Latest news with #RAFMarham
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Donation of £6K to 'life changing' youth scheme
A Norfolk man has secured a £6,000 donation to a youth scheme he said changed the course of his life. Nathan Holland, from Downham Market, was 12 years old when he was enrolled on to the Blue Skies programme, run by the Jon Egging Trust. It helps young people who face barriers to learning and offers them support to boost confidence, academic engagement and work-readiness. Mr Holland successfully nominated the trust for a charity donation from his current employer. He described the programme as "the catalyst for my development". Mr Holland was a student at Downham Market Academy when he joined the programme. His headteacher offered him a chance to take part in Blue Skies training after signs he was starting to switch-off at school. "I went into the headteacher's class after school, where my Mum turned up," he said. "I was being told off, but as part of that telling off he mentioned that I had been chosen to go on the course." Mr Holland said the three years he spent on the programme led him to become head boy at high school, a student ambassador at college and to complete his engineering apprenticeship. "It was the catalyst for my development as an individual. I'm not sure I would have been capable of doing all those things if it were not for the Jon Egging Trust," he said. The donation was presented to the charity's chief executive, Dr Alex Brown, at RAF Marham. He said: "It's really, really beautiful to see that Nathan came here back in 2013 and now he is coming back and supporting us in such a terrific and fantastic way. "We cannot thank Nathan, his employers and RAF Marham enough for their support. "It's really going to allow us to reach more young people." The money will be spent on providing virtual reality headsets for young people to experience what it is like to be flying a Red Arrows plane or travelling to space. The Norfolk airbase hosts many of the Blue Skies sessions, offering youngsters the chance to develop their teamwork and leadership skills. Its station commander, Gp Capt Leonie Boyd, said: "It's fabulous for us seeing the young people come through this programme. "To see someone who has actually completed the entire programme and has found value in it and gone on to have a successful life, it's really great for all of us to see." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. RAF Marham chief welcomes more defence investment Charity boss proud of helping 45,000 young people Jon Egging Trust
The Guardian
19-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Fears that UK military bases may be leaking toxic ‘forever chemicals' into drinking water
Three UK military bases have been marked for investigation over fears they may be leaking toxic 'forever chemicals' into drinking water sources and important environmental sites. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will investigate RAF Marham in Norfolk, RM Chivenor in Devon and AAC Middle Wallop in Hampshire after concerns they may be leaching toxic PFAS chemicals into their surroundings. The sites were identified using a new PFAS risk screening tool developed by the Environment Agency (EA) designed to locate and prioritise pollution threats. RAF Marham and AAC Middle Wallop lie within drinking water safeguard zones. RM Chivenor borders protected shellfish waters, a special area of conservation, and the River Taw – an important salmon river. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of synthetic chemicals widely used in firefighting foams and industrial processes as well as in aconsumer products including waterproof fabrics, non-stick cookware, cosmetics and food packaging. They are known as forever chemicals because they do not break down easily in the environment, and have been found polluting soil and water across the world. Some PFAS build up in the human body over time and have been linked to a range of serious health problems including cancers, immune system disruption and reproductive disorders. Military bases with airfields have used firefighting foams laden with PFAS for decades. Certain chemicals in foams including PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS have been linked to diseases and banned, but they remain in the environment. Prof Hans Peter Arp, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said contamination at UK military sites would not be surprising. 'Most, if not all, military bases in Europe and around the world have used vast quantities of firefighting foams that contain PFAS,' he said. 'They now have substantial PFAS concentrations in the soil and groundwater beneath them, as well as soaked into the concrete of their buildings.' He warned that PFAS pollution will continue for 'decades to centuries' unless immediate local clean-up actions are taken. 'These PFAS that are leaching now likely took several decades to get there. There are more PFAS to come.' This month the Environmental Audit Committee launched a formal inquiry into PFAS contamination and regulation across the UK. Campaigners and scientists warn that until the full scale of PFAS pollution is understood and addressed, the threat to human health and the environment will continue to grow. Alex Ford, professor of biology at the University of Portsmouth, said: 'The EA has now identified thousands of high-risk sites around the UK with elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds. These forever chemicals are being detected in our soils, rivers, groundwater, our wildlife – and us. 'It is very worrying to hear PFAS is being detected … close to drinking water sources. The quicker we get this large family of chemicals banned the better, as their legacy will outlive everybody alive today.' He added that the cost of cleaning up these pollutants could run into the billions – costs that, he argued, should be footed by the chemical industry. Not all water treatment works can remove PFAS, and upgrades would be costly. A spokesperson for Water UK, which represents the water industry, said: 'PFAS pollution is a huge global challenge. We want to see PFAS banned and the development of a national plan to remove it from the environment, which should be paid for by manufacturers.' Prof Crispin Halsall, an environmental chemist at Lancaster University, called for greater transparency and collaboration. 'The MoD shouldn't try to hide things. They should come clean and set up monitoring,' he said. The UK's monitoring of PFAS is trailing behind the US, where contamination on military sites has been the focus of billions of dollars in federal spending on testing and clean-up operations. In July, the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Army launched a joint project to sample private drinking-water wells near army installations. UK authorities only recently began to investigate the scale of the problem. Brad Creacey, a former US air force firefighter, spent decades training with firefighting foam on military bases across the US and Europe. During fire exercises, Creacey and his colleagues would ignite contaminated jet fuel and extinguish it with AFFF (aqueous film-forming foams) – often wearing old suits that were soaked and never cleaned. On one occasion he was doused in the foams for fun. Twenty years after he had stopped working with the foams, a blood test revealed that Creacey still had high PFOS levels in his blood. He has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and now suffers from Hashimoto's disease, high cholesterol and persistent fatigue. 