Legion magazine January/February 2011

JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011

Lt Col Henry Worsley: heading due south for the Legion

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On the cover: Lt Col Henry Worsley aims to raise vital funds by racing to the South Pole in November.

Welcome JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

The Royal British Legion 199 Borough High St, London SE1 1AA Tel: 020 3207 2100 www.britishlegion.org.uk Registered charity no: 219279 Patron HM The Queen National President Lt Gen Sir John Kiszely National Chairman John Farmer National Vice Chairman John Crisford Director General Chris Simpkins

For queries relating to The Royal British Legion, call Legionline on 08457 725 725 (open Mon–Fri, 9am-4pm. Calls charged at local rate) Legion MAGAZINE is published on behalf of The Royal British Legion by: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP Tel: 020 7880 6200 Email: editorial@legion-magazine.co.uk Printed by Southernprint Ltd Publishing team Editor Steve Smethurst Assistant editors Rebecca Grant and Sarah Campbell News/features reporter Hollie Ewers Art director Mark Parry Art editor Daniel Swainsbury Picture researcher Akin Falope Publisher Jason Grant Production manager Jane Easterman Snr production executive Kat Anastasiou Sales manager Steve Grice Senior sales executive Adam Kinlan The publishers declare that the publication of advertising does not carry their endorsement or sponsorship of the advertiser – or their products or services – unless so indicated. Submissions to the editorial team will be returned only if accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during transmission, or while in the hands of the editorial team. Proof of receipt is no guarantee of appearance. In the absence of an agreement, copyright of all contributions, literary, photographic, or artistic, belongs to The Royal British Legion. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of The Royal British Legion.

Change of address/multiple copies. If you wish to change your address, or if you are receiving multiple copies of Legion and wish to stop one or more, please inform your Branch Secretary who should inform the Local Membership Office of the changes/ stoppages. The Membership Services Department (MSD) may be contacted on 020 3207 2337 or at membershipservices@britishlegion.org.uk; however the MSD should ideally only be contacted by counties or branches. Members are asked not to request changes via the editorial staff, as they do not have access to the membership database. Exceptionally, notification of members’ deaths should be made to MSD so that it can immediately update the system.

Audited figure: 353,085 (Jan-Dec 09)

We’ve come a long way: it’s only the start

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t’s hard to believe that 2011 – the year the Legion turns 90 – is finally upon us.

Regular Legion readers will already know that it’s set to be an eventful year, with plenty of events to look forward to, from the week-long celebration in Telford in May to the Poppy Parties taking place around the country this summer.

Our members and supporters have excelled themselves in coming up with new and inventive ways of joining in the celebrations. But perhaps the most extreme idea to date is the planned expedition to the South Pole, which will begin on 11 November. It’s the brainchild of our cover star, Lt Col Henry Worsley, and not only has the adventure been planned to coincide with another major anniversary – the centenary of the Scott-Amundsen South Pole race – he and his comrades hope to raise vital funds for the Legion’s Battle Back Challenge Centre. For a special preview of the expedition, see page 12.

This year also marks another big anniversary, as it’s 20 years since the end of the Gulf War. To mark the occasion, Legion has tracked down four individuals with very different perspectives on the conflict and its legacy (page 16).

A major part of the Legion’s work is to ensure those who fought in conflicts such as the Gulf War are never forgotten, and the scores of Remembrance events that took place last November reflect this. Sadly, as the years pass, the memorials where many of these events are held begin to show signs of wear and tear. While it’s as important to preserve these structures as it is the memories of those named on them, it seems some well-meant maintenance can actually do more harm than good. Fortunately, there’s a charity that exists to ensure that these memorials stand the test of time (page 22).

But, as well as preserving Remembrance, we also need to take steps to preserve our wonderful organisation. As Annual Conference 2011 draws near, and the future of membership is set to be debated in detail, the Legion’s new Head of Membership, Bob Gamble, reveals his strategy for taking the Legion forward (page 10).

John Farmer National Chairman

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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Inside

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

FEATURES COVER STORY 12 Snow patrol When the nation marks Remembrance Day 2011, one group of Service men will not be marching past their local cenotaph. Instead they’ll be trekking across the Antarctic to raise Legion funds 8 Marching on together… A snapshot of how the nation paused in contemplation last November 10 Let’s remember the members The Legion’s new Head of Membership, Bob Gamble, reveals his plans to put membership back at the centre of the organisation

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16 Conflict of opinions It’s been 20 years since coalition forces successfully liberated Kuwait from Iraqi rule. But what do people recall most vividly about the conflict?

22 Post-war casualties The passing of time is posing a risk to some of Britain’s war memorials. Fortunately, there’s a charity that can help prevent their demise

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LEGION NEWS 35 FORCES FAVES 06 Attenshun The West End’s Poppy stars 29 My Legion life Howard Williams 30 Branch Focus Wells, in Somerset

re The 32 Welfare ranch’ ‘Officers Branch’ s 42 Letters Members’ views rails 46 Lost Trails mrades Tracing comrades

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51 Competition Win a Me Mediterranean cruise for two 52 Entertainment The Soldiers’ liv tour on DVD, and a new exhibition live ho honours Service sweethearts 56 Travel Belfast’s tourism industry is booming – a hopeful sign that the cit troubled years are behind it city’s 59 Books History’s great battles rev revealed, and the memoirs of a lad Chelsea Pensioner lady 65 Diary dates Reunions and events 66 Last Post VC hero Johnson Be Beharry speaks about life in the pu public eye JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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Opening shots

The War Horse team is joined by the Legion’s Head of Special Events, Theresa Greener (second from left).

