TA man from Timperley honoured by Princess Anne (From Messenger Newspapers)

TA man from Timperley honoured by Princess Anne

1:50pm Saturday 2nd June 2012 in News

A TIMPERLEY man has been awarded for his ‘outstanding service’ to the Territorial Army.

Princess Anne presented the Queen's Voluntary Reserve Medal to recently retired sergeant major John Collins, aged 56, of Bradley Close.

He served with the Royal Signals Regiment for 33 years and travelled with his family by first-class train to Buckingham Palace to receive the award.

Mr Collins said: “It was a great honour meeting Princess Anne she is a very nice person and down to earth.”

Daughter Lisa Collins, who accompanied him along with the rest of the family said: “We are just overwhelmingly proud of him.”

John is a BT telecoms engineer, a company that supports the TA.

In 2005 he was posted to Iraq and commended for his work of installing communications for the bases.

He was promoted to sergeant major when he returned and carried the role out for six years.

Since the award he has received around 20 congratulatory letters from heads of different army departments.

Lisa added: “He got a lot of people interested in the TA and always went the extra mile than required and it’s great he’s been recognised for that.”

The medal will be a family keepsake and will be well looked after for years to come.