Branch Secretary

Yet another year has passed us by with the usual quickness which seems to dog us all as we get older. This year has been a successful one for both the Corps as a whole and for the Branch; the new Corps memorial was opened at the National Arboretum at Litchfield, which is well worth a visit. There is so much to see and do and the facilities there are also excellent.

This years Corps Memorial weekend was a huge success culminating in a very well attended Church service at Rochester Cathedral on the Sunday morning, again we were blessed with fine weather and sunshine.

I was lucky enough to be one of the 3,000 who attended the Op Banner Memorial Service at St Paul Cathedral in London, which commemorated the end of the Northern Ireland Troubles and for those who did apply for tickets and didn’t succeed don’t be too disappointed as it was over subscribed by 10,000.

The AGM/Gala dinner weekend was again well attended and I, on behalf of the committee would like to thank everyone for a most enjoyable weekend, and to those people who brought presents for the raffle.

REA Wing Branch Display Cabinet and Branch Standard Dedication Service. The Branch Secretary said that on behalf of the Branch he would like to say a big thank you to the Chairman for his time and effort in getting the Branch display cabinet up and running, it’s taken well over a year to sort out. Brigadier John had represented the Branch at the Branch Standard Drum Head Service on the tank park on Friday 26th September and the cabinet and is now an integral central part of the D&M School. We would also like to thank Major Beddoe RE, the RE Wing’s OC, who kindly gave his permission for the Cabinet to be located in the wing. The display also consists of the Branch standard and Union Jack flag and engraved decanter, with a backdrop in the RE Colours.

On a more serious note: Due to a technical error by the Royal Court hotel, next years reunion will be held at the Norbreck Castle Hotel at Blackpool, on the 18th, 19th and 20th September 2009. At the time of writing the committee realise that this is against the proposition and vote which was taken and voted on at this year’s reunion, but due to time restraints we had to take an executive decision and book somewhere for the next AGM/Reunion.

The whole committee was re-elected to serve you for another year, with the addition of Terry Gibson to the post of Welfare Officer.