpl Graham Taylor (RAF)]
During their six month deployment 3 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment were responsible for the defence of Kandahar Airfield, of vital strategic importance to the multi national coalition forces in Afghanistan. 3 Squadron, based at RAF Wittering, provided active defence of the area around the Kandahar airfield outside the wire, which meant they were pretty much permanently going on 40 hour patrols trying to find the Taliban and prevent them interfering with operations. They were part of a 600-man team made up of seven different nationalities. Two airmen sadly lost their lives during the deployment. Senior Aircraftman Graham Livingstone of the Royal Air Force Regiment and Senior Aircraftman Gary Thompson of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment were killed while undertaking a patrol outside of the airfield.
Picture 21: Archie Amos, aged six, salutes the parade of service personnel at the Cenotaph [Picture: Cpl Gabriel Moreno]
Across the UK and across the world, Service personnel gathered on
Sunday 9 November 2008 to pay tribute and honour those who have died during duty while serving their country. In London Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and His Royal Highness Prince William,
visited the Cenotaph to lay a wreath during the National Service of Remembrance in Whitehall. Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid his respects as did Chief of the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon
Band, Chief of the General Staff General Sir Richard Dannatt, and Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy.
Picture 20: Jackal vehicles are put through their paces at Camp
Bastion in Helmand province [Picture: Cpl Ian Houlding]
The first of the UK military's tough new 'Jackal' 4x4 patrol vehicles were introduced into service in Afghanistan this year. Up to 100 of the new vehicles marked a significant improvement on the capabilities of the Land Rover-based Weapons Mounted Installation Kit (WMIK), for UK forces on the front line. Offering increased mobility, protection and agility, Jackal's
5.9 litre engine is capable of maintaining off-road speeds of up to 80km/h and can reach a top speed of 130km/h. The vehicle's extended range and ability to operate across a variety of terrain in extreme environments give
it a huge advantage over its WMIK predecessor.
Picture 19: British troops take part in a convoy to deliver a hydro-electric turbine 180 kilometres by road from Kandahar airfield to Kajaki dam [Picture: Sgt Anthony Boocock, RLC]
Around 2,000 British troops took part in a huge convoy to deliver a hydro-electric turbine 180 kilometres by road from Kandahar airfield to Kajaki
dam in Afghanistan. The operation, codenamed 'OQAB TSUKA', or 'Eagle's Summit', involved a further 2,000 Afghan National Security Forces and ISAF troops from the US, Canada, Denmark and Australia. The turbine, once installed and fully operational, will help provide some 1.5 million southern Afghans with much needed electricity and irrigation. Details of
the operation, and the location of the convoy, were kept secret until the turbine reached its destination in order to protect the soldiers involved in its delivery. The turbine and its various parts had to be transported by
road due to their weight, with some parts weighing as much as 29 tonnes each.
Picture 18: A Royal Marine rests during a rare reflective moment on
the front line [Picture: PO (Phot) Sean Clee]
Petty Officer (Photographer) Sean Clee won the title of Royal Navy Photographer of the Year in this year's annual Royal Navy Photographic Competition. As well as being named Royal Navy Photographer of the Year, PO (Phot) Clee, aaged 40, who works at HM Naval Base Devonport in Plymouth, scooped a number of other awards including the annual Peregrine Trophy, which rewards excellence and inspires the highest standards among Royal Naval photographers, the Royal Navy Open Category (Highly Commended 2008), Commandant General Royal Marines Portfolio Prize (Highly Commended 2008) and a Communicators in
Business Award, Best News Image, Class winner 2008.
Picture 17: The Lancaster bomber flying over the Derwent Dam [Picture: Sgt Graham Spark]
The last surviving pilot of the famous 'Dambuster' raids and the sole flying Lancaster bomber in Britain marked the 65th anniversary of the mission
by flying over the dam used by RAF crews to train for the raid that helped knock the heart out of the Nazi industrial powerhouse. The mighty four-engined bomber from the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, flew over the Derwent Reservoir in the
Peak District. At a memorial service held on the Derwent Dam to commemorate the bravery of the crews of 617 Squadron, actor Richard Todd, who played squadron boss Wing Commander Guy Gibson in the
1955 film 'The Dam Busters', scattered into the reservoir poppies representing the 53 crew who failed to return from the raids on the
Mohne, Sorpe, Eder and other dams in Germany's wartime industrial heartland. The Lancaster was joined by the BBMF's Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota as well as a pair of Tornado GR4s from today's 617 Squadron, now based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
Picture 16: Marine Will Charters of 40 Commando's Bravo Company Group, rushes a wounded Afghan girl to the First Aid Post [Picture: LA (Phot) AJ MacLeod, MOD]
Royal Marines from 40 Commando helped to save the lives of two Afghan children injured in a random attack by enemy insurgents in Sangin, Helmand province. The commandos of Bravo Company were called upon
for assistance when a local man brought his two nieces to the gate of the Marines' patrol base in the Sangin District Centre. The girls had been badly wounded after insurgents fired two rockets in an indiscriminate response
to an earlier Royal Marines patrol.
