iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Is there a better smelling museum…

The Mallard locomotive at the National Railway Museum, York.

aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Marked Rememberabce in departures at RAF Akrotiri. The silence, announced on tinny loudspeakers and respectfuly observed by all, even the babies, toddlers and children of families travelling back to the UK from their stations overseas, was unusually moving.

Painting of the Royal Air Force KC3 ‘Voyager’ strategic air transporter by Austin aged 5, in the RAF Akrotiri departure lounge.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

After a few years abroad it’s satisfying to rejoin the Great British Bank Holiday tradition of lining cars up in fields… #CountryShows

Card lines up in a field at a country fair.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Born #OTD 1902; Major Denis Rake MC. Performing as a Drag Queen in enemy held territory, whilst undercover as an SOE wireless operator, is very… British. If you want a study of courage you’ll not find in most histories, his biography and modest, funny and eye-opening autobiography are worth a read.

Covers of ‘Shoot Stars’ the biography, and ‘Rake’s Progress’ the autobiography of Major Dennis Rake MC.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Love a repurposed building, but constraining apartments within the redundant frames of gas holders is extra. #ThisIsEngineering #STEM

Apartment building built within the redundant frames that were built to support gas holders in London.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Awfully dusty in here… Great production of a powerful and innovative show at the Royal Concert Hall. Always worth catching when in town.

Photo of the programme for the touring National Theatre production of War Horse.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Proud to support one of our Unit’s 2ICs in the final of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ James Rennie Medal, a shortlist of three from almost 1700 Chartered Professional Reviews. #FollowTheSapper #ArmyEngineers

Photo of the Telford lecture theatre at the Institution of Civil Engineers.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Travelling on the @eastmidsrailway.bsky.social and it has confirmed my belief that it should be illegal, punishable by a comedically disproportionate sentence, to run trains without power sockets for passengers… but the view is nice.

Lakes seen from the window of a moving train on a sunny day.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

A quiet night with the massed Bands of His Majesty’s Royal Marines (venue designed by the Corps of Royal Engineers), with guest appearances by the Band of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and on keys… the First Sea Lord! 🇬🇧 🇺🇦

The massed Bands of His Majesty’s Riyal Marines on stage at the Royal Albert Hall.

The band of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the Corps of Drums of the Royal Marines.

The First Sea Lord (head of the Royal Navy) playing piano with three Royal Marines Bandsmen.

The Corps of Drums and violins of the Bands of the Royal Marines.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Born #OTD 1926; #KennethWilliams, possibly one of the most famous #RoyalEngineers Cartographic Draughtsman to serve in the Second World War. An early Combined Services Entertainments performer before some other things I hear... #AlwaysASapper #FollowTheSapper [1/4]

Photographs of Kenneth Williams serving t
In the Royal Engineers during World War 2.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Fascinating #NottsQueerArchive talk on life in 90s Nottingham at @broadwaycinema.bsky.social, followed by a screening of 96’s film ’Beautiful Thing’; forgotten how good it is.

A photo of the ‘Beautiful Thing’ poster on the cinema screen.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Great to join the Army Reserve Team in our hybrid Royal Engineer’s unit. Nationally recruited from industry for their engineering expertise, getting to grips with their military skills for a weekend. To potentially misquote Churchill; twice the citizens. #63WksGpRE #525STRE #ArmySTEM #STEM

Civilian engineers on Army Reserve training giving orders for a patrol under the cover of a red torch lit night.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Little Sur River Bridge on California State Route 1. The last road trip when stationed in the USA before being posted back to the UK. If see this post quote with a bridge from your gallery. #ThisIsEngineering

Little Sur River Bridge on California State Route 1 with the Pacific Ocean in shot.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Just over 25 years ago I wouldn’t have been allowed to join the Army, awkward as I had four years earlier. Soldiers have now served full careers not knowing a time that Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people couldn’t serve and all the Services have thriving networks of LGBT+ personnel.

Screenshot of British Army post marking the 25th anniversary of the ban on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people serving in the British armed forces.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

The play of the film, and the memoir. The Cold War fighter pilot story Top Gun wanted to be! @kingsheadtheatre.bsky.social ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Programme from the play ‘Firebird’ at the Kings Head Theatre.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Exceptionally proud of the members of 63 Works Group Royal Engineers who’ve been awarded Chief Royal Engineer Commendations. #ArmyEngineers #ArmySTEM #63WksGpRE

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Sappers don’t bake cakes, but if we did… oh, seems we do. After a break for an overseas tour, this year the now locally traditional Christmas Day visiting offering transfers from one app to another…

Italian Christmas Pudding Cake, decorated with pistachio and pomegranate seeds, amongst the debris of a Christmas Day kitchen.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

After a few Christmas’ abroad, t’was great to catch up with friends for mulled wine, mince pies and singing the annual Army LGBT+ Network Carol Service at the Royal Military Chapel in London.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

12 litres of Singapore Slings for an 80th birthday… let’s get mixing!