West End theatre crowds put in a sterling performance in November by raising thousands of pounds for the Poppy Appeal, thanks to the cast of two hit shows.

The cast and crew of War Horse held collections at every show in the fortnight leading up to Remembrance Sunday, raising a total of £20,150.

The cast of new West End Show Birdsong, based on Sebastian Faulks’s WWI novel, also collected for the Poppy Appeal over the Remembrance period and their efforts raised a further £12,000.

War Horse cast member Robin Guiver told Legion: “Audiences have been really generous, we’ve even had 100 euro notes going in to the buckets. It’s been fantastic, everyone’s worked so hard to do this.”

Robin, whose birthday falls on 11 November, is a lifelong Legion supporter, and earlier this year raised nearly £800 for the Poppy Appeal by taking part in the London Triathlon.

Members of the original War Horse cast boosted appeal funds further by donating royalties from the production’s soundtrack CD, amounting to an extra £1,400.

SAM KESTEVEN

A star turn

Atten

News, views, facts and snippets

GREG BURKE/ ANDY WASLEY

‘Good morning, Camp Bastion!’

The JACKfm crew get to work in Helmand Province.

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When the people of Oxfordshire tuned in to their local radio station, JACKfm, on the morning of 21 November, they got a lot more than the usual music and traffic reports.

Four of the station’s presenters, Trevor Marshall, Sue Carter, Greg Burke and Rosie Tratt, had travelled to Afghanistan for a weekend of broadcasts live from Camp Bastion in Helmand Province.

During their stay, the team was not only granted access to forces personnel, but also to many little-known areas of the camp in order to show what life is really like in Afghanistan for our Service men and women.

The trip was made possible thanks to the Legion’s support. Director of National Events and Fundraising Russell Thompson said: “We are very excited to be associated with the JACKfm trip to Afghanistan. The Legion has helped more than 10,000 members of the Afghan and Iraq generation since 2003 and this trip will help to emphasise the message that those serving in Afghanistan can ask the Legion for support today and for the rest of their lives.”

For podcasts and more images from the JACKfm team’s time in Afghanistan, visit afghanistan.jackfm.co.uk

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From Tweed to Tees Paul McClintock has been in constant pain n since ving with suffering a spinal injury in 1996 while serving the Royal Green Jackets. But he was determined rmined that no amount of suffering would stop him m in his mission to raise £6,000 for the charity that at has helped put his life back on track.

“The Legion has helped me from day one e when I came out of the Army. They bought my wheelchair heelchair and helped with adaptations, so I could live ve in my home. They even liaised with my landlord to keep a roof over my head that I could afford,” he e said.

Paul has now completed an epic 125-mile mile journey in his wheelchair, travelling from Berwickupon-Tweed to Croft-on-Tees, in aid of the Legion.

The journey took a week to complete, and nd he was assisted along the way by David Bell, Legion County Secretary for Northumbria.

shun! from the world of the Legion

Who’s in Legion’s Hall of Fame?

Lickey End Branch’s Life President John Hewlett, who has been honoured for his 66 years’ service to the Poppy Appeal.

He was presented with a 60-year badge by Shaun McCarthy, County Secretary, during a celebration dinner.

The staff at Magor Post Office Café, who made and sold Poppy cupcakes on 11 November, including this giant cupcake, which was raffled off in aid of the Poppy Appeal.

The Safeway Branch, which presented the Legion with a cheque for £3,750 during its annual dinner.

Safeway is one of two ‘in-house’ Legion branches, the other being Lloyd’s of London Branch.

Dan means business An ex-soldier who was severely injured while serving in Iraq has battled back to become a national finalist in the 2010 Barclays Trading Places Awards.

Dan Twiddy, who received Legion assistance following his medical discharge from the Army in 2005, was nominated after setting up his own plastering business.

Although Dan (below, left) missed out on the top prize at the 2010 awards, judges were impressed to learn how he set up his business from scratch on his Army pension, and also how he battled to keep it afloat after his van, containing all his equipment, was stolen.

Steve Cooper, chair of the judging panel said: “The awards are a celebration of people who, in spite of great personal challenges, have taken steps to establish a sustainable business. So I congratulate Dan on becoming a finalist and hope his inspiring story will prove to other people that self-employment can be possible if you’ve got a dream and the guts and determination.”

Hockley Branch member Debbie Phillips, who raised more than £550 for the Poppy Appeal by taking part in the Bupa Great North Run. She completed the 13-mile race in three hours, 15 minutes and 13 seconds.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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The pictures Big big picture RAF PHOTOGRAPHY REMEMBRANCE 2010 AWARDS

MAIN PHOTO: SEAN POWER; CENOTAPH PARADE: DUNCAN RABAN

Marching on together…

Attendance levels were high at the hundreds of Remembrance events that took place in November 2010.

As well as the well-established events, such as the Cenotaph Parade, Silence in the Square and the Royal Albert Hall Festival of Remembrance, this year’s commemorations also saw some new traditions being started.

For the first time, a Field of Remembrance was established near Wootton Bassett, and was officially opened by Prince Harry on 9 November.

Last year also saw the launch of the Legion’s 90th anniversary programme.

Kicking off events was Royal Marine 8

LCpl Ram Patten, who spearheaded an epic tri-Service Remembrance march in a bid to raise £1 million for The Royal British Legion (pictured above). The March for Honour, in which soldiers, sailors and airmen marched a mile for every Service person killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, also generated much-appreciated extra publicity for the Legion around Poppy Appeal time.

For more details, please see www.marchforhonour.com As Legion went to press, the Poppy Appeal target of £36 million was in sight, with almost £28 million raised. Our thanks go to all who supported the Appeal.

These pictures show: 1: March for Honour team members.

