Winchester Branch report

Are we ‘IN’ or ‘OUT’ yet?

(Winchester Branch Report)

I guess by the time you read this - Brexit (in whatever form) may well have happened and the country is either up to its eyeballs in shedloads of new deals it has finally arranged with the rest of the world and all is well, or alternatively Jeremy Corbyn is now the UK’s new Prime Minister together with his sidekick Diane Abbott as the Foreign Secretary and unsurprisingly civil disorder has broken out across the country and I am living in a mud hut in Outer Mongolia. Nah! That couldn’t happen could it? Anyway I only mention this in passing because as I sit here in early January 2019 struggling to come up with some ideas for our branch article for the S&B magazine I can hear on the radio playing in the background yet another political pundit waffling on about “BREXIT blah de blah, LEAVE blah de blah, REMAIN blah de blah, BACKSTOP blah de blah”, and funnily enough it reminds me of how similar and appropriate these words are to my current ‘writers block’. In other Words BREXIT - what should be the theme of the article? LEAVE - put it off for another day and go and have a coffee (always a good option). REMAIN - stick with it and at least get something down on paper. BACKSTOP- publishing deadline end of March! And then it comes to me. Put all that rubbish aside and simply concentrate on all the good and varied things we as a branch have organised and carried out throughout 2018.

So what has the branch been up to throughout the year? Well in addition to our alternate monthly formal and social meetings, plus supporting the monthly Turning of the Pages in Winchester Cathedral, the first of our activities for the year kicked off in early February as it usually does with our branch AGM under the beady eye of our Chairman Roy Stanger. Now I am not sure how other branches are run but we in Winchester have what we call a ‘Management Board’ responsible for all administration and general running of the branch. It consists as most do of a President, Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. To ensure a stable continuity of the branch over the years, each member of the board only holds their appointment for a period of 2 years with overlapping elections for two of the appointments every 12 months for anyone who would like to give it a go. This year being no different saw a few changes with John Harper our Secretary for the last 6 years finally give up on mastering his Spellchecker and hand over the secretarial reins to John Fritz-Domeney who relinquished his role of President to Brig Nicholas Prideaux. The latter exchange as Nick pointed out in his Presidents address was a little bit of branch history as he and John had been exchanging this particular appointment for more years than they care to remember!

You know that old adage? If you want something done well - then use a busy man. This is a perfect

description of our Activities Member Tiny Adams who despite running a very busy and successful chauffer

company together with his wife Janet, still found the time to look into something that was still very close

to his heart; which was to try and mark the 40 th

anniversary on the 17 th

February of the death his old CO Lt

Col Iain Cordon Lloyd who had died in a helicopter crash in NI. After a little bit of bullying –no let’s call it

persuasion of Winchester’s civic authorities including having to personally remind the Lord Mayor that he had publically promised to honour the regiment in any way he could at the previous year’s Freedom of Winchester Parade, he finally and successfully obtained all the necessary authority to hold the ceremony in Morn Hill Cemetery at Iain’s graveside. Although only originally organised for Col Iain’s immediate family the power of the Internet quickly took over, and the small ceremony suddenly turned into something quite larger as a number of Iain’s fellow Riflemen appeared from nowhere (one even from the USA) to mark the occasion. However rather than distract from what was originally intended to be a ‘quiet family gathering’ it once again pleasingly reminded those family members who attended of the great respect and affection held for Iain by his fellow Riflemen.

Also in February we sadly lost Brian Craven one of the longest serving members of the branch. Brian had been a member since its inception in 1987 and despite a few years spent away in Yorkshire (his county of birth) he couldn’t resist the lure of his adoptive city of Winchester for too long and returned to Hampshire to spend the last years of his life living in Green Jacket Close. Brian was a real character and staunch supporter of the regiment and the Winchester branch who will be sadly missed

How often do you turn on the television and there at the latest

West End show, celebrity gathering or football match do you see

them in their distinctive scarlet coats and tricorn hats? I am of

course referring to our wonderful band of Chelsea Pensioners

Major General James Gordon CB CBE President RGJA

whose iconic image is as synonymous with the British Army as Yeoman Guards are to the Tower of London. Of course we all know that they live in that famous landmark building in Chelsea called The Royal Hospital and we might have known of someone

who had been a pensioner there. But other than that very little else!

