The Chairman

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

It is with the greatest pleasure that I look back on my first year as your Chairman. For Ria and I it has been a really special time, meeting up with old friends and comrades, being in contact with so many whose names we had heard but had never met and once again being a real part of our Regimental Family.

So much to remember; the service to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Michael Allmand’s VC and the huge support from his extended family, the Association, RGR and the local community; rowing on the Thames with Nick and Eva Gordon-Creed in Didi; our excellent All Ranks Reunion, despite being ambushed to make a speech, plus our Winchester Remembrance Service and Reunion in our 60th year since being honoured with our royal title, all made particularly special by the attendance of Antony Wakeham, who had been at the original ceremony. Also at the Reunion we were delighted to receive the lovely painting of Hugh Wallace from his family, the original of which will be on display in the Gurkha Museum and a high quality copy will be held by 1 RGR, where the Wallace Memorial Trophy is keenly competed for each year just as many readers will remember. I was privileged to represent your Association at the 25th birthday party of RGR at Shorncliffe along with Captain Dembahadur Gurung

At the All Ranks Reunion: Duncan Briggs and Rasbahadur Gurung, who had been the Mail Runner on the 1976 Annapurna South Peak Expedition, reunited after many years

and his wife. It was very special to see them chatting with HRH The Prince of Wales, the guest of honour.

I have met with a number of our former Gurkha soldiers and officers over the year and found that the majority were doing very well and had a full and active social life. One gem for me on one of those occasions was meeting Tekbahadur Sahi who had been my orderly on my language course. I had not seen him for over 40 years and, for those who have been through the experience of the language course, you will know what a special person he was in my life as mentor and friend as we struggled to improve my Gurkhali.

On a less positive note; as an Association, we do have a problem with subscriptions. I have written or emailed many of you personally over the last year. Although I have had a really positive response from many; with some much-appreciated donations, there are still some 40% of Full and Associate members who have not payed their subscription for the last financial year, 1 October 2018 to 30 September 2019. A small Association such as ours depends almost completely on subscriptions to support our initiatives such as this excellent Journal. We need to pay our way and stop being supported each year by the Regimental Trust. Please check your bank statements and ensure that you are paying (Full Members £20 and Associate Members £15) to the correct bank account; 6 GR Regimental Trust, No 2 Account at Holts Farnborough Branch of the RBS; Sort Code 16-19-26, Account Number 17054295. For those who fail to pay I am afraid that this will be their last Regimental Journal as it was agreed at the last AGM in November 2019 to create a Lapsed Members Roll for those who no longer pay. These members will not be eligible to vote in General Meetings nor will they receive the Journal until they are re-instated after payment. For anyone with queries on this issue please contact me, preferably by email (on page 2).

During the year we have tried hard to make our 6 GRRA website more current, including news of events as soon as they have happened plus the last two copies of the Journal (less Family Information) in digital form. So, I would encourage everyone to check it out and if you haven’t got one, then contact James Herbert or our Honorary Secretary for a password. This year we also launched a 6 GRRA Facebook Page. Although I suspect that many readers will have concerns about Facebook, the main driver for this initiative was to create a closed group within the Facebook Page so that we could share information quickly and easily, but that was only visible to the members of the closed group. To join, please contact the Honorary Secretary, James Herbert or myself.

Can I say a particular welcome to our new members; it is wonderful to have you aboard. Could I also make a particular plea to our Gurkha members to encourage your former comrades now living in the UK to join us; this is your Association and all are most welcome.

We look forward to another interesting and stimulating year in 2020, including a group visit to Medicina to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the battle along with our friends from 14/20th Hussars in April and a lecture on Bill Slim, the Regimental Officer, in May.

I would also like to thank our committee, particularly the hard-working Honorary Secretary, Mani Rai, who holds things together; Rick Beven, our Journal Editor, Anne Griffith for managing the family news and James Herbert for supporting and improving our website.

Finally, may I say a most sincere thank you to you our Members for your support and good fellowship, making the Association the wonderful organisation that it is.

Jai Sixth!

Duncan Briggs