Army bands put on ice to save money; Concerts cancelled until April.

Byline: MARTIN WILLIAMS 

THE Ministry of Defence has temporarily scrapped a Welsh Territorial Army band because of planned spending cuts.

The MoD yesterday insisted it remains committed to the UK's TA even though the reservists will bear the brunt of pounds 54 million worth of cutbacks by the Army.

It is not known if all 19 bands in the UK will be affected, but The Regimental Band of The Royal Welsh is one of those involved.

The only military band in Wales has been told engagements must be cancelled until April next year.

Made up of around 30 TA members, they had commitments to play at the Wales rugby autumn internationals as well as Remembrance Day concerts next month.

Members have around 40 engagements throughout the year.

It is understood the band will still travel to Heathrow this weekend for their annual performance for youngsters from children's charity Dreamflight.

Band members will not be paid for their time at this event.

An MoD spokeswoman said the move was part of plans to save pounds 54 million.

She added: "The money will obviously be directed to the front line. Afghanistan is our priority.

"These measures will be in place until next April, when things should start again.

"However, these are tough economic times - hopefully things will be fine next year."

She said it was only the TA bands that would be affected, but could not say how many.

The news came after the MoD insisted it remained committed to the Territorial Army, despite a leaked Army document, obtained by the Conservative Party, revealing the TA alone has been ordered to find savings of pounds 20 million this year.

The document warned that the cuts - coming on top an earlier reduction of pounds 23 million - meant that training for the majority of TA soldiers will be "severely curtailed" for the rest of the financial year.

It acknowledged there would be "great concern" over the measures which would see all TA activity not directly related to the support of operations suspended or reduced.

"Internally, they have the potential to impact morale and the long-term health of the TA," it said.

Other planned cuts included savings of pounds 7 million from the Army Cadet Force, the Combined Cadet Force, and University Officer Training Corps; and pounds 14 million from delaying the planned upgrade of single soldiers' living accommodation in Germany.

The inflow of recruits to the Regular Army will be restricted, saving pounds 2 million, while the service schools budget will be cut by pounds 800,000 on top of the pounds 1 million already announced.

In a statement posted on its website, the MoD acknowledged the current year was "very challenging in resource terms".

CAPTION(S):

Wales' only military band won't be playing again until next year