2: Millie Cross, aged eight, and RAF veteran George Heathman at the Devon County Poppy launch.

3: Veteran Leonard Tyksinski, aged 85, at the London Cenotaph Parade.

4: Members of Allied Rapid Reaction Corps showing their support for Gloucestershire’s Poppy Appeal.

5: Poole’s lifeboat crew carrying out their annual wreath-laying in Poole Bay. 6: Crowds battling severe weather at the Remembrance Day service at Firs Field, Combe Down, Bath.

7: Legion beneficiary Cpl Simon Brown at the London Cenotaph Parade.

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LET’S REMEMBER THE MEMBERS STEVE SMETHURST/JOHN RIFKIN

Bob Gamble, the Legion’s new Head of Membership, tells Steve Smethurst he is determined to bring military discipline and planning to the Legion’s ‘biggest challenge’

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peaking to Legion in December, Bob Gamble was just three weeks into his role of Head of Membership, ‘after a lifetime in the Army’, and he was busy mapping out the territory.

“As a department, and for a variety of reasons, membership has been leaderless for a while,” is his first conclusion. “It has been somewhat sidelined within the organisation and

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it needs to be fully re-integrated.

My first priority is to get membership back into the centre of all present and future planning,” he says.

Lt Col Gamble, recently of The Royal Tank Regiment, has an OBE to his name and says he ‘dropped everything’ to answer the call. “I get The Royal British Legion,” he says.

“I was brought up in a military family and so I have an empathy with it.

I understand its importance and its

relevance. Although, the only characteristics and skills I bring with me are leadership and common sense, together with perhaps some credibility in the eyes of the membership.”

Members, he says, have a right to a greater say in decisions. “They have been living in uncertain times – hearing that the Legion is facing diminishing membership numbers, challenges from other Service charities, a review of clubs, organisational change and, of course, the debate over the increase in the affiliation fee. Enhanced communication is therefore a high priority as members clearly feel that they haven’t been kept in the loop.”

One of his first steps has been to improve links with County Secretaries and Chairmen and his longer-term

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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MEMBERSHIP Blurred lines: too few people know how different the Legion is from other Service charities.

goal is to write the future strategy for membership. As is well documented, the Legion is faced with a 4 per cent decline in membership per year, and if clubs continue to close the rate of decline will increase further. While not involved in the ongoing review of clubs, he is keen to take measures to ameliorate some of the impact of closures, and wants to retain the membership that is linked to the clubs [your next Legion will include advice on what to do if your club is closing].

Bob’s timetable is to provide a draft strategy for change to the executive board by March. He will then resume the consultative process through the summer. He’s not expecting it to be straightforward. “I don’t think there are any easy fixes. If there were then they would already be taking place.

“But we do have to get the fundamentals right. Re-establishing effective links with the membership, positioning ourselves to better support welfare provision, and giving advice to others within the organisation is what we need to go forward. The fact is that the decline in membership numbers is not a Membership Department problem, it is a problem for The Royal British Legion.

“It will need the combined effort of all of the departments within Haig House and the concerted effort of the membership across the country if we are going to be successful. That said, if The Royal British Legion makes its voice heard in a coordinated and coherent way at every level from Parliament to the man on the street, I don’t doubt we will be successful.”

The importance of his task isn’t lost on Bob. “More welfare cases are brought to our attention by the

membership than by any other route.

Whether members fully appreciate that, or that they are recognised for their contribution is questionable, and we need to be better at that.”

Another important issue for Bob is that both within the forces, and in the public at large, there is a lack of understanding of the range and scale of the Legion’s welfare provision.

“Even among my contemporaries – those that have served more than 25 years – the lack of awareness of what the Legion does, and at what scale, is hugely disappointing,” he says.

“The reality is in the past few years, Help for Heroes has come along. Their basic premise appears sexy and it’s easy to sell. Their pitch is: ‘This is what we need; you give us money to build it.’

It’s such a comparatively short time frame between identifying the problem and providing the solution that it suits the modern view of things.

“Without doubt, it is a fantastic organisation, but it remains a facilities organisation. The charity that provides

‘THE MESSAGE WE NEED TO GET OUT IS THAT WE SPEND £1.25M A WEEK ON WELFARE AND NO ONE ELSE COMES CLOSE’

lifetime care and welfare is The Royal British Legion. The fact that so few know it is our biggest weakness.

“The message we need to get out is that we spend £1.25 million a week on welfare provision and no one else comes close. We need to communicate in an effective, but at the same time sensitive, way that when an injured soldier goes through a Help for Heroes facility and comes out having done his rehabilitation, he can still be in his early 20s. And there is only one organisation that will look after him for the next 60-odd years – us.”

Bob’s sights are currently trained on the 30 to 50-year-old demographic in terms of those most likely to join the Legion and he cites the Riders Branch as an ideal model – one that is much more IT-based and allows members to join online and pay their subs by Direct Debit.

“If I join the National Trust, for example, it is because I care about the environment. Paying its membership fee means I don’t have to go outside and grow three trees in my back garden, because I know someone else is looking after that for me. This generation is receptive to that kind of offering. So I won’t be asking branches to change, but I will be looking for new branches based around an affinity with like-minded souls, where there is more of an ITbased approach to its set-up.”

He is well aware that the existing membership needs to be cherished: “We are going to make them feel more fulfilled, more challenged and more involved. We are setting up a team that just does that, and their job will be to make the membership feel part of an organisation that is worth spit.

“We almost need Panorama to run an exposé. We need them to reveal the secret that is The Royal British Legion and what it does. We have to get the word out, because if we lose our membership then we lose the infrastructure that supports welfare.

