Although the Defence School of Transport (DST) has been unable to take part in this year’s Armed Forces Day due to increased operational training pressures, it has stepped in together with Beverley based educational charity; The Deflog VQ Trust to provide the additional £4000 necessary to guarantee that the event will go ahead.
DST Commandant, Colonel Paul Ash stated that “Both the Defence School of Transport and Deflog VQ Trust are committed to supporting the Beverley Armed Forces Day and although the school is not in a position this year to provide practical support we wanted to ensure that the event, which is enjoyed by the local community has the necessary funding to go ahead”.
Deflog VQ Trust, which has provided the funding was created at the Defence School of Transport in 1996 as a military team providing NVQs and apprenticeships to soldiers passing through the school on driver training courses. Deflog VQ Trust became an educational charity in 2005 and has now grown to become a National Training Provider, delivering over 2000 qualifications a year to Royal Marines, Army and RAF Personnel in the UK and Germany.
In 2006 the organisation acquired local logistics training company TIR Training Services Ltd who have kindly agreed to provide their mobile training facility for the Beverley Armed Forces Day event, complete with two state of the art truck driving simulators.
A cheque for £4000 was presented to the Chairman of the Beverley Armed Forces Day Mr David Elvidge and the local SAAFA representative, Bernadette Grimes MBE, by Deflog’s Chief Executive, Mr Paul Downey and the Commandant of the Defence School of Transport, Colonel Paul Ash. The presentation was also attended by Deflog management Mrs Christine Wright and Mr Neil Searle.
Mr Paul Downey said, “Deflog is a successful local company and as an educational charity working closely with Colonel Paul Ash and his staff at DST we were happy to be able to give something back to the local community and support the Armed Forces at the same time”.
Photograph L-R: Diane Kenyon, Christine Wright, Paul Downey, Colonel Paul Ash, David Elvidge, Neil Searle, Bernadette Grimes MBE, WO1 (RSM) John Ford.
