London Branch Report

Another very successful year in the history of the London Branch which has now been running for 24 years. The membership is at 215 and still increasing. There has been a slight change in the committee with Colonel George Smythe OBE stepping back from an active role as the branch President but will still remains as the Honorary President. And Neal Smythe, who has been running the branch merchandise for many years, has decided to retire due to his regular job becoming much busier. We are hoping to replace him with a volunteer in the near future. We all thank Colonel George and Neal for the dedication and commitment that they have given over the years. They shall still remain as members of the Branch and will attend future events when they can. events that are not written down on our annual forecast of Events. On this occasion in February we were again delighted to be invited into the Club Bar of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, to join our three ‘In Pensioners’ (and London Branch members) who are former Royal Green Jackets, Patrick Cody, Joe Shortall and Fred Boomer Hawkins, and one of the hospital’s staff, Jim Clarke. These evenings with our pensioners are always a great night and this one proved to be again a great success with a large turnout of members and wives who mingled not only with our own Pensioners but a great many others present. We look forward to the opportunity of arranging a guided tour in the near future, as the hospital has so much history to learn about, including its own museum.

In January a memorial service was held in St Paul’s Cathedral, to mark the 210th anniversary of the death of Sir John Moore who died in Jan 1809 at the Battle of Corunna, Northern Spain. The short service took place following the Evensong service, at Sir John Moore’s memorial. Sixteen London Branch members attended the service along with members of the KRRC Association and serving soldiers from the Rifles. The service is quite short, consisting of a wreath laying followed by the Last Post and Reveille from Buglers of the Buglers Association of the Light Division. To finish off the evening our branch members found a nice quiet pub to have a few drinks, before departing for home.

This year’s Ladies Dinner Night in March was a very special one, as we formally dined out our President Colonel George Smythe OBE. Colonel Smythe had been the President of the London Branch for the past 23 years.

This annual service remains to be a memorable experience for those who attend. The St Paul’s Cathedral authorities reserve seats in the nave for serving soldiers and members of our regimental associations. All serving and former Riflemen and Regimental Association members and their families and friends are welcome. Details for the 2021 service will be published in December. Our ‘Black Button Club’ is the name given for all spontaneous

Colonel George Smythe's Presentation

We had 104 people in attendance. We hold this annual event in the Victory Services Club in Marble Arch in London. We began the evening with reception drinks in the EL Alamein room where a photographer was available to take photos that guests could purchase later in the evening. The

guests were greeted by uniformed cadets from the Kings Royal Rifle Corps ACF who were on ‘Usher Duty’ directing guests towards the reception. A bugler from the Bugles Association joined us to countdown the final dinner call. During the reception there was five short presentations of farewell gifts to people who had helped our committee at various events, including three of the Presidents’ grandchildren Millie, Josh and Daniel Smythe who had been very supportive over the past five years in running the Branch shop, selling regimental merchandise to our members at past events, such as Andy McNab presentations and book signings as well as on Remembrance Sunday. Other presentations were made to Neal Smythe who had been an active member of our branch committee representing the honorary members. He was also the person who was responsible for the ordering and stock taking of the merchandise. The branch shop plays a big part in gaining funds towards the various donations that the branch has given to various regimental charities over the years. Regretfully, owing to the increasing demand on his time working in the engineering industry, Neal had to retire from the Branch Committee. Neal’s wife Jodie was also presented a gift for her support towards our branch over the years. On receiving the final dinner call from the bugler, we all headed to the Carisbrooke Hall for dinner. The hall had recently been refurbished and was a fantastic venue in which to hold our annual Ladies Dinner. The food at the VSC is of an extremely high standard and the staff were, as always, very professional and added to the evening.

During the dinner we listened to the sounds of an RGJ regimental band (albeit on MP3 tracks) which helped to add to the atmosphere of being at a regimental dinner. We were also entertained by six buglers from the Buglers Association.

Following dinner, we took coffee and port to the sound of High on a Hill followed by the Regimental Marches of the Rifles and the Royal Green Jackets. Having the Buglers present really made our evening very special, and we hope that they will continue to entertain us at this event in the future. The Secretary then thanked the buglers and the staff at the club before introducing our president Colonel George Smythe. Colonel Smythe formally announced his retirement from his presidency but said that he would remain a member of the Branch. He thanked his committee for all their support over his 23 years in the chair and all the London branch members for their continuing support, which without there wouldn’t be a branch. The Secretary then returned to the stage and gave a speech about Colonel Smythe’s very long military career. A career that started at the age of 15 when he enlisted into boy service as a Junior Leader and then as an adult joining the Rifle Brigade. He was the first non-para sergeant to pass the Platoon Sergeants Battle course at Brecon, which had originally been a course solely for paras. Following his speech, the secretary then presented Ruth Smythe with a gift in appreciation for all of the times she had been asked to host and entertain the wives of many of our special guests over the years and for her patience and understanding when Colonel Smythe was meant to be retired! The last presentation was for the president himself, which was a replica Baker Rifle mounted on a mahogany plaque. Although Colonel Smythe had now retired and was no longer our active president, he would remain as a member and lifelong honorary president and will be available for advice when called upon. We thank him for his great leadership and support over the past 23 years and wish him a happy retirement.