And that won’t just mean the end of membership, it will mean the end of The Royal British Legion.”

Correction: in the last issue of Legion a membership fee for SSAFA was quoted. This should have read RAFA. There is no membership fee for SSAFA. The Women’s Institute affiliation fee is currently £30 a year.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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On 11 November, as the Legion celebrates its 90th anniversary, Lt Col Henry Worsley and five fellow soldiers will set out to recreate Scott and Amundsen’s race to 90 degrees south – the South Pole – and raise money for their injured colleagues. Sarah Campbell reports

SNOW

PATROL 12

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THE BIG CHILL

Left: Henry on his 2008 Shackleton expedition (this year, he intends to shave on the trip).

Below: Ernest Shackleton.

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ince he was a child, Lt Col Henry Worsley of the Rifles has been fascinated with the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. As a boy, his imagination was fired by the stories of Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton battling it out across the ice to become the first to reach the southern tip of the Earth. As a young officer in the Royal Green Jackets he looked to his polar heroes for leadership inspiration and guidance.

And this year, at the age of 51, he will have the ‘utter privilege’, as he puts it, to follow in the footsteps of some of those great men. Exactly 100 years after Roald Amundsen and Captain Robert Scott’s legendary race to the South Pole in 1911-12 (see box, page 14) Henry and fellow serving soldier WO2 Mark Langridge from the Parachute Regiment are planning to recreate the contest to raise money for The Royal British Legion’s Battle Back Challenge Centre, which is due for completion in 2012.

Henry will be taking Amundsen’s route – never attempted without sledge dogs since the original journey – and Mark will follow Scott’s route.

Mark is also a great polar enthusiast and a particular fan of Scott. “I read my first Scott book when I was 10 years old and I knew that one day I was going to go to Antarctica,” Mark says. In fact, this will not be his first trip to the Pole.

Nor is it Henry’s. The pair first met and came up with the Scott-Amundsen centenary idea in late 2008 in the cafés of Punta Arenas, south Chile, while waiting for the weather to clear so they could both fly on to Antarctica.

Mark was doing a solo, unsupported journey to the Pole raising money for the charities DebRA, Cancer Research and the British Heart Foundation.

Henry was setting off with a team to follow the route of his great hero, Sir Ernest Shackleton, on the centenary

of his attempt to reach the South Pole.

Shackleton almost made it, turning back 97 miles short in order to save the lives of his men; Henry went on to finish the journey.

Shackleton’s leadership qualities are what makes him Henry’s long-time role model. “Shackleton wasn’t going to let anyone die under his command.

Any aspiring young officer should rip the pages from his book and stick them in their breast pocket,” he says. His fascination with him might also have something to do with a personal link to the explorer: he is distantly related to Frank Worsley, the skipper on Shackleton’s ship the Endurance, which was crushed in the ice in 1914 on an attempt to cross Antarctica. Despite the loss of the ship, Shackleton ensured that all of his men made it home alive.

Henry will be putting his own leadership skills to the test as he and Mark each head a team of three, all serving soldiers, setting off from different points on the map (see page 15) on 11 November 2011 to head for 90 degrees south – the South Pole – which coincides perfectly with the

90th anniversary of The Royal British Legion. If all goes to plan and history is repeated, Henry will arrive first at the Pole. “It’d be ideal to get there on the days that our antecedents got there 100 years ago,” Henry says.

Amundsen arrived on 14 December 1911; Scott on 17 January 1912. So the race is more a concept than a real contest, says Mark. “One hundred years ago they took more risks, but our aim is to get everyone to the Pole with all their fingers and thumbs intact, having done it safely.”

Unlike their predecessors, they will not attempt the return journey, instead being picked up and flown back to their camp at Patriot Hills. And unless they are due to arrive within a couple of days of each other, neither will hang around. “There’s an American science base at the Pole and, although they’ll let you in for a cup of tea and a biscuit, you’ve got to camp outside,” says Henry. “I’d rather wait at Patriot Hills than just sit there at the Pole.”

When talking to Henry about the expedition, what is particularly striking is the fact that he is not expecting to complete it much

‘OUR AIM IS TO GET EVERYONE TO THE POLE WITH ALL THEIR FINGERS AND THUMBS INTACT’ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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THE BIG CHILL

‘THE GREATEST RISK IS FALLING INTO A CREVASSE OR BREAKING A LEG’

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And while the Scott-Amundsen centenary race might be a personal ambition, the outcome will be selfless, with all proceeds going to the Battle Back Challenge Centre. “We’ve all had friends who have died or been maimed in action, and we are quite willing to walk to the South Pole to raise money for them and for older veterans,” Henry says. The trip, whose patron is Prince William, will cost £400,000, most of which Henry had already raised by the time Legion went to press.

Once the preparations are made, all that will be left is the small matter of the trip itself. First the teams will traverse the Ross Ice Shelf, “a very flat area about the size of France”, according to Henry. Then they are

The original race to the Pole

GETTY/REX

quicker than Amundsen did. The men will be on foot, but one might have thought they would do it in much less time, being highly trained soldiers with modern clothing, navigation equipment and a tailored diet for each man.

But, at the limit of human endurance “there is an optimum speed you can go”, Henry says. Mark elaborates: “You’re looking at a nine or 10-hour marching day – that’s a comfortable day. We are racing but we want to keep a humane edge to it.”

Mark and Henry’s definitions of ‘comfortable’ and ‘humane’ are honed from decades of military life, considering that for up to 10 hours a day they and their colleagues will each be dragging a sledge weighing initially 140kg (300lb). Henry says: “Scott and Amundsen had ponies, dogs and food already stored in depots part of the way. They made much quicker time than we will in the early stages.” Dogs are now banned from the Antarctic under environment protection laws.