Glasses of cocktail with pineapple wedge, leaf and cherry decoration.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Not sat this close to the cinema screen in a long time, think I’m gonna need my reading glasses…

Looking almost straight up at a Cineworld advert on the big screen.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Looks like I’ll not be mowing the lawn…

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

It’s been a while, but I can confirm #StPancras Station still has perhaps the best roof in town… no questions at this time.

The roof of Saint Pancras International railway station in London.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Great to experience Diwali, # #NationalTrust style too.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

A repeat #KedlestonHall visit allows for recycling a post from another place; the move back home means swapping my 🇺🇸 @officialnps.bsky.social membership for the 🇬🇧 @nationaltrust.bsky.social, and remembering to ask for a (delicious as it turns out) scone, not biscuit…

A National Trust scone alongside NPS and NT membership cards.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 14/09/2024

Great to catch Alan Bennett’s #TheHistoryBoys tour at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. Packed with 80’s music, regional references, students too clever by half, and Posner, one of the best characters in Sheffield based theatre, which is sayin’ something nowadays!

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 31/08/2024

Post number, well not sure, about things I’m enjoying since returning to 🇬🇧 from 🇺🇸. The BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on BBC Two playing disco classics! What I realised overseas was just how much the BBC does that you just don’t get from any other global network. Genuinely iconic.

A screenshot of the BBC Proms Disco page.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 18/08/2024

After a few years of multi-national strategic infrastructure planning, joining the review of reinforced concrete designs, for next job, has meant dusting off some knowledge… #ArmyEngineers

Photo of reinforced concrete design drawing.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 21/05/2024

Description of analysis of a dataset covering 250 wars, highlighting the value of credible data when analysing effects in the face of understandable bias’ and bad faith arguments (from all sides of a debate), and what engineer doesn’t love a formula…

Formula for Military Inequality presented in “Divided Armies”.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 09/03/2024

Almost 22 years ago I crossed this parade square, ironing board in hand; humbled to return for an opportunity to explore current and future command, leadership and management issues and thinking before embarking on a new phase of service.

The facade of Old College, The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 27/01/2024

Happened upon the ‘Monument to the gays and lesbians persecuted under the Nazi regime’ whilst in Munich on Holocaust Memorial Day. A concrete mosaic at the former site of the Schwarzfischer; a gay bar raided on 20 October 1934, escalating the systematic persecution by the state.

Coloured concrete paving slabs of the “Monument to the Gays and Lesbians Persecuted under the Nazi Regime” by the German artist Ulla von Brandenburg, The mosaic marks the site of a gay bar raided by the Nazis on Oct. 20, 1934. A plaque describes the raid as the start of “the systematic persecution of homosexuals by the police, the Gestapo and the judiciary.”

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 13/01/2024

24 years ago today, after years of campaigning and court cases up to the ECHR, the ban on lesbian, gay & bisexual personnel serving in Britain’s Armed Forces was lifted. Most personnel serving today have only known the forces after the ban: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news...

Screenshot of BBC news report “Services gay ban lifted” 12 January 2000.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 31/12/2023

History suggests STEM will continuously generate new types of jobs and significantly change existing ones. I wonder when the UK Space Agency or UK Space Command will start routinely recruiting scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians to serve in space?

Historically stylised recruiting poster for Surveyors on Mars.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 31/12/2023

“…we are a part of history…” Space Shuttle Budget Analyst. Whilst there’re plenty of Astronauts, it’s noticeable throughout the Center that NASA values the whole team, and the whole team believes in their role in the mission. #Teamwork

A quote on the wall of the NASA Kennedy Space Center by Joan Haas, Space Shuttle Budget Analyst; “…a magnificent launch of one of the greatest engineering accomplishments… we are a part of history.”

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 31/12/2023

Made a long awaited pilgrimage to the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center; which presents a theatrically inspiring picture of the personal and societal opportunities inherent in science, technology, engineering, and yes, mathematics… #STEM

Apollo 14 Command Module at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 14/12/2023

Lord Etherton’s Independent Review report into the service and experience of LGBT veterans who served prior to 2000 made a series of 49 recommendations that the Government response today accepted. lgbtveterans.independent-review.uk/reports/

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 14/12/2023

New guide published on applying for restorative measures being implemented by the UK Government in response to Lord Etherton’s Independent LGBT Veterans Review: www.gov.uk/government/p...

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 01/12/2023

“While this is surely a complex challenge, NATO has all of the capabilities to navigate it successfully…” Interesting NATO Review article on the challenges Climate Change will pose to Naval resilience and readiness: www.nato.int/docu/review/...

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 23/11/2023

Can’t lie, was worth the journey just to see a masonry arch, bailey truss over-bridge combo in the Niagara Falls State Park! Oh, and there’re some impressive falls too…

Goat Island Road Bridge in Niagara Falls State Park.

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aCivilSapper @acivilsapper.bsky.social · 19/11/2023

Picking up Seán Hewitt & Luke Edward Hall’s book I expected something different to stories I’d learned at school, but was surprised by the regularity of martial themes in these ancient tales; from the City Regiment of Thebes, Sparta, Achilles and many other military leaders.

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