Soldiers will be exercising their freedom of Mansfield by marching in the town centre on Thursday, 3rd April.

Around 150 troops from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment (formerly the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters) will parade down West Gate from St John’s Street at 12.30pm.
Mayor Tony Egginton and the Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire will then take a salute from the regiment in front of the Old Town Hall in the market place.

The regiment is a light role infantry battalion based at Palace Barracks, Holywood, Northern Ireland. It will be moving to Dale Barracks, Chester, over the next six months and be deployed on a United Nations tour of Cyprus.

The regiment recruits many of its soldiers from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and is taking the opportunity to exercise its freedom originally awarded in 1953 and updated in 2007.

Mr Egginton said “We are looking forward to welcoming back 2 Mercian so we can show our support and gratitude for the extremely difficult and dangerous job that they do.”