The last sledge dogs were used in 1994.

The soldiers’ prior experience of Antarctica will be invaluable.

Henry says he and his companions each lost two stones in weight on the Shackleton expedition because they hadn’t approached their diet ‘scientifically enough’; this time he will work with a nutritionist on what supplies to take. From a personal point of view, Henry says he doesn’t intend for the preparations for this trip to be as all-encompassing as the last one. He goes on: “You can have a fascination with something but it can border on the obsessive – and it did in my case with the Shackleton story. Then you start putting things that should be more important to you, like your family, behind your obsession.” However, he adds that his wife, Joanna, is a great believer that people should follow their dreams and has been unfailingly supportive.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott (right, top) of the Royal Navy was no stranger to the Antarctic. Before his ill-fated trip to the South Pole in 191112, he had led the first British exploration of the continent on the ship Discovery in 1901-04.

Roald Amundsen (right) was also used to the ice, but he had focused on the Arctic.

However, when the American explorer Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole in April 1909, Amundsen turned a planned expedition to the Arctic to the opposite end of the Earth, quietly planning to reach the South Pole ahead of Scott.

Scott and his team set off on 1 November 1911, with motor sledges, ponies and dogs, although the sledges soon broke because of the cold, the suffering ponies were shot for meat and the dogs sent back to their base

camp at Cape Evans. Scott, Edward Wilson, Lieutenant Henry Bowers, Captain Lawrence Oates and Petty Officer Edgar Evans carried on hauling sledges.

Amundsen, however, had a head start, and a shorter route.

He had set off in October with four men and more than 50 dogs, reaching the Pole on 14 December 1911. Scott got there on 17 January 1912, devastated to have been beaten.

Cold and starvation caught up with the British team on the return journey. PO Evans was the first to die. The remaining men set up camp and were stranded by storms. Captain Oates walked out of the tent to his death – Scott recorded in his journal Oates’s famous words: “I am just going outside and may be some time.”

The others died in the tent, where they were found several months later.

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Henry drags his 140kg sledge across the ice.

The route

faced with the most dangerous section of their journeys: climbing over the trans-Antarctic mountains.

Each team has a glacier to surmount.

Henry will go up the Axel Heiberg, 35 miles long and 10 miles wide. Mark will go over the Beardmore, 120 miles long and 25 miles wide. This is the only point at which Henry shows any apprehension about the trip – the Axel Heiberg is much steeper than the Beardmore, with crevasses up to one mile deep. “We’ll probably have to relay the sledges up one at a time.

By the time we get there we’ll have eaten a month’s worth of food, but they’ll still be damn heavy,” he says.

“The greatest risk is someone falling into a crevasse. Or breaking a leg on the glacier. It could take up to a week to get help – you’re on the limits of the reach of aircraft.”

After the glaciers, it will then be a few hundred miles over flat ice to the Pole. “It’s just business as usual and steady as she goes – that’s generally the way things go down there,” says Mark. Although for most of us, ‘business as usual’ doesn’t mean an icy wilderness at 10,000ft with temperatures as low as minus 52°C and the wind constantly in your face. “It’s quite debilitating,” Henry admits, with a hint of understatement.

The men will take Amundsen’s and Scott’s accounts of their journeys on the centenary race and read out extracts on the spots where they were written. Henry says that he always remembers the great polar explorers on Remembrance Day, along with friends and colleagues who have lost their lives or been injured. They weren’t under fire but they still made a sacrifice for their country, he says. With the money raised for the Battle Back Challenge Centre, he will be helping those who make the sacrifice still.

SOUTH POLE Patriot Hills Bay of Whales Henry’s start point (Amundsen route)

Find out more and donate at www. scottamundsenrace.org Henry has written a book about his 2008-09 expedition: In Shackleton’s Footsteps – A Return to the Heart of the Antarctic, out on 3 February 2011, published by Virgin Books (£18.99).

MORE INFO

Ross Ice Shelf

Cape Evans Mark’s start point (Scott route)

Expedition details Team members: ❱❱ Lt Col Henry Worsley (Rifles) ❱❱ WO2 Mark Langridge (Paras) ❱❱ Sgt Matt Laird (Royal Anglian) ❱❱ SSgt Vic Vicary (Rifles) ❱❱ SSgt Kev Johnson (Rifles) ❱❱ SSgt Lennie Browne (Paras) ❱❱ Reserves: WO2 Al Taylor (RM); WO2 Lou Rudd (RM)

Each man will drag a sledge weighing 140kg (300lb). “The rule of thumb is efficiency. Every gram counts,” says Henry. Food is a kind of ‘polar Pot Noodle’, he says – packs of dehydrated porridge or pasta warmed and rehydrated using melted snow heated on kerosene stoves. It’s too cold to stop for lunch, so the men will graze on salami, flapjacks, chocolate and nuts while on the march.

Washing and hygiene will be minimal. “Last time I went I didn’t change my pants for two months and had two changes of socks – that was my luxury,” says Henry.

He explains that they will do basic washing, necessary to keep rashes at bay: in the evening you get an inch of hot water in a plastic bag, a flannel and a tiny bar of soap.

Going to the toilet during the day will involve digging a hole and making sure any exposed body parts are out of the wind.

