Remembrance Day

This Remembrance Day, we take time to reflect and honour those who have served our country, including members of our own JBC team who proudly served in the Armed Forces before joining the steam industry.

Across our engineering and office teams, many colleagues have brought with them years of military experience, applying the same discipline, precision, and teamwork that defined their service. These values are deeply rooted in the way we operate today: ensuring safety, reliability, and professionalism across every site we support.

This year, we also supported the Royal British Legion by having a poppy box in our reception to help raise funds for their important work.

We’re proud to share some of their stories, from time spent in service to the roles they now play at JBC, and to recognise the continued impact of their dedication, both in uniform and within our industry.

Sonny Barnes:

Sonny joined the British Army in 2002 at the age of 17 and served for five years as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. His trades were in Combat Engineering and Plant Operator Mechanics, which involved operating heavy earth-moving machinery, building bridges, carrying out demolitions, and clearing minefields. The core values instilled in the Army; courage, discipline, respect, integrity, and loyalty are qualities he continues to carry with him and apply in his work today.

Lewis Richardson:

Lewis joined the British Army in 1999 at the age of 17, beginning his career with Basic Training as a Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer. He then spent two years in trade training, becoming a qualified Recovery Mechanic within REME.

During his service, he was posted across the UK, including Northern Ireland, and was also detached as a coach for the Army Boxing Team. His operational deployments included Iraq in 2003, and Afghanistan in 2009 and 2012. He further took part in major exercises in Kenya, Poland, and Canada.

Lewis was also deployed to Sierra Leone to instruct and train force protection troops in the use of the Jaws of Life during the Ebola crisis. Over his career, he achieved the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2 and completed 23.5 years of dedicated military service.

Throughout his military career, Lewis developed a range of skills and values, discipline, resilience, leadership, and teamwork, that continue to benefit him in his role today.

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