The QVR/KRRC/RB 2nd World War Memorial Service took place in Calais on 22nd May. The pick-up point at Liverpool Street proved

successful, and despite it being a midweek event, we managed to again muster enough RGJ Association members to support the QVR/KRRC/RB Associations by helping to fill the coach.

Calais Memorial Service

Dave Negus and Gary Driscoll

As in other years, we met up with the rest of the association for a three course lunch followed by a short speech and toast to the Fallen Riflemen, before taking our places for the Memorial Service.

It is uncertain how many more years this service will take place, but as for now it appears to be very well attended the London Branch will continue to support it.

This year’s date is Wednesday 27th May 2020.

45 members attended our annual Veterans Day lunch which was held on 21st June at 86 St. James’s, St James Park, London. As usual, we met in the bar from 12pm for reception drinks and sat down at 1:30pm for a three course carvery lunch in the Euston Room. This room looked out onto St. James’ Street and St. James’ Palace. The building is also known as Mark Masons Hall and is owned by the Freemasons. It’s a great venue and a perfect setting for this type of occasion. Those who wished to carry on socialising went on to Union Jack Club in Waterloo.

The 20th July is the anniversary of the terrorist bombing in Regents Park. The London Branch held the annual wreath laying ceremony at the RGJ Band Memorial in Regents Park. We met in the café in Regents Park at 10:30am for a catchup with friends/comrades/family, ready for the start of the service at 11:30am. This year 45 members and their families attended. We were joined again by the Buglers of the Light Division Bugles Association and were very grateful for their sounding of the Last Post, and to the Royal British Legion for providing us with Standard bearers, without either of which the service would not be so poignant. At next year’s service it is planned to add a short display of regimental marches performed by the Bugle Association, followed by a concert from the Royal British Legion Central Band. The date for the next service is Sunday 19th July 2020.

We were fortunate to be joined by forty London Branch members on our 2019 Battlefield Tour which took place on the weekend of 27th to 29th of September. We had two pick up points, members living closer to Liverpool Street Station joined us there and the remaining attendees joined us at Ashford International Station. After

a quick channel crossing via the Eurotunnel we visited the La Targette Military Cemetery. This is where the great uncle of our branch member Eddie Byrne’s partner, Diane Saunders, was buried. The aforementioned, Private W.E. Rimmer of the Middlesex Regiment, was killed there in 1918 at the age of 22. His niece, Diane, placed a poppy wreath at his headstone. It was the first time that any of his family had visited the grave which in itself made it a very moving experience for Diane and indeed all of us present. We arrived at our hotel in central Arras by early Friday evening, which allowed plenty of time for everyone to settle in and have dinner and drinks in the local area.

The tour began the following morning where we visited the Somme 1916 Museum of Albert, situated at the heart of the Battle of the Somme (1914/1918.) The Museum traces the lives of soldiers in the trenches during the Franco-British offensive in 1916. At 10 metres below ground and 250 metres in length, you discover realistic and gasping scenes of the daily lives of our soldiers. Mannequins are brought to life through 12 realistic scenes transporting you to the past. Time passes but the memory remains.

The Lochnagar Crater was next on the itinerary, and was created by a large mine placed beneath the German front lines on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, it was one of 19 mines initiated by the British section of the Somme front, to assist the infantry advance at the start of the battle. The British named the mine after ‘Lochnagar Street’, a British trench where the Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers dug a shaft down about 90 feet deep into the chalk; then excavated some 300 yards towards the German lines to place 60,000 lbs (27 tons) of ammonal explosive in two large adjacent underground chambers 60 feet apart. Its aim was to destroy a formidable strongpoint called ‘Schwaben Höhe’ (Swabian Heights) in the German front line, south of the village of La Boisselle in the Somme département.

We then visited the Australian Division Memorial in Pozieres. The memorial commemorates the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the First Australian Division who fought in France and Belgium in 1916, 1917 and 1918. The commemorative tablet on the memorial lists the battle honours for the 1st Australian Division. Many of the large battalions of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps fought throughout the battle of the Somme, notably in High Wood and Delville Wood.

A visit to the Memorial in Thiepval was next which commemorates more than 72,000 men of British and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave, the majority of whom died during the Somme offensive of 1916. On the high ground overlooking the Ancre River in France, where some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War took place, stands the Thiepval Memorial. Towering over 45 metres in height, it dominates the landscape for miles around. It is the largest Commonwealth memorial to the missing in the world. It was at this memorial that we laid our regimental poppy wreath and held a minute’s silence.

We then drove on to Duisans British Cemetery at Etrun where the grandfather of David Driscoll one of our ex 4 RGJ members is buried. Gunner Alfred Dudley of 163 Battery Royal Artillery. It was another very moving moment as David and sons Patrick and Tim and other members of his family laid their poppy wreath at Alfred’s gravestone.

