Royal Wootton Bassett

[CivicMan]

Cameron just announced Wootton Bassett to be given Royal status - nice gesture IMO.

[baldy1926]

thats good just in time for lynham to close, so the fallen will not come home that way any more

[cal72]

+1
For the amount of times they have lined their streets, id give them all an MBE as well.

[Galsia]

A bit pointless really. I've nothing but complete respect for the community as a whole though.

[gtdc]

It's not pointless IMO. It's a very public thank you for the respect they have shown our fallen.

[Zaxxon]

Good effort, although I was under the impression that the people of Wooton Basset didn't want the name change.

[Jobbo]

Isn't this title bestowed by the Queen, not the PM?

[Sheets Tabuer]

Nope, it comes from the PM he pretends it was the Queens idea.

[cal72]

Sheets Tabuer said:

Nope, it comes from the PM he pretends it was the Queens idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootton_Bassett

[MX7]

Nice touch.

[fergywales]

Valid mark of respect to a community that has shown great support for our fallen.

[Jobbo]

Sheets Tabuer said:

Nope, it comes from the PM he pretends it was the Queens idea.

Ah, I always thought it was a genuine Royal honour. Like the crest on B&H cigarettes.

[Kudos]

well deserved

[killsta]

Excellent choice, however it unfortunately seems like they won't be doing it much longer:

Wikipedia said:

On 16 March 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron announced at the start of Prime Minister's Questions, that "from September, military repatriations will no longer pass through the town of Wootton Bassett": and that "Her Majesty the Queen has agreed to confer the title 'Royal' on the town of Wootton Bassett" later in the year.

[cal72]

When i posted the wiki link the page had changed with the royal being added(also on the map), but they have changed it again as it is to be later on in the year bestowed by the queen.

Edited by cal72 on Wednesday 16th March 14:06

[wargriff]

They deserve it, they have shown fantastic support for the families of our fallen. Good on them.

[mrmaggit]

About time, nearly too late!

[CatherineJ]

Have been to 2 or 3 repatriations, it's quite an amazing experience. It's also quite moving yet sombre to see the convoy join the M4 just outside of Wootton. Motorcycles from Wiltshire Police block the junction and also set up a rolling convoy just before the junction and escort them all the way to Swindon and up the 419. A little known fact is that the lead police car is always driven by the same traffic officer.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Well isn't that sweet. Just a shame people are still dying out there....

[Victor McDade]

This is all very touching but how about a proper tribute to the dead who have gone through Wootton Bassett. A bit of a revolutionary idea but how about seeing that our wounded ex military and bereaved families are properly looked after? Providing the resources which enable mentally damaged soldiers to be treated properly?

Even more 'outside the box', give the troops in Afghanistan first class equipment and provide them with sufficient numbers of troops to get the job done there.

And if you can't do any of the above then pull them all out and stop pretending that you actually give a st for dead military men and their families. Reading out their names at PMQs or giving a town the royal name is not enough.