Yorkshire Branch report

Yorkshire Branch

We continue to meet at the TA Centre in Wakefield on the fourth Tuesday in the month from March to October inclusively. The branch officers are:

President: Capt ABC (Kit) Dollard 3RGJ Chairman: Thomas (Charles) Conlin 1RGJ Treasurer: John Woods KRRC Secretary: Stuart Anderson RB The Branch is financially secure despite the dwindling numbers.

We have seventeen members remaining who served in the RGJ or its antecedent regiments. We also have honorary members and associate members. About half of our veteran members find it difficult to attend our meetings due to declining health and mobility. Contact is kept with everyone mainly through Minutes which also serve as news letters.

This year 2018 we have lost three members and gained one. Brian Craven KRRC died early in the year shortly after his 80th birthday; Joyce Williams died in the spring and her husband Fred followed her in the in the early summer. Fred Williams RB served in Berlin at the time of the Berlin Air lift and had been our Chairman since he helped form the Branch in 1997. Tom Conlin was unanimously voted to succeed Fred. He and his wife Sue are also members of the North East Branch.

Since the spring meeting of the Association, members of the Branch attended the annual lunch at Woolley Park Golf Club, which is situation close to Barnsley. Shortly after this event some of our members attended the unveiling of a memorial in honour of those in the KOYLI/LI who served in Malaya. It takes the form of a rifleman carrying a Bren gun and is placed in a pleasant garden within one of the Doncaster parks close to the KOYLI museum. The memorial was unveiled on the first of August, a date dear to the Yorkshire regiment, as it is Minden Day. A white rose adorned every breast including those of the RGJ.

The secretary attended the annual commemoration of the battle of Kohima. This took place in the garden of York Minster where the Kohima Memorial is located. Afterwards at the lunch held at Imphal Barracks the secretary was in the company of a Japanese lady who upon hearing a discussion of the fall of Singapore said that if the roles were reversed in that battle the Japanese would not have surrendered. "They lived by a different code," she added.

Those who were able attended the gathering of the veterans of the Northern Ireland campaign at the Arboretum. Hugh Goudge gave an exuberant report to the membership at the following meeting and commented on the number of Generals on parade. He said that the bulk of those present were either from the RGJ or from the KOYLI/LI. One of our members, Ernie Blanchard, has the honour of serving in both regiments. Hugh and the Secretary, reinforced by Hugh's wife Julia and daughter, attended Remembrance Day parades at Nostell Priory and Wakefield on consecutive weekends. The one at the Priory is always held the week before the official day. The same stalwarts paraded with the Veterans Guard at the Rifles Freedom of Wakefield event in September where the Secretary was unexpectedly

kissed by one of the inspecting dignitaries. At the conclusion of the parade the Rifles contingent was transported to Leeds for an afternoon repeat of the ceremony.

In October the secretary received a call from the Rifles office at Pontefract with information about the funeral in Hull of an ex-member of 2RGJ, Ian (Tiny) Lynch who had been a bandsman present by misadventure at the Regent's park bombing. The Rifles secretary (Yorkshire) was anxious to drum up support as he thought that old soldiers might be a bit thin on the ground on the day. In the event only the secretary of the Yorkshire Branch was able to be present.

There was an avenue of trees leading towards the crematorium chapel. Halfway along was a lone piper waiting to lead the funeral procession when it appeared. I drew up along side him and he informed me that I’d find the rest of my mates at the car park. He was a genuine "Jock" in full regalia. The relatives and other mourners were by the entrance to the chapel, a good number of them. There was also a group of standard bearers and a surprising number of Green Jackets, easily the most I've ever seen in Hull and not in the least what I'd expected. They had come from far and wide but mainly from the Midlands. Tiny Lynch must have been a well-liked soldier.

We heard the skirling of the pipes and quickly formed up into a guard of honour with the other veterans and the standard bearers. When the cortege had passed through and everyone else had entered the chapel we found that there was standing room only. An usher emerged to announce that there was a place at the front for the infirm. He looked directly at me so I followed him in limping ostentatiously and found myself on the end of the family mourners next to a young woman who wept quietly throughout.

Immediately in front of me, in touching distance, was a standard bearer, a fellow Green Jacket. To my surprise he sported a Rifle Brigade tie. The Bugler, provided by the Rifles office at Pontefract, was Craig Rosser who had also been on duty at the Arboretum. When we got outside at the conclusion of the ceremony I recognised the standard bearer as Len Dooley of the Midlands Branch. He and I have met on several occasions during committee meetings at Winchester. He explained that when he had served with 3RGJ all NCOs wore Rifle Brigade ties.

Stuart Anderson Hon.Sec.