On the second day we visited the Wellington Tunnels in Arras. The Wellington Quarry - la Carrière Wellington was opened in 2008. It is an underground museum which has been carefully

and sensitively created in a section of the many kilometres of tunnels dug by the British Army in the 1914-1918 war. The World War 1 tunnels connect with original tunnels and quarries dating back to the middle ages and Roman times underneath the city of Arras. The museum is founded to the memory of thousands of men of the British Army and Dominion Forces who lived under the city during World War 1. In particular work of the tunnellers of the New Zealand Division is commemorated. The New Zealand Tunnelling Company was based in this part of the underground tunnel system during the build-up to the Allied offensive, the Battle of Arras, which was launched in the early hours of 9 April 1917.

Our final stop off on the tour was at Roclincourt Military cemetery, where we visited the grave of a soldier who was shot at dawn. We laid a small cross of Remembrance at the grave of Rifleman Harry Williams who was executed by firing squad. 393923 Rifleman Harry Williams, 9th Battalion London Regiment, Queen Victoria’s Rifles, his crime desertion.

He was executed 28th December 1917 and is buried in grave II. F.4. His age is unknown, Son of Mrs Isabella Hitchcock of 22. Colville Road, Acton, London. Harry was a volunteer who had joined in 1915. In November 1917 he was under a 15-year suspended sentence for desertion when he refused to go into battle. He absented himself and then refused to re-join his unit during a German attack. He was brought to trial and charged with desertion. Found guilty and with his previous record he was condemned to death. Was he suffering from PTSD? We shall never know.

A big thank you to Tony Beach who assisted the Secretary in selecting the Itinerary, and for providing the history for the tour.

We look forward to our next battlefield Tour in September 2020 where we plan to spend a long weekend in Normandy discovering more military history.

Every year on the nearest Thursday before Remembrance Sunday, a service and memorial parade takes place in the grounds of Westminster Abbey. It is known as the Field of Remembrance. For two weeks of the year thousands of poppy crosses are placed in the ground to remember all servicemen who have been killed from the beginning of World War 1. Every regiment has its own plot displaying their cap badge. This includes the many regiments who have long since disbanded or amalgamated into other regiments. For our regiment it includes The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Rifle Brigade and the many territorial or reserve battalions such as the Queen Victoria’s Rifles, Queens’s Westminster Rifles and the London Rifle Brigade. A member of the Royal family officially opens the Field of Remembrance by laying a wreath on behalf of the Queen. The Royal Green Jackets were represented this year again by the London branch secretary Gary Driscoll. Gary has been attending this service for over twenty years. Over the years the Royal family have been represented by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother until she passed away in 2002, then followed by Prince Philip until he retired 2nd August 2017, aged 96 and this year was honoured to be visited by HRH Prince Harry,

and the Duchess of Sussex.

There was another great representation of 170 marchers for the Royal Green Jackets Association at the Cenotaph this year. However, we were left with 30 unused passes from our allocation of 200, therefore, it is anticipated that next year the application process will begin a lot earlier in the year to give everyone more time to apply and hopefully will be able to reach our target of 200 marchers.

In November we held another ‘Audience with Andy McNab’ event at the Union Jack Club in Waterloo, which was a complete sell out. The evening started with a reception bar and a chance to view what is on offer of the various regimental prints that members had kindly donated for the charity auction, plus a chance to buy tickets for the raffle.

Our compere and interviewer for the evening was Charlie Bailey, a London comedian and actor.

Over the years we have covered everything that Andy has experienced while serving in both the Royal Green Jackets and the SAS. So this year we decided to talk about more current topics such as “Soldier F” and what Andy has been up to more recently. After the interview we held a short Questions and Answers session which was followed by the Book Signings. The raffle was called and the auction was a great success. The sum of £3,000 was raised from the ticket sales, raffle and auction, of which a donation will be made to a named regimental charity. Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this event.

Our Christmas lunch was held at 86 St James’s, overlooking St James’ Palace in London, on Thursday 12th December 2019. This was well attended by Branch members and their families. This proved to be a great social gathering, and the food was of a very high standard again. We look forward to next year’s occasion which will be back to its normal day of Friday. Everyone had a lovely lunch which put us all in a festive

The venue for the annual Rifles Band Concert and Choir Service was changed this year from St George’s Church in London’s West End, to St.Botoph’s Church in the City. Although the event was organised by The Rifles, all members of the RGJ Association were, as always, welcome to attend. The reception was held in the church hall, where Mulled wine and mince pies were enjoyed, prior to attending the Band Concert in the church next door. The number in attendance seems to be increasing each year and the new location is very close to Liverpool Street Station which is very handy for the over ground and underground as well as several bus routes.

Congratulations to Ex 2nd Battalion boxer Alan Varrier (aka ‘Skin’) and his daughter Laura for winning the final of the BBC’s TV quiz show Pointless. The show was hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In this and other episodes, 4 teams consisting of 2 contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to 4 rounds of general knowledge questions, with the winning team eligible to compete for the show’s cash jackpot. Alan and Laura won their round and went on to win the final of the last series and winning the Jackpot. Alan kindly donated his share of the winnings to Care for Casualties.

In 2020 we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary from when the London Branch which was formed in 1995.

The Royal Green Jackets Association Committee meeting Winchester November 2019