8:44AM, Fri Sep 7, 2012

Tyneside Reserve Marines To Continue Training In Newcastle Despite MOD Cuts

By Jenny Wotherspoon Location: Newcastle Quayside

Are you tough enough to become a Royal Marine Reservist?

Spending reductions set out by the MOD in the Strategic Defence and Security Review have led to the merger of the Tyneside and Scottish headquarters.

But while all head office operations are being moved from Newcastle to HMS Caledonia in Rosyth, recruitment and training will continue in the city.

Potential reservists are now being actively recruited to begin training at the Anzio House building on Newcastle Quayside.

The facility, which opened in 1989, allows trainees to undergo a variety of skills and fitness training from weapon assembly to abseil techniques.

Mountain Leader Sgt Gareth Richardson said: "We will teach them everything they need to know.

"We'll get their fitness levels up, we'll train them how we need them to be trained. We're certainly not after any kind of Superman."

The Tyne Royal Marine Reserve unit was formed in 1954 and was granted the Freedom of the City of Newcastle in 1989.

There used to be a unit in Hartlepool, but the Tyne unit is the only remaining marine reserve centre in the North East.

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