AN Army officer with strong ties to the region has taken command of the UK's largest brigade.

Brigadier David Shaw, 45, has been promoted from head of the Army presentation team to take charge of 15 (North-East) brigade, which covers an area from north Lincolnshire to the Scottish borders.

The brigade, which has 10,500 regular and Territorial Army soldiers, provided support to the community during the Selby and York floods in 2000 and during last year's foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Brig Shaw said: "I was posted to Topcliffe, near Thirsk, twice during my Army career and am very fond of the area.

"I also headed up presentations to local dignitaries in all the major towns from Newcastle to Hull and Halifax to Scarborough - an important job when you consider that approximately a quarter of all soldiers in the British Army have their roots in the North-East and Yorkshire.

"I am delighted to be back in the area and commanding a brigade with a reputation for service to the community."

Brig Shaw, who is married with two sons, has served in the Falkland Islands, Canada, the Balkans, Germany, Cyprus, Kenya and Hong Kong.

During the first six months of the Nato implementation force (Ifor), he ran the media operations and was the spokesman for the multi-national division (south west) in Bosnia.