With this in mind therefore and knowing we now had at least half a dozen ex members of the regiment

living there as In Pensioners it was finally decided that it was about time we found out a little more; which

actually was surprisingly easy to do because all it took was a quick email and before we knew it we had been invited to visit as a branch and participate in one of the Governor’s Parades. So early on Sunday 13 th

May with the weather giving a hint it was going to be a wonderful day we set off and arrived in leafy

Chelsea at about 10.00ish. What more needs to be said other than the visit was a great success and enjoyed by all who went. The weather was superb throughout the day, the journey up to Chelsea problem free, our regimental guides for the day Pat Cody and Fred Boomer-Hawkins were absolute perfect hosts, our participation in the Governor’s Parade with all the other In Pensioners was truly moving and memorable, and the service held in the Wren Chapel very British and uplifting (we even got a named welcome on the Order of Service). All in all a fantastic and informative day which we hope to repeat again.

Slipping into July the branch as ever was heavily committed with organising and generally assisting in the

running of the Regimental Reunion on the 14 th

July, and as always under the ever watchful eye of Roy

‘Mr Reunion’ Stanger. Although only a one day event it does in addition actually take a further 6 days to set up and take down so we are ever grateful to every member of the branch who willingly gave up their

time to make it happen.

On the 5 th

August we had our Families Fun Day BBQ on the field behind the WO’s & Sgts Mess in SJM

Barracks and despite it turning into the hottest and sunniest day of the year (thank goodness for selferecting gazebos) everyone had a brilliant and relaxing day together. Peter Andrews once again organised it for our families and friends and pulled out all the stops with a superb BBQ and array of family games for every age and ability. No one went home that day without a winner’s medal, full stomach and quite a bit of sunburn.

Like all of our branches in the Association I guess, we too received a letter in May from the CEB inviting us to attend the Northern Ireland Veterans Association (NIVA) Service of Remembrance on the 8 th

September at the National Memorial Arboretum. Despite very few of us being members of this particular organisation we settled on a small delegation to go and represent the branch and what an incredible and moving day it turned out to be. Despite the membership of the NIVA being ‘All Arms’ there was no doubt

in anyone’s mind that the predominant regiments there were from the Light Division as displayed by the 3 to 1 sea of green blazers. If that didn’t convince anyone of our dominance at the gathering then the

audible reminder from a superb marching contingent of buglers from the Light Division Buglers Association certainly did! Also in attendance was the President of the NIVA General Bob Pascoe, plus

Generals Jamie Gordon, Jamie Balfour, and Nick Cottam –what other regiment could put together a line

up like that? Much credit however must go to the Central England Branch who did a fantastic job of

coordinating the Light Division attendance and hosting the gathering afterwards. Before we departed the message from General Bob was a simple one “2019 marks the 50 th

anniversary of British troops

deployment to NI in an IS role, it really would be appreciated if as many members of the RGJA attended to

support it”. We as a branch certainly propose to do so.

Winchester being a cathedral city and Remembrance Day in November being a pretty serious and high priority event in the nations calendar (made even more so by the fact that 2018 was the 100 th

anniversary

of the ending of the 1 st

WW) it naturally followed that the branch would get very heavily involved in all

matters relating to Remembrance. In fact ‘heavily involved’ doesn’t quite cut it as our Remembrance Day

turned into a whole weekend encompassing both the Saturday and Sunday. I will explain…..

Earlier in the year we were honoured to have a very distinguished member of the Regiment join our

branch. Many of you would know him as General Garry Johnson who despite being retired was heavily involved in the archaeological research being carried out by Winchester University on the old (and no longer used) West Hill Cemetery behind Peninsula Barracks. The research in particular concentrated on

the military war graves in the cemetery where it surprisingly identified over 100 British and Commonwealth graves including a VC.

