The Royal Green Jackets Association The Royal Green Jackets Association
RGJA REUNION AT WINCHESTER SATURDAY 14TH JULY 2018 We are all familiar with the military maxim ‘poor planning leads to a poor outcome’ or similar words to that effect. So when Roy Stanger asked the Reunion Sub Committee if we were all free on the 22nd August 2017 to hold our ‘wash-up’ meeting for the Regimental Reunion held the previous month, and to lay down the foundations for the 2018 Reunion, I don’t think anyone can accuse us of not spending enough time on planning! As I write this article in the late Autumn of 2018 with the central heating keeping me warm, that early meeting the previous year seems such an awful long time ago. However thinking about it now, it also reminds me of how much personal time, effort, and planning goes into organising this particular event on behalf of the Regiment with much of it falling on the shoulders of our Winchester Branch to whom we all give our grateful thanks. So how did that wash-up meeting go? Well, as always, we looked closely at the income and expenditure for arranging this Reunion. In general terms the overall outgoing costs were £46k less gate and bar takings of £9k and a £25k grant, with the shortfall being met by a further generous grant from the Association. This was followed by a performance analysis of the various supporting companies and other external organisations responsible for providing the marquees, toilets, brewery, food, refreshments, waste disposal, entertainments, PA systems and sideshows. And not forgetting, of course, a number of our own admin teams of ‘in-house movers and shakers’, especially in terms of how efficient or problematic their tasks proved to be, and whether anything can be improved on for future years. This was followed closely by an in depth look at all the boring bits and pieces of general administration which make the day happen efficiently. You know the sort of thing – but if you don’t know here are a number to give you some idea: event policing and security, OOB areas, positioning and layout of all the catering and restaurant facilities including static stands, what merchandise can or cannot be sold, grass cutting and facilities for the camping areas, signage outside and inside the barracks, first aid, toilet positioning, traffic control and car parking etc and last but not least the good old Risk Assessment which has to be carried out before anyone can walk through the gates - the list goes on as you can imagine. Again I will not bore you with the detail of this initial meeting and the many more planning meetings that subsequently followed other than to say all these subjects and many more together with any constructive feedback (which is welcomed) were all debated at length and several times over. So once again I sincerely thank the Winchester Branch for their advice, knowledge and expertise in pulling all of this together for us. In summary and to mishmash Winston Churchill’s famous quote ‘a few do an awful amount of work for the many’. So how did the actual day itself go? Well discounting those that were still travelling to Winchester from the 4 corners of the UK and for the large number of early campers who had arrived the day before and were still snoozing in their sleeping bags or luxury camper vans – For us organising the event it was a 06.30 start to put the final touches to everything we had worked on over the previous 5 days. Also throughout the remainder of the morning P-F Productions arrived to set up their complex but very professional PA system around the complete site including the ‘Command PA Tent’ manned for the occasion by Nicholas ‘the voice’ Prideaux. Final photographic touches were added to, the walls of the main marquee by Chris ‘Rocky’ Gates and a weapons display laid out and manned by Riflemen from 4 Rifles – including the heaviest and most armoured plated civilian 4x4 we had ever seen (a normal vehicle used by the military in Afghanistan these days it would seem). In amongst this busy hive of activity wafted the inviting smell of bacon and burgers being prepared by the on-site caterers which as you can imagine threatened (and did) slow down our final preparations a bit.
Swift & Bold Journal 2018
Swift & Bold Journal 2018
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