LAST week the Defence Secretary announced his hope to open up ground close-combat roles to women in 2016.

The Ministry of Defence has published a review paper, carried out earlier in the year by the Chief of the General Staff, into women in ground close-combat roles.

The review, launched in May, has ended the long-held view that mixed close-ground combat units would have an adverse effect on cohesion between troops.

However, it also calls for further research into the physiological demands placed on those in close-combat roles before a final decision is made on lifting the current exclusion on women. This year has already seen the Royal Navy employ its first female submariners and two women climb to the highest-ever ranks in the RAF.

The research programme is expected to deliver an initial report in 2016, which will inform a decision on whether the exclusion can be safely lifted.

DIARY DATES

Monday, The Royal British Legion, Thornton Branch, meets at 19.45hrs at Thornton Conservative Club.
Tuesday, The Yorkshire Volunteers Association meets at 19.30hrs at Keighley Drill Hall; The Royal British Legion, Bradford Central Branch, meets at 13.00hrs at Unit 16, Listerhills Science Park.

REMEMBRANCE

THE following are being specially remembered at Bradford Cathedral this week:
Frank Haylock, Jack Edward Heap, Derrick Heathcote, Ronald Hellewell, Alfred Hemingway, Ronald Hewitt, Kenneth Thompson Hewson, Eric Hill, Frank Hill, Donald Samuel Hirst, Reginald Frederick Hobson, John Kilburn Garth Hutton, Victor Hobson, John Herbert Hodgson, Ernest Hodgson, John Hogg, Harry Holborn, John Kenneth Holden, Francis Cliffe Holdsworth, Jack Holdsworth, Frank Holdsworth, Harry Holdsworth, Arthur Holland, Percy Holroyd.