'We've taken on too much of a lackadaisical attitude about this contamination,' he said. 'Unless this is taken seriously, we're doomed.' Creacey is pursuing compensation through the US Department of Veterans Affairs and a separate lawsuit against 3M and DuPont. Pete Thompson is a former Royal Air Force firefighter who served at several UK airbases including RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. During his service he regularly used firefighting foams in training exercises and equipment tests, and said they usually sprayed them directly on to grass fields with no containment. 'We used the foam in the back of what was called a TACR 1 – basically a Land Rover with a 450-litre tank of premixed foam on the back. Every six months we had to do a production test to prove that the system worked. That production test we just produced on to the grass … there was no way of stopping it going anywhere other than just draining in through the ground.' The MoD is working with the EA to assess its sites, and work has begun to investigate whether to restrict PFAS in firefighting foams. Military sites are not the only sources of PFAS pollution – commercial airports, firefighting training grounds, manufacturers, landfills, paper mills and metal plating plants can also create contamination problems. An EA spokesperson said: 'The global science on PFAS is evolving rapidly, and we are undertaking a multi-year programme to better understand sources of PFAS pollution in England. We have developed a risk screening approach to identify potential sources of PFAS pollution and prioritise the sites for further investigation. We have used this tool to assist the MoD in developing its programme of voluntary investigations and risk assessments.' A government spokesperson said: 'There is no evidence that drinking water from our taps exceeds the safe levels of PFAS, as set out by the Drinking Water Inspectorate. 'Our rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan will look at the risks posed by PFAS and how best to tackle them to deliver our legally binding targets to save nature.' The guidelines for 48 types of PFAS in drinking water is 0.1 micrograms per litre (100 nanograms per litre). Earlier this year, Watershed Investigations uncovered MoD documents raising concerns that some RAF bases might be hotspots of forever chemical pollution. In 2022, the Guardian reported that Duxford airfield – a former RAF base now owned by the Imperial War Museum – was probably the source of PFOS-contaminated drinking water in South Cambridgeshire. The site is now under investigation by the EA. Patrick Byrne, professor of water science at Liverpool John Moores University, said current monitoring efforts only scratch the surface. 'We're at the tip of the iceberg. We're only monitoring a handful of PFAS compounds. There are many others we don't yet fully understand or detect. 'There are tests that measure the total PFAS load in water, and we're finding huge discrepancies between those results and the levels of individual compounds. That tells us there's a lot more PFAS in the environment than we know.' Even where testing is under way, labs are overwhelmed. 'The Environment Agency's lab is inundated. Private labs can't keep up either,' he said. 'Analytical technology is improving fast – but we're racing to keep pace.'
BBC News
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
RAF Marham chief welcomes more defence investment
The announcement of more investment in defence has been welcomed by a RAF Station Commander. Group Captain Leonie Boyd took up her role at RAF Marham, Norfolk in September, the first woman and the first engineer to do so. She said the additional £2.2bn in spending, confirmed by the government in the Spring Statement, was "overdue"."There are some areas that have suffered from underinvestment for a long period of time," she added. RAF Marham is the only base in the UK to support F-35 Lightning jets which are taking part in joint NATO exercises ahead of their deployment onto RAF aircraft carriers. Gp Capt Boyd is both the first woman and the first engineer to take up the station commander role at RAF Marham. The base has 3,000 staff and is home to the F-35 Lightning, a fifth generation, multi-role, stealth fighter jet."At the moment we are focused on a deployment in the next few weeks to go onto the carrier," she said."That's taking a lot of effort to make sure our people are trained and prepared, that their families are in the right place and are well supported."We're also part of an annual NATO exercise in the next couple of weeks where we've got Spanish aircraft coming here to Marham and operating here." Gp Capt Boyd said these exercises were routine but had taken on additional importance given the "global context", with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Gp Capt Boyd said she was inspired to join the RAF after watching the movie Top Gun as a child. She said it was a privilege to command "such an amazing base" and thanked the local community for being so supportive of their often noisy neighbours. Reacting to the Spring Statement, she said she was pleased to hear the chancellor talk about the welfare of servicemen and women and the need to improve accommodation. "There are some areas that have suffered from underinvestment for a long period of time. Basics such as heating and hot water, that people should have," she said."It's very much a priority for me to make sure that we are spending our money wisely and getting after the things that matter to our people". The F-35 aircraft and supporting personnel will deploy from RAF Marham in the coming weeks to join the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier as it sails to the Indo/Pacific region for a month's long deployment as part of Operation Highmast. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
RAF base issues night flying warning for Norfolk
The RAF has issued a night flying warning for two nights this week. Aircraft from RAF Marham will be conducting exercises on Wednesday and Thursday night. F-35B Lightning aircraft have been granted permission to continue flying until 10.30pm. A spokesman from RAF Marham said: "As much flying as possible will be conducted over the sea in designated training areas." READ MORE: Stunning photos show the latest transformation of an ever shifting Norfolk landform The night flying is taking place to maximise the dark nights before the clocks go forward at the end of the month. "Residents in close proximity to RAF Marham may notice an increase in aircraft noise during the indicated evenings as aircraft depart and recover to the airfield," he added. Marham is the main base of the RAF and Royal Navy's F-35 Lightning stealth fighter force.