Picture 15: His Royal Highness Prince Harry receives his medal for Operation Herrick from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal [Picture: E Lane Fox, MOD
Lieutenant Harry Wales was deployed to Helmand, Afghanistan, where he was in charge of the Household Cavalry Regiment Battlegroup's Forward
Air Controllers (FACs). FACs are responsible for the logistical re-supply of the Battlegroup by air, surveillance of the area by both manned and unmanned aircraft, and for protection tasks including controlling aircraft onto their targets. Together with other members of C and Headquarters Squadrons, His Royal Highness Prince Harry was presented with his medal by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, at Combermere Barracks, Windsor, Berkshire.
Picture 14: Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt (in green), does his first ever parachute jump in the safe hands of Red Devils team leader Sergeant Jay Webster [Picture: LCpl Steve Candlish PARA]
The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, made his first ever tandem parachute jump in aid of injured Servicemen and women. General Dannatt jumped with the Red Devils at Netheravon Airfield in Wiltshire along with his 19-year-old daughter Richenda and daughter-in-
law Emma, raising nearly £10,000 for the Help for Heroes charity. The experienced soldier admitted to a few nerves beforehand, but he was in the safe hands of Sergeant Jay Webster, the team leader of the Red Devils, who has jumped over 1,500 times.
Picture 13: Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, a Royal Marine Reservist, displays the rucksack that absorbed most of the explosion when he dived on a live grenade to save his comrades in Afghanistan [Picture: PO (Phot) Terry Seward]
Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, aged 24, from Birmingham, was awarded the George Cross after showing incredible bravery during an operation in Afghanistan. In February 2008 LCpl Croucher was at the head of a group of four Marines who encountered a live grenade while moving through a darkened compound in Helmand Province. Once he realised that the tripwire for the device had been pulled, he knew that he had to act quickly to ensure the safety of the other Marines present. LCpl Croucher acted on his instincts and threw himself beside the grenade, pinning it between his day sack and the ground to absorb the explosion. Miraculously the force of the impact was contained, his equipment and protective clothing preventing any lethal shards from hitting his body. He suffered only minor injury and disorientation.
Picture 12: World War One veterans L-R: Henry Allingham, aged 112, Harry Patch, aged 110, and Bill Stone, aged 108 [Picture: Don McCullin]
An exhibition at the Tate Britain in London focused the spotlight on three First World War veterans, as people across the world commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Great War Armistice. Renowned photojournalist Don McCullin was commissioned to take black and white portraits of Henry Allingham, the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland who is now aged 112, and who served in the Royal Navy as well as being a founding member of the Royal Air Force; Harry Patch, aged 110, who served in the Army and is the last surviving 'Tommy' who fought in the trenches; and Bill Stone,
aged 108, who served in the Royal Navy. The portraits paid tribute to the three men who served in the conflict, and to their generation as a whole. Between them, the veterans represent the three Services who took part
in the Great War.
Picture 11 : The new Type 45 destroyer Dragon is launched into the Clyde from BVT's shipyard at Govan [Picture: LA (Phot) Simon Ethell]
With an 18-metre-long Welsh Dragon attached to its bow, the Royal
Navy's latest Type 45 destroyer, to be called HMS Dragon, was launched from BVT's shipyard at Govan into the Clyde on Monday 17 November 2008. Dragon, the fourth Type 45 destroyer, will join her sister ships as one of the largest and most powerful warships in the world. As well as providing air defence over a wide area, including for the future aircraft carriers, the Type 45s will be highly versatile and able to conduct a variety of operations. They will be able to carry up to sixty Royal Marines Commandos and their equipment, and operate a Chinook-sized helicopter from the flight deck .
Picture 10 : Iraqi service personnel demonstrated their skills at the opening of their new British funded headquarters for the Department
of Border Enforcement [Picture: LA (Phot) Jannine B Hartmann]
A new British funded Headquarters for Basrah Province's Department of Border Enforcement (DBE) opened with parades and demonstrations by
the Iraqi Security Forces, on Monday 4 August 2008. The DBE is a critical part of the Iraqi Security Forces, having the responsibility for protecting Iraq's borders and frontiers, which include Basra airport, Basra Port and
the land borders. During the opening ceremony, troops from both maritime and land based elements of the DBE demonstrated their skills and paraded in front of the assembled crowd .
