31 Signal Regiment History
The Regiment was formed on 1 April 1967 with the title 31st (Greater London) Signal Regiment (Volunteers). It was one of ten volunteer signal regiments in the newly created Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve formed from former Territorial Army (TA) and Army Emergency Reserve (AER) units.
The Regiment’s role for the first twenty-five years was to provide support as a communications reserve to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), NATO’s principal military headquarters at Casteau, near Mons in Belgium.
This support included VHF (later UHF) trunk communications over radio relay systems, and data telegraphists to augment the SHAPE message centre.
After the end of the ‘Cold War’ in 1992 the Regiment was re-roled and provided HF communications for a variety of contingencies, using sophisticated long-range radios.
In March 2002 the Regimental Association published an illustrated history of the Regiment, including the histories of its constituent units back to Napoleonic times. Copies are available from the Regimental Historian (address below) at a cost of £7 inclusive of posting and packing.
The Regiment’s links with Chievres, Belgium are commemorated in the town’s Air Base Museum by a small historical display inaugurated in May 2004.
Under RSIGNALS TA restructuring, The Regiment disbanded on 31 March 2010. A free commemorative booklet is available from the Regimental Historian. The Regiment’s former sub-units serve on in other formations.
Membership Subscriptions and Application to Join
Individual Membership is available to any former member of the Regiment and to anyone else approved by the Association’s Committee. The current annual subscription is £5. To apply for membership please contact: Mark Zaremba-Tymieniecki TD 0207 228 0119.