For navigation, the teams will carry GPS equipment, which they will check in the morning and at night; otherwise they’ll just head south, although “compasses do weird things there, so close to the Pole and the magnetic pole, but there are various calculations you can do to compensate,” says Henry.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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6/1/11 10:28:25

GULF WAR LEGACY

CONFLICT OF OPINIONS Two decades on, the Gulf War and its legacy remain the subject of controversy. Rebecca Grant speaks to veterans, a historian and an artist about their experiences, memories and the impact the war continues to have on their lives

STILL PICTURES/ALLSTAR

W

hen Iraq invaded its neighbour Kuwait in a dispute over oil in August 1990, it sparked a turning point in modern warfare. With the new ‘high-tech’ threat of biological and chemical weapons, it presented a host of challenges for troops.

But the coalition forces that were sent in to liberate Kuwait were well prepared and relatively well equipped. They began their assault on the Iraqi army on 16 January 1991. By the end of February the fighting had ended, and Kuwait was free.

Although the war itself was a victory for the coalition forces, what’s happened in the years since has cast a shadow over what took place there. British troops were sent out to the Gulf again in 2003 in an operation that has been regarded by some as a chance to ‘clear up’ what was not achieved the first time around.

The first conflict resulted in the loss of 47 troops – a much lower figure than had been expected – but hundreds more have died since. Many more are suffering ill effects that have been attributed to their time in the Gulf, such as depression, eczema, fatigue, nausea and breathing problems. Although the term ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ has been used for many years to describe the illness suffered by many veterans, the Government has yet to accept that such a condition exists.

To commemorate the war’s 20th anniversary, Legion speaks to four people about what the conflict means to them, and why it’s become one of the 20th century’s forgotten wars.

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MAJ GEN PATRICK CORDINGLEY Former commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade – the Gulf War’s ‘Desert Rats’ It had never occurred to me that the 7th Armoured Brigade would be sent to the Gulf to help the Americans.

Of course, when we were chosen it wasn’t because we were the best – although we probably thought we were – but because we had the best equipment at the time and we were the most readily available.

We were trained to fight in northwest Europe, so to suddenly move into the desert was a shock.

We read accounts about what our forebears had done in Egypt and Libya to discover how they survived – how they rationed their water, and how they coped being there for a long time.

Once we got there, we started training in the desert. We knew we were going to attack, but we didn’t know when. We were careful not to train too much to avoid tiring people out and breaking the equipment.

In the two weeks before we went into action, the coalition forces bombed the area immediately to our front, so it was difficult to sleep. For most people the noise helped them get mentally attuned to the situation, but it made others nervous. The commanders talked to people, listened to their concerns and offered encouragement. It was important to keep everyone motivated and confident in the brigade’s abilities.

On our return, I was immensely proud to lead the homecoming parade through the City of London.

It was encouraging to see the welcome we were getting and I know we were all feeling a huge sense of pride because it made us feel that we’d done something well.

The war is a dim, distant memory now, and people tend to wonder why we didn’t go in and capture Saddam Hussein and finish the job. But the plan was to kick him out of Kuwait.

In my opinion, we stopped at the right time, because the UN hadn’t asked us to do anything else.

Those of us who were there will remember it as an extraordinary demonstration of firepower, skill, and of frightening an enemy almost into submission before we attacked.

It was very effective, and the sporting chances are that nobody alive today will see anything like that again.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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7/1/11 14:17:48

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GULF WAR LEGACY

SHAUN RUSLING Former medic with the Parachute Regiment. In 2003, he won a landmark case in the High Court to be granted a war pension for the ill health he has suffered following his Service in the Gulf.

He is a trustee of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association I’d been in the Army for 10 years before I went over to the Gulf. It was my first operational deployment, so it was exhilarating to finally go and do the job I was trained to do.

I was deployed on 2 January 1991, and was working in resuscitation at the field hospital in Al-Batin.

The casualties that came to us were usually in a poor state, with

HUGH MCMANNERS

MARGARITA O’MAHONEY/PA

Former Service man and author of the book Gulf War One: Real voices from the front line The Gulf was a good example of the best way to win a war. The senior commanders organised it very cleverly, and they achieved what they intended.

They’d developed the tactics and the strategy for modern armoured warfare since the end of World War II, so even though the tanks were in a poor condition, the actual tactics and training were more advanced, particularly the use of artillery.

bilateral amputations of legs and arms, burns, gunshot wounds. I’m very proud of what we achieved out there, but if the casualties had been on the scale of what they are in Afghanistan, they would not have survived because we had no electrical equipment. All our pumps and airway equipment had to be operated manually.

We had nothing to prepare us for desert warfare, and we didn’t have any modern-day drugs. At one stage, the commanding officer of the US medical forces came round and said that although we’d prepared well, he didn’t want any Americans to come to our facilities. That pretty much summed up the standard of British medical services in 1991.

Since the war ended, there’s been a stalemate between veterans and the MoD. Everyone who served there has the same symptoms – chronic fatigue, irritable bowel, irritable bladder, mental fatigue, sweats and fever. There’s an illness there,

but the MoD doesn’t accept it as ‘Gulf War Syndrome’, so in order to get a pension we have to claim, and provide evidence for, each symptom individually.

We believe we are ill because of the vaccination regime that was given to us. It was given to protect us, and we understand that, but the Government should stand by the decision that it made and look after those soldiers who have been injured through no fault of their own.

On top of all the immunisations given when we deployed, medics and anyone who worked with blood also had to have Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B injections, so it’s not surprising that a great deal of medics are poorly after that cocktail of drugs. A lot of people I served with are dead now.

We were willing put ourselves in harm’s way, as it was our job, but we did so in the belief that we would be looked after and receive a pension if need be. For the MoD to leave us to die is a national disgrace.

It was the artillery that defeated the Iraqi armoured forces, and knocked them back so there was just a small percentage left.

When the coalition’s armoured force arrived, they were really just mopping up those who were retreating or in complete disarray.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a battle.