The University decided that as the research period was going to conclude by November it would be appropriate and respectful to dedicate an

additional Service of Remembrance followed by a

power point presentation in the university on

every one of the military personnel buried in the graveyard. This was arranged for Saturday 10 th

November to which a large number of dignitaries would be invited. We as a branch were invited too although we originally suspected it was more to do with adding numbers and colour to the event rather than any association with those buried there. How wrong we were when it became apparent that despite the university’s expertise in just about everything the one area they had no knowledge of was how to pull this sort of event together. Clearly they needed a bit of help so before anyone could say “we are gathered here today” we were organising the whole thing –other than running the power point presentation and dishing out the tea and biscuits afterwards that is! An unusual day to say the least but very satisfying and pleasing to see so many non-military people (university students and staff) being involved and treating the subject matter with the greatest respect and decorum.

Like everyone else across the country on Remembrance Sunday our day started really early with a 9am service in the open air in front of the KRRC Memorial just outside the main entrance of the cathedral. This little service always amazes us because each and every year there must be at least 300 to 400 people braving the icy cold or rain to support it. This was followed at 10.30am by the main service in the cathedral after which a number of our contingent dashed off to SJM Barracks to support the Drum Head service being held there. Following the various parades and services everyone then made a beeline for the South Winchester Golf Club for a warming drink and to see how many faces they could recognise on the television at the Cenotaph Parade in London, and finally to finish a memorable day off - a superb 3 course lunch. Although I have said it many times before I always find it funny to note the admiring but intrigued looks from all the golfers at the number of green blazers on display as we walk in. I would like to think they were admiring our regimental dress although I suspect anyone who has the unthinking temerity of playing golf on a Remembrance Sunday morning probably thinks we are all winners of the US Masters come to pay the place a visit!!

I suspect as time goes by, the city of Winchester and our association with it, can often appear to take on less regimental relevance than it once did. This is only natural of course as the Army and its new logistical needs evolve into something completely different to what we were used to, and everything regimental we held dear appears to be disappearing into the ether around us. However fear not because we in the Winchester Branch consider it our duty to maintain and uphold our regimental presence for as long, and in any way we can. Just a couple of the ways we do this is to nurture a good relationship with the Cathedral via our monthly ‘Turning of the Pages’ Ceremony and constantly building on the good will we have with the landlords of Sir John Moore Barracks. Indeed the latter is one area where we have generated considerable ‘brownie points’ through the efforts of a small and dedicated band of workers consisting of Derek Randall, John Harper, Geordie Scott, and Pat and May Low. All of which together with others from the branch have worked throughout the whole year (and for many years previously) cleaning and maintaining the display vehicles and general memorials throughout the whole site, and not forgetting of course the Light Division Memorial Garden itself. The relationship has now developed to the point where Derek, John and Geordie Scott have now become Honorary Members of the WO’s & Sgts Mess. I am even told they have invested in Honorary Members Mess kits –whatever that is I am sure it is a sight to behold!

As the year drew to a close in December and with Christmas just around the corner we once again held our annual Christmas Dinner and Dance at the South Winchester Golf Club. I am pleased to say that 65 very happy individuals still sat down to a truly enjoyable evening of delicious food and superb wines plus plenty of port to raise a toast to the Regiment and Absent Riflemen. Although the club doesn’t have quite the same military look and ambience as a regimental mess it certainly matches it in warmth, décor and privacy which made it the perfect venue to end our year on. We also took the occasion to have as our special guests John and Sue Poole-Warren as John had recently retired as Regimental Secretary The Rifles and formally of course the Regimental Secretary of the RGJA.

Footnote to The Reunion

These two gentlemen were seen blowing/ squeezing/strangling - I am not sure what the expression is –their bagpipes for all they were worth at the entrance to the reunion, and a fine job they were making of it too. To the best of my knowledge we have never had a corps of bagpipes in the Green Jackets, I know the Ghurkhas have some so the question was often asked of John Fritz-Domeney “Why are they here?”. John’s answer was typically Green Jacket in Style and Thought. “Because they were FREE!!”. Our thanks to Phil Garrod and Jim Stanley who gave up their time to entertain us with their fine playing.