Army Officer Lawrence Kerr

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BBC Learning English
Talk about English
Private lives - Part 3
Army Officer Lawrence Kerr

This programme was first broadcast in 1997


Clip Lawrence Kerr
I would describe myself as a keen, well-motivated person, who’s keen and eager to do well.
Always ready to give 300% and expect exactly the same back from my superiors and my peers.
I am a Scotsman, however, you know, I still serve Her Majesty the Queen, and I’m British.


Sue: In Private lives today we meet Lawrence Kerr. He’s a Colour Sergeant in the
British Army. Lawrence is 33 years old, and he was born in Kilmarnock - a
large town on the west coast of Scotland. When he was 15, Lawrence left
school and began work as a joiner, a carpenter. But it wasn’t long before he
decided to join the Army, and he joined a Regiment called the Scots Guards.
Three years ago, he achieved his present rank of Colour Sergeant. As we’ll
discover, Lawrence is very committed to his career in the Army, and we’ll hear
him talk about how his career affects his family life. First, Colour Sergeant
Lawrence Kerr remembers the day when the young joiner decided he wanted to
be a soldier.




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Clip Lawrence Kerr
It was one lunch break, I suddenly, I was walking up to the baker’s shop to have my lunch, and
walked past the careers office, and all of a sudden had a thought, you know that, maybe the life
as a Joiner wasn’t for me and I wanted to, you know, spread my wings if you like, get out of,
you know, a normal mundane sort of life on the west coast of Scotland. So I decided then, at
16 years old, that, I thought I’d give the Army, and especially the Scots Guards a go.


Sue: Giving the Army a go, has given Lawrence the chance to travel - he’s worked in
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Canada, The
United States of America and the list goes on. But while he was working in
England, he met Dawn, who’s now his wife, and they have two daughters.
Often, when Lawrence is sent on a tour of duty - in Britain or overseas - his
family go and live where he’s working. But on some tours of duty, Lawrence
goes alone, and he might be separated from his family for up to 6 months at a
time. So being in the Army means living “on the move”, and everyone in the
family has to be adaptable. When he’s away, Lawrence admits he misses his
family very much.


Clip Lawrence Kerr
I’m married to my wife Dawn, and I’ve got two daughters - Nicola and Natasha. It takes a
certain kind of person in the Army, because it’s so unpredictable what you’re going to be
doing next. Sometimes you’ve got to move house maybe up to three times in the space of three
years, which does put a hell of a lot of pressure on the family - the wife and the children. But,
like they say - absence makes the heart grow fonder.



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Sue: At the moment, Colour Sergeant Lawrence Kerr works in London. He’s in
charge of some of the training of the Scots Guards. The Scots Guards is one of
seven Regiments who, as well as working as soldiers, also guard Royal
residences - such as Buckingham Palace, the permanent London home of the
Royal Family. Guarding a royal residence is known among the soldiers as “Stag
Duty”. And when one Guard of soldiers comes to the end of a shift, it’s relieved
by a New Guard. This ceremony - very popular with visitors to London - is
called The Changing of the Guard. Colour Sergeant Lawrence Kerr did many
shifts of Stag Duty in the early days of his career.


Clip Lawrence Kerr
Well, my main memories of Stag Duty - whether it Buckingham Palace or anywhere else - was
the very first one I done, when I was about 19 years old, just having come back from Hong
Kong, really looking forward it, standing out there, but at the same time, really worried,
thinking, “Oh God, the Queen is going to come in, what am I going to do? I’m going to get it
wrong!”


Sue: Colour Sergeant Lawrence Kerr enjoys family life at home in a house just south
of London. His wife and daughters love watching soap operas on television. His
daughters, aged 16 and 14, enjoy Australian soap operas best - like Home and
Away and Neighbours. His wife prefers British “soaps”, like Eastenders - set in
the East End of London - and Coronation Street - set in Manchester, a large
city in the north of England.




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Clip Lawrence Kerr
TV in the house, with two teenage daughters, they’re absolutely mad on the imported
Australian soap operas that’s on show in the UK at the moment - Home and Away and
Neighbours and the like. The wife, she’s sort of similar, but more British soap operas -
Coronation Street and Eastenders as opposed to the Australian. She’s a soap opera fanatic.


Sue: Both Eastenders and Coronation Street are about the experiences - especially
the private troubles - of communities of working-class people.

Colour Sergeant Lawrence Kerr and his wife are currently planning a summer
holiday. They’re going to rent a power boat and “mess about” on the Norfolk
Broads in the East of England - where there are lovely waterways, winding
through beautiful, flat countryside.


Clip Lawrence Kerr
This year, in July, myself and the wife have decided that for the holiday this year we’re going
to leave our two children with her mother and father, and just the two of us are going to go
and hire a cruise liner on the Norfolk Broads and mess about on the river for a week. Norfolk
is where my wife’s family come from anyway. We’ve been through there many times - it is as
flat as a pancake, beautiful green everywhere, lovely waterways - so it’s something we’ve
always meant to do, and we’re going to do it this year.






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Sue: And to end the programme, Lawrence looks back on 17 years in the Army, and
how the Army has given him educational qualifications that life outside - in
“civilian street” - would not have done:

Clip Lawrence Kerr
Well when I was 15, I was a bit of a rebel. I left school with the ability to do well, but
qualifications wise I didn’t get any because I wasn’t interested. But having joined the Army,
it’s matured me over the years immensely, and the qualifications I’ve got now, there was no
way on earth, I think, if I did stay in civilian street that I would have had the educational
qualifications that I have now.