The Royal Green Jackets Association The Royal Green Jackets Association
LONDON BRANCH NEWS LETTER 2018 Having completed a full and varied programme of events in 2017 in comparison to previous years 2018 was a slow start except for the Secretary Gary Driscoll, Mac McDonald and Ian Weatherley representing the Royal Green Jackets Association in St Paul’s Cathedral at the memorial service for Sir John Moore. It was to mark the 209th anniversary, of the death of Sir John Moore (Nov 1761- Jan 1809) at the Battle of Corunna, Northern Spain, and commemorated on 18 th January. It took place after Evensong, at the Sir John Moore memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Soldiers from 4 Rifles carried out a wreath laying ceremony and buglers from the Buglers Association of the Light Division sounded the Last Post and Reveille. Anyone who has never been to Evensong in St Paul’s should make the effort as it is quite a memorable experience. All serving and former Riflemen, Regimental Association members, their families and friends are all welcome to attend Evensong. The St Paul’s authorities normally reserve special seats in the nave for the Rifles party. Ten members of the London Branch attended and it is hoped that more will attend next year. February began with our first function a Black Button Club at Chelsea Hospital, not only was it a gathering for members but also an opportunity to re-establish contact with our members who reside at the Hospital after their Christmas break. We also welcomed a recently joined member, Fred Boomer-Hawkins, who has settled in and is very active. The evening was a great success with a large turnout of members and wives who mingled not only with our own Pensioners but a great many other’s present. The next event of the year was the Branch’s Ladies Dinner Night, there had been a great many changes imposed on the arrangements because of ongoing renovations to the Victory Services Club that impacted on the evening. Even after so some very active action behind the scenes by the Committee a seamless transformation took places that produced once again an outstanding evening. Each year we assume that we have max out attendance but once again this year we exceeded last year’s attendance with over one hundred members attending. At the last moment, we thought the weather would impact on the evening but members from Devon and Norfolk braved the storms and all that had reserved a place were catered for and on parade. The pre-reception drinks and warm up session took place in the Trafalgar Rooms until the dinner call was sounded. After an excellent meal with plenty of wine we sat back and listened to the Bugles sound regimental marches finishing with High on the Hill. In the opinion of those present it was a resounding success and the two buglers Mr P Tresadern and Mr S Vaughen must be congratulated. It is without doubt that we will book them again in future. This year we did not seek the services of a Regimental band but used a selection of musical CD’s of former regimental bands as background music accompanied by a screen film show of the Branches activities throughout the year that everyone could view. The formal part of the evening was completed with a short thank you speech by the Secretary to all those who had assisted in the preparation for the evening. The President then followed with his “State of the Swift & Bold Journal 2018
Swift & Bold Journal 2018
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