Twelve young people from east and west Cumbria swore the Oath of Allegiance yesterday in a virtual ceremony as they prepare for their lives in the Army.

The new recruits will soon be off to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, in preparation for their future, serving their queen and their country to train for 23-49 weeks.

They will be joining a whole range of different corps from Royal Signals Corp to the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to Royal Artillery.

Paul Imrie, army recruiter, said: “The civic ceremony is a way to say well done to the candidates who have got through the selection process to join the Army Foundation College at Harrogate.

“The candidates have gone through a process that has involved a medical, aptitude tests, physical tests and interviews.”

The ceremony took place over Zoom instead of in the council chambers at the Civic Centre in Carlisle as usual.

Georgia Dowber, 16 from Moor Row, is looking forward to getting stuck into her new career as a driver and communications specialist for the Royal Logistics Corp.

“I wanted to do this job because it provides all the communications for the army and the Royal Logistics Corp. So, not to sound biased, but without my job they wouldn’t all be able to communicate towards each other.

“It sounded really interesting.”

Both of Georgia’s parents were in the army before her, so they are eagerly supporting her decision to follow in their footsteps. But, her main drive for applying was the opportunity to do something different.

“It’s something different, it’s challenging, and it gives you loads of different opportunities that you wouldn’t be given in normal civilian life,” she said.

“It gives you opportunities to go to different places around the world as well.”

Another of the recruits who will be following in their father's footsteps is Ethan Gatherer, 17, from Wigton.

He will be joining the Royal Artillery, the corp that his dad served in for 22 years, although he didn’t decide this path until he was 14.

When Ethan received the news that he had made it through, he was over the moon.

“The main reason I’m going into the Royal Artillery is because I grew up in the Army as my dad was a soldier,” said Ethan.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do beforehand, I just kept on thinking about my past and they have supported me through ever since."

In the future, he would like to rise up through the ranks and return to Harrogate to teach the new soldiers.