On a wall, in the corner near the font in St. Aldhelm’s Church, Bishopstrow, there is a framed and glazed Baptism Roll. Handwritten on the roll, which features a coloured illustration, are over 160 names and baptism dates. Among them for the month of March is ‘William David Charles Carling, 13th ’66. (13th March 1966, which was a Sunday).
We all came to hear a lot about Will Carling later on when he was involved in rugby union, particularly including when he was Captain of the England rugby union team (he was England’s youngest captain, aged 22). He won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won the Five Nations Grand Slam in 1991, 1992 and 1995, and reached the 1991 World Cup final.
According to Wikipedia and other online sources, Will Carling was born at Bradford on Avon (presumably in the maternity hospital there) on Sunday 12th December 1965. Will’s mother is Pamela J. Carling (nee North). Will’s father was Lieutenant Colonel Bill Carling (William Derrick John Carling), an officer in the Welch Regiment (which later became the Royal Regiment of Wales).
The Welch Regiment was stationed at Brooke Barracks, Spandau – Berlin, Germany from April 1961 where their duties included guarding the prisoner Rudolf Hess. The battalion on its return to the United Kingdom in 1963 became the Demonstration Battalion at the School of Infantry, Warminster, stationed first at Netheravon and then at Knook Camp, before becoming the first occupants of the newly re-built Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster in 1965. For its final overseas posting the battalion moved to Stanley Fort on Hong Kong Island in June 1966. It then amalgamated with the South Wales Borderers to form the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Wales in June 1969.
Many Warminster residents will recall the Welch Regiment when it was stationed here – and remember its mascot: a goat called Taffy.