Meet the new boss
GL RFCA welcomes Colonel (Retired) Peter Germain as our new Chief Executive.
Peter joined us in May 2019 from the Ministry of Defence where in his final military role he led the MoD Employer Engagement Policy team. He served for over 34 years in the British Army including postings all over the UK, in Northern Ireland, Germany, Bosnia, Belize, Afghanistan and the USA.
I am delighted to have joined the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association for Greater London and to be able to continue in a similar vein to my final Army job at the Ministry of Defence by supporting and enabling London Reserve units of all three services, and the cadet organisations – Sea Cadets, Army Cadets and the Air Cadets.
In my first few months in post, I have been hugely impressed with the professionalism of the GL RFCA staff based in Fulham House and those others dotted around London providing full-time support to the Armed Forces community. They are the backbone and lifeblood of our organisation and provide the service for our three key focus areas: to support reservists and their employers, to promote the cadet experience for young people and to provide a safe place to work and train in more than 193 Reserve and Cadet Centre sites across London.
We are fortunate in London to have a tremendously close knit, joined up and influential civic community across all the boroughs and the City, from Mayors and Councillors to Deputy Lieutenants and I have been struck at just how committed and enthusiastic they are in their support for the armed forces community. We have a vital role in the RFCA to keep that link between Defence and London alive and flourishing.
Peter Germain
Chairman’s Corner
It is no surprise that 2019 has been as busy as ever in terms of activity across our three pillars of Cadets, Engagement and Estates and I commend all the RFCA staff in Greater London for their unstinting efforts to get the best possible outcomes from modest budgets. I also particularly want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Hugh Purcell for the 12 very successful years he has been our Chief Executive and wish him well as he retires from the RFCA. Typical of Hugh, he will continue to give his time to providing tremendous high-level support to the YOU London movement and also to promoting adult learning.
It is clear our work in GL RFCA remains as important as ever as Defence continues to grow our country’s reserve force towards meeting the targets set for Future Reserves 2020 and it also continues to push an ambitious programme to expand cadet numbers in schools.. I am convinced we are invaluable to Defence because of GL RFCA’s leading role in strengthening the environment for armed forces reservists and cadets across Greater London. 2019 saw some real changes at Fulham House, and 2020 is set to be an excellent year for GL RFCA.
Brigadier Marc Overton TD, VR
