More than 100 soldiers left Colchester for Wiltshire yesterday to train for deployment to Macedonia.

Troops from 1st Battalion, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, Combat Service Support Battalion and 19 Regiment Royal Artillery were among 2,300 soldiers nationwide put on alert over the weekend.

They will join 6,000 troops in the Balkans to enforce any peace agreement drawn up between Nato and Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.

A total of 120 soldiers from the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire regiment today left their base at Meeanee Barracks in Mersea Road for Salisbury Plain for possible deployment this week.

Colchester celebrity Darren Day was on GMTV today dropping into a west London primary school which was celebrating national school Kosovo awareness week.

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