COLEFORD army cadets were fascinated by the tales of life in the army 60 years ago.

Although he lived in London at the time, Ron Holland was called up for National Service with the Royal

Inniskilling Fusiliers in Northern Ireland when he was 18.

He said: "It was a lot different then, we didn't travel anywhere.

"When I saw NI on the call up papers I thought it meant North One (a district of London) but my dad told me it was Northern Ireland."

Mr Holland served in Suez, five years before the war which broke out after the Egyptians nationalised the canal.

He said he was "very impressed" with the young people in the Army Cadet Force.

He added: "You hear a lot of negative things about young people these days but I thought they were a very impressive group.

"I didn't think they would be that interested in hearing about being a soldier 60 years but they were very attentive and asked interesting questions."

Mr Holland was so impressed with the cadets that he made a donation to the fund to buy a standard for the platoon.

Staff Sergeant Mark Evans said the platoon hoped to raise the £600 for the standard in time for it to be used at this year's Remembrance parade.

He said: "We are very grateful to Ron for giving us an interesting talk and for the donation.

"The cadets were fascinated by what he had to say and by the collection of photos that he brought along."

There are currently no vacancies in either the Coleford or Cinderford platoons but there are spaces with the Newent group.