It was, but seems as if the whole of the Army wanted to tell the guys who came back from the Gulf that it wasn’t a proper war. As an ex-military man myself who served in the Falklands, I held this view as well. I thought they’d gone out into the desert and not much happened. Part of the reason I wanted to write my book is because I realised this was wrong.

I wanted to tell the stories of those who were involved in the war, in their own words. If I’m writing a book about people who are still alive and can

remember what happened, I don’t see much point in the historian’s voice coming into it.

A lot of the stories surprised me. I was astonished at the way the politicians wanted to restrict numbers constantly and dictate to the military about costs without realising that they’d started on a course of action that was very serious.

I don’t know what would have happened to the political will if there had been chemical attacks and they were taking 200 dead a day.

For those on the ground, it was very frustrating. Although they’d liberated Kuwait, the troops didn’t feel that joyful. They were aware of what an undemocratic country Kuwait was, and the big thing for them all was then seeing Saddam Hussein free to kill hundreds of thousands of people.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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7/1/11 14:18:31

GULF WAR LEGACY

JOHN KEANE The Imperial War Museum’s official ‘Gulf War artist’ The Imperial War Museum approached me quite early on, once it was clear that British forces were going to be deployed in the Gulf. However, as it was not officially a war at the time, the idea of appointing a ‘war’ artist left the MoD feeling a little aghast, so I was commissioned as an ‘official recorder’.

I’d covered the Contra War in Nicaragua and been out to Northern Ireland, so the whole issue of conflict has always been of interest to me.

I went to the Gulf with a camera and a video recorder that the BBC gave to me, and was making notes as well.

I tried to gather as much information as possible to process after the event and use in my paintings.

Just like the other members of the press out there, I found it very difficult to get any outside information or an overview of what was going on.

We did have the World Service and a bit of satellite TV, but we didn’t have the internet in those days. We were reliant on the Armed Forces for everything, whether it was food, transport or information.

The fighting was carried out at a great distance from us, so we were watching aeroplanes taking off and landing, and could see and hear the artillery shelling, but there was no sense of what was going on at the other end. It was only when I got to Kuwait that I got a sense of that.

The devastation of Kuwait City is what has stuck in my mind the most. In particular, the carnage along the Basra Road highway – the so-called Highway of Death – where the fleeing Iraqis’ convoy was attacked and destroyed.

There were burnt-out vehicles strewn across the desert, and an extraordinary range of consumer items that they’d attempted to take with them, all scattered around.

It’s 20 years on now, and whatever I felt at the time about the conflict has, I daresay, skewed and changed with the passing of time. But what I felt at the time has been contained in the paintings I produced. ● John’s Gulf War art is on display at the Imperial War Museum North until 13 February www.iwm.org.uk/north

‘THE ‘T THE DEVASTATION DEVASTATION OF O FK KUWAIT UWAIT T CITY C ITY IS SW WHAT HAT STUCK S TUCK IIN NM MY Y MIND M IN ND T THE HE MOST’ MOST’

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Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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22/12/10 11:31:49

SAVE OUR MEMORIALS

Post-war

casualties Y It’s not just old soldiers, sailors and airmen who fall on hard times. War memorials do too.

Steve Smethurst visits a small charity trying to help them 22

ou’d like to think that decades of loyal service would be rewarded with warmth, affection and care. There should also be a certain level of respect from other members of the local community. However, this isn’t always the case. With longevity comes physical frailty and – despite the best efforts of local communities – there are occasionally heartbreaking examples of physical attacks, robbery and, from time to time, homelessness. Unfortunately, this is reality for the country’s war

memorials. Others have suffered disrespects ranging from the horror of being urinated on to the indignity of being sold on eBay. The good news is that a charity exists to counter many of these problems, and it’s one that works closely with Legion branches and members. The War Memorials Trust (WMT) was established in 1997 and its remit is to conserve the estimated 100,000 war memorials located across the UK. It is not to be confused with the much bigger Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), formed in 1917, whose role is to maintain

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6/1/11 10:42:45

Can you find a home for these memorials?

WMT is storing them until a suitable location can be found.

graves and memorials worldwide to the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two World Wars.

WMT is a much younger and smaller organisation and operates with a team of four from a tiny office in central London. As a charity, it does not enjoy the CWGC’s Government funding, yet it still manages to have a national reach with its team of approximately 120 regional volunteers (see panel, page 26). Its strength lies in this force and also in the abundance of practical advice and information it disseminates through its website. It also fulfils a valuable role by supplying grants in support of repair projects.

WMT director Frances Moreton tells Legion that, while vandalism and theft are all too common occurrences, they are not the biggest problems the charity faces. “It sounds strange to be saying this, but actually those problems are easy to fix. People have an emotional reaction to horror

stories. They will act quickly to sort out the problem. It’s much harder with wear and tear.”

This is because people are much less likely to volunteer to check up on a monument every six months, take photographs and keep notes in a file.

Monitoring is less appealing. Something like re-pointing a monument with an appropriate material, such as lime mortar, is hugely valuable work, but a lot less exciting than repairing a vandalised monument.

The mention of lime mortar prompts Frances to warn that people shouldn’t just pick up a bag of cement from their local DIY shop and effect their own repairs. “Often, if you put cement on a memorial, the stone underneath can’t breathe and will deteriorate. Lime mortar is basically a sacrificial product – you expect it to deteriorate and it’s better for the stone, but people aren’t generally aware of this.”

Equally frustrating for WMT is when people – albeit with the best of

In February last year, David Burrowes (MP for Enfield, Southgate) said the following: “I take no pleasure in reporting to the House that there have been 57 press reports in the past year of desecration of war memorials involving vandalism, theft and even public urination and defecation.

