Potteries and District REME Association – Spring Newsletter

New Branch Member Adrian Walker, ex LCpl Radar Tech, has taken it upon himself to start a REME North Staffordshire Breakfast Club, held once a month on the first Saturday at 10am in the local Toby Carvery. The 3rd of June event will be the third such gathering of ex Corps people, with the numbers seemingly getting more each month, ten in attendance last month with hopefully more joining in the future. With Branch Members starting to take notice it is hoped that the event will start getting more members to join the Branch who otherwise would not know we existed as their only Branch on their doorstep in North Staffordshire and the Moorlands.

It is to be hoped that with Branch Members getting involved with the Breakfast Club, some attendees who are not currently Association Members will join the Branch and will start to attend our monthly lunch events, where we all descend on a local pub or restaurant to enjoy a meal together. Currently, attendance at these lunch events is a bit hit and miss, mirroring Branch Meeting attendance, one month we can get eighteen attend the lunch and this month we could only muster ten, at the Royal Oak in the Moorlands village of Dilhorne. Sadly, only two were REME badged with the remainder made up of our friends in the local RCT Association.

It is good news on the retention of the Tri Services and Veterans Centre in the nearby borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The Staffordshire County Council wished to offload the property from its estate, and offered it up for sale at £120k. Common sense has finally prevailed and the Centre can now be purchased for £85k. Following a huge local fundraising effort, the sum of £45k has been reached, and due to the backing of local millionaire Mr John Caldwell, who is matching the efforts, they will have cracked the £90k barrier. This Centre is a vital facility in the county and beyond offering many services to local Veterans in the community, from a SSAFA representative based within the building to a food bank where needy Veterans can have bags of free food delivered to their doorstep.

Finally, a bit of a coup as far as Branch recruitment goes with the addition to our ranks of retired Major

General John Henderson CB, the outgoing Chief Executive of Staffordshire County Council. When approached by Branch Vice President Lt Col John Edwards about him taking up the appointment of Patron of our Branch, his response was that he would be delighted and honoured to accept the appointment in his local Branch.

He has already paid his annual Branch Membership fee and has confirmed his attendance at this year’s Christmas Dinner on Saturday November 25th.

(The following details and photo are in the public domain and can be checked on Wikipedia)

Major General John McNiven Ross Henderson was commissioned into the Corps of REME in 1982. He became the CO of 2 Battalion in 2002, and Commander of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan in June 2004, before becoming the Deputy Chief of Staff for the 1st Armoured Division in January 2005. He became the commander of 102 Logistics Brigade in December of 2006.

He was the Director of Logistics for the Army in 2008, and General Officer Commanding British Forces Germany in August 2012.

He was appointed as a companion of the Bath (CB) in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List. In 2015 he became the Chief Executive ·Officer of Staffordshire County Council.

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