Picture 9 : Dick Gale of the Royal Engineers poses for a shot above Camp Two [Picture: MOD]
The British Services' Makalu Expedition 2008 took place between March
and June this year. At 8,463 metres Makalu is not only the world's fifth-highest mountain, it is also considered to be one of the most difficult to climb. Edmund Hillary attempted to climb it twice and failed both times But this year, Forty-one members of the British Armed Forces conquered Makalu as a team. Frostbitten, exhausted, having faced wind so strong they couldn't breathe and temperatures so cold their goggles froze, the expedition members undertook inspirational feats of endurance .
Picture 8 : Flight Lieutenant Michelle Goodman (centre) became the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross [Picture: SAC Smith]
Merlin helicopter pilot Flight Lieutenant Michelle Goodman was awarded the the Distinguished Flying Cross for an act of courage during her deployment to Iraq in June 2007. As Aircraft Captain of an Incident Reaction Team
(IRT) she flew into an extremely dangerous area of Basra City to rescue a casualty. Flying on night goggles and under very heavy fire she landed
next to the casualty and extracted him, despite mortar rounds landing nearby. Without the IRT, the casualty would have died within 15 minutes .
Picture 7 : Long walk home: A lady carrying her shopping bags through Windsor Great Park on 5 June 2008 appears to be oblivious to men of the Coldstream Guards, carrying out rehearsals for the next week's Queen's Birthday parade [Picture: Sergeant Mick Howard RLC]
Her Majesty the Queen's official birthday was marked by an array of
military displays including a flypast by the Royal Air Force and the traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony in Horseguards Parade, London, which was performed by the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards .
Picture 6: A hydrotherapy session at the Defence Medical
Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court [Picture: Allan House]
The Ministry of Defence welcomed the launch of a new charity that aims
to provide additional support to servicemen and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Help for Heroes charity was set up by cartoonist Bryn Parry who served with the Royal Green Jackets for ten years. The charity initially aimed to raise a minimum of £5 million for the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, near Leatherhead in Surrey. Following consultation with the MOD, Mr Parry intends to build a new gymnasium and a full size swimming pool to enhance the centre's existing facilities .
Picture 5: Kelly Gallacher wears her TA uniform at her job in Superdrug [Picture: Marks Owens]
People from all manner of professions, from MPs to posties, and teachers
to shop assistants, turned up to their regular jobs dressed head to toe in their Army kit to support the 'Uniform to Work Day', part of this year's 'TA100' celebrations. The aim of the day was to put the Territorial Army,
its work and contribution to the British military in the public eye as a force 'among us' in society .
Picture 4 : A civilian on security training is manhandled across open ground [Picture: Allan House]
Any civilian who is likely to be deployed to theatre in support of operations must go through regular security training. This involves being bundled out of buildings during simulated attacks or kidnappings, and something called cross-decking - being bounced out of a stricken armoured vehicle which
has been hit by a roadside attack and into another vehicle to be sped away to safety .
Picture 3: Lieutenant Peter Reed RN with his Olympic gold medal [Picture: via MOD]
UK Service personnel triumphed at the Beijing Olympics. Lieutenant Peter Reed RN won gold in the Men's Four Rowing, while Captain Alastair Heathcote, of the Blues and Royals Regiment of the Household Cavalry, took silver in the Men's Eight Rowing .
Picture 2: King penguin Nils Olav inspects Norwegian guardsmen at Edinburgh Zoo before receiving his knighthood [Picture: Mark Owens, MOD]
King penguin Nils Olav was knighted by Major General Euan Loudon, Representative Colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, on behalf of the King of Norway in a special
ceremony at Edinburgh Zoo in front of 130 members of the Norwegian King's Guard. Penguin Olav has been the unit's mascot since the 1980s and since then has risen through the ranks to become its Honorary Colonel-in-Chief.
Picture 1: Joe Barnard of Team Barnard holds up his helicopter-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [Picture: Allan House]
Some flew like planes or hovered like helicopters. Some rumbled along on tracks or scooted about on wheels. Others levitated unsettlingly like flying saucers. But all had two things in common - none of them were manned, and each could hold a clue to the next generation of battlefield robots. These strange vehicles were the entries in the Grand Challenge, MOD's contest to identify the technologies that will help UK Forces in urban conflicts of the near future.