A SCARBOROUGH soldier was married with full military honours – including a guard of honour with raised swords – at St Mary’s Church, Scarborough.

Capt Tony Viney married his childhood sweetheart Rachel Senior just three days after her 28th birthday.

Many of Saturday’s guests were fellow members of 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), as well as family and friends.

Rachel said they grew up together in Gristhorpe. She said: “We’d always been close friends but we got together two years ago. It’s been a fantastic day, just wonderful, really beautiful. I am so pleased to see everybody and I couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

Her 29-year-old husband added that people had flown in from all over the world, including Hong Kong, Cyprus and Germany, to be at the ceremony.

He said: “It went better than I imagined. Friday’s rehearsal was the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done – and that’s saying something for a military man.”

From the Scarborough Evening News on Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

Years of service in the toughest places

TONY Viney followed in his grandfather’s footsteps when he joined the army in 2001 and since then his career has taken him to most of the world’s troublespots – including Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, about to leave the forces, he talks to reporter IAN DUNCAN about helping to deliver a baby in Africa, building a school, calming an angry mob and gaining a Queen’s Commendation for bravery.

Scarborough People: Tony Viney

CAPTAIN Tony Viney remembers the timing of the terror attacks on the Twin Towers of New York City’s World Trade Centre very well – because half an hour earlier he had sworn allegiance to the Queen.

He had gone to Sandhurst straight after graduating from a Business Management degree at the Scarborough Campus of the University of Hull and was about to start his officer training at the Royal Military Academy.

Having previously been a member of St John’s Ambulance, an army cadet at Scarborough College and the Territorial Army, he knew that a career in uniform was for him.

“By that point in time I knew I was going to join the army, the Green Howards, there was no other choice and I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” he said.

At the time of his oath he was unaware of world events because they were cocooned from the outside world with no access to television or mobile phones. He said: “They told us but I didn’t believe it. I didn’t see it until the end-of-year review on the BBC.”

He added that he really enjoyed the officer training despite it being tough. “Giving up was never an option. The hardest part was getting used to being away from home a lot. At the time I thought it was rubbish but it was preparing you for long periods away from your friends.”

After graduating from Sandhurst in August 2002 he was posted to Belfast and in 2003 he trained as a jungle warfare instructor.

The following year he was sent to Afghanistan to train members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) in Kabul and help rebuild the wartorn country. “When we first went out there there was nothing, it was very bare with lots of rubble, it wasn’t built up.

“By the time we left six months later there were glass-fronted shops and children were playing in the streets. The amount of change was unbelievable.

“You’d have kids coming up to you in the street to talk to you, which was fantastic because we knew we were getting it right.

“There was a change, initially the people were very wary but I never felt unsafe. There were very few times when I felt uneasy, generally we felt safe. But by the time we left we were feeling welcomed. As far as I am aware Kabul is still the same but Helmand is a different kettle of fish.”

It was during his time in Afghanistan that he was responsible for the safety of Evening News reporter Sallie George who visited the city to talk to local soldiers from the regiment.

In 2005 Capt Viney served in Sierra Leone and he was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Bravery during an incident in November while he was helping to train members of the country’s armed forces in Bo, Sierra Leone’s second city.

A prominent politician had been arrested and an angry mob was using this as an excuse to attack the police station, murder those inside and start an uprising in the African country.

He picked up his sergeant major, Pete Borthwick, before driving back to the police station to deal with a crowd of demonstrators, now estimated at between 5000 and 8000 people, and took the arrested politician away from the station to talk to the people and the hostility subsided.

However, as they were leaving town they were surrounded by a different mob which started climbing on and rocking their Land Rover. He said: “We got out, I saw my Sgt Major get pulled into the crowd, I thought I had killed my Sgt Major.

“I had hold of the Land Rover thinking I’ve messed up here, big time. I was just waiting for the smack on the back of my head. They were spitting on my cheek. It must’ve been half a second and I thought this isn’t how it’s going to end.”

Capt Viney bundled his Sgt Major and the politician back into the vehicle and they drove to a radio station on the outskirts of town where the politician was able to record an appeal for calm which was repeatedly broadcast and the situation was defused.

And after the uprising he helped organise a concert in the city for thousands of people which he called Party For Peace.

He said: “Personally, that was the thing that I’ve done with the biggest impact. It was a town that was going to tear itself apart two days earlier but there was no violence and everybody was getting on – it was one community again.”

Capt Viney, and the men under his command, transformed a school with 300 pupils from a 15ft by 15ft room, with a leaky tin roof, with the help of funding from the British government.

He said: “I was out running in the jungle and came across it by accident. The teacher asked if I could help them. We built a full school.”

When they were finished it had a play area, four classrooms, a staff room, an office for the headteacher, a store room, assembly hall, plumbing, a generator and chalk boards.

He said: “It was awesome. When you put something together, especially when it’s a tangible success, you can see the benefits that the kids are getting from it.

“They wanted to call it the Viney School of Excellence but I suggested they should call it something else. They still put a plaque up saying thanks to Capt Viney, which is nice.”

And he also has a baby in Sierra Leone named after him. He said: “At night time everything is pitch black. I was driving along the road, turned a corner and a car bounced past my Land Rover. They’d been driving too fast so I got out and dragged everybody out.”

He added two cars had run off the road into ditches and there were about 10 people in each vehicle. “We started doing first aid. There were broken arms and unconsious people. We were putting people in taxis to take them to the hospital about five or six miles away.

“While that was going on I heard screaming in the jungle. I saw two women and one was screaming for help – she was giving birth. We just got into the car with this baby and went to hospital. It was premature and the accident had brought on the birth.”

He later heard that the woman had twins and she named one Peter, after his Sgt Major, and the other Tony. He said: “I’ve got a girl named after me in Sierra Leone.”

Capt Viney has also served in Bosnia and Belize before spending seven months in Basra, Iraq, in 2007 where he was part of the team that recovered the second biggest haul of roadside bombs.

He feels he is following in his grandfather’s footsteps, who served with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War and was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery.

Last year Capt Viney married his childhood sweetheart, Rachel, and says now the time is right to settle down. He is due to leave the army in July.

He praised the Scarborough initiative Heroes Welcome which supports visiting members of the armed forces with a number of discounts.

He said: “It’s nice to thank people. It does make you feel slightly more wanted.”

Question Time:

Star sign: Capricorn

Favourite TV programme: My Name Is Earl

Favourite film: Smokey and the Bandit

Favourite music: AC/DC and Guns ‘n’ Roses

Favourite part of Scarborough: The Oasis cafe and the North Bay

Favourite food: Fish and chips from the Golden Grid, that’s where we always go after a tour of duty

Favourite drink: Yorkshire Warrior bitter, it’s the one of the regiment and I had a case of it at my wedding

Favourite holiday destination: Bellagio, in Italy, it’s the village that time forgot

Two people you would invite for dinner: Chris Moyles and Richard Branson

Ambition: To have a family and stay in Scarborough for as long as I can.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Tuesday, March 24, 2009.