THE families and employers of Territorial Army soldiers from Hereford who have recently been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq were thanked at a special reception held in their honour.

Lt Col Mark Claydon, commanding officer of the West Midlands Regiment, hosted around 200 people at the TA Centre, in Wolverhampton.

Tamar Thompson, chief executive of Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service, attended the reception with two employees, Corporals Jerry Fry and Ian Skyrme, who both worked as ambulance technicians for the service during operations in Afghanistan.

The service has 11 employees in the TA who have been deployed over recent months in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mrs Thompson said: "We support anyone we know is a reservist wholeheartedly. At one point we had five people deployed from Hereford Ambulance station and staff did extra shifts to cover.