“This averages out to at least one war memorial being desecrated every week. What particularly troubled me about the desecration in my constituency was that the bronze plaques were practically irreplaceable. We did not have any records of the names that were inscribed, and so when these plaques were stolen there was a good chance that names, at tthe he n nam ames am es,, an and d the memory, of those soldiers could have been n lost forever.

“Currently, there is no specific provision for desecration of a war memorial. l.

The problem with th the law is that it primarily accounts for seriousness on the basis of financial value of the damage.

Unless the damage caused costs more than £5,000 to repair and replace, the maximum sentence is three months in prison. This simply does not accurately reflect the seriousness of the crime. “[I propose an amendment to] the Criminal Damage Act 1971 to recognise damage to war memorials.

Another benefit of this Bill would be the creation of a legal definition for war memorials. This has been the aim of the War Memorials Trust for some time. By clarifying this definition, we would not just be able to tackle desecration, but also the problem of neglect.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM KESTEVEN; INSET: EYEVINE

An MP launches a campaign for a change in the law

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SAVE OUR MEMORIALS

Dos and Don’ts Do ● Make a record of your memorial including photographs, inscriptions and names. If your memorial is damaged you will have a record. ● Monitor your memorial regularly.

Keep an eye on it and watch out for any possible problems.

‘SCRUBBING A MEMORIAL WITH BLEACH WON’T DO IT ANY FAVOURS’ intentions – use household cleaning materials on memorials and in doing so hasten their demise. “Scrubbing a memorial with bleach won’t do it any favours. People are much better advised to just use water with a bristle brush,” says Frances. She also adds that she knows of one memorial where someone tried to help by colouring in the names with a felt-tip pen to make them stand out – and it isn’t a solution she’d recommend.

Unfortunately, the correct treatment for a weathered memorial is often expensive or may need to be done regularly. Yet this is where WMT can really help. “We as a nation are all the custodians of these memorials – it’s our job to preserve them on behalf of the people who put them up and for those coming after us.

“We often see lettering starting to fade on memorials from World War I now. It’s a difficult challenge. If it’s slightly faded, people often want to get in there and re-cut the letters, but you can only do this a certain number of times. If you re-cut too regularly, before the final moment it needs to be done, you’ll shorten the life-span of the memorial and you’ll be taking it away from future generations.”

Another problem WMT is seeing increasingly is granite slabs being placed on top of limestone memorials. It’s tended to happen when brass plaques have been stolen and a community has decided to replace them with black granite and gold lettering.

“Putting granite on limestone creates a chemical reaction that will erode the limestone,” Frances says.

“So, while the granite plaque might endure, the monument will suffer and there’ll be nothing to put the names on in the longer term.”

For Frances, it’s all about education: “It’s not us being picky for the sake of it. It’s just that cheaper solutions may be damaging in the long term.”

Another challenge WMT faces is when companies cease trading, which is an all too frequent occurrence in these days of austerity. It’s a concern for WMT as, historically, many firms have had a workplace memorial to employees who have been killed, especially during the World Wars.

“Clearly, when a company shuts down, the memorial needs to be relocated – but they lose their context and why should anyone else take it?

It’s hard to know where it should go.

We have some from the travel company Cox and Kings – which for a while were housed outside the Royal Hospital Chelsea but are now at a storage facility awaiting a good home.”

One thing WMT absolutely doesn’t do is purchase memorials at auction.

“If we did, we’d create a market and that’s something we do not want.

When things go up for auction, you lose track of what happens to the memorial. No one will tell you who

● Keep works to a minimum. They are historic monuments and their age is part of our history. ● Seek advice from WMT about how to look after your memorial. Its advice is free. Inform it about any memorials you think are at risk.

Don’t ● Use household products to clean a memorial. The chemicals could cause damage. ● Alter materials on a memorial unnecessarily. Some materials can actually speed decay. ● Assume one person is responsible for maintenance of a war memorial. Memorials often belong to the community, which should always be consulted about their care. ● Assume there are any rules regarding war memorials – there are none about who is commemorated, how they are commemorated or what form a memorial should take. ● Do any work, or make any changes, to a war memorial without first checking if you need any statutory permissions. For example, some war memorials are listed and works may require Listed Building Consent.

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SAVE OUR MEMORIALS

won the auction, so how are families meant to get access? They don’t need to be accessible 100 per cent of the time, but some access is better than none.”

Compounding this problem has been the number of churches closing down, with their memorials sold as part of the fixtures and fittings. Often these are small, family memorials to a single person. “People get very emotional about it,” says Frances.

“Memorials are a very emotive subject and it’s no surprise when people get quite tied up in it all.”

Another issue is when memorials might have been sited in a village back in 1920 but, due to urban sprawl, it may now be in the middle of a busy traffic junction and subject to vehicle damage and pollution.

“When it comes to 11 November, people want to lay wreaths – but it’s difficult because of the traffic. When you look at the records it might be that the memorial is located where the table to sign up for Service was. So perhaps the answer is to get the road closed for 30 minutes on 11 November.

“That might be inconvenient, but it will raise awareness of Remembrance, where otherwise people might have been oblivious. Also, you don’t know what state the foundations are in – if you try to move the memorial, it could fall apart. The original materials are very important to us, as we come from a heritage and conservation perspective, but the names are as important.

“Every monument is different but working together we can find the right solutions.”

WMT works closely with the UK National Inventory of War Memorials at the Imperial War Museum, which is building an archive of all the UK’s war memorials. If you have an enquiry about the history of a war memorial or want to pass on background information about a memorial or the names recorded upon it, you should call the National Inventory on 020 7207 9851/9863.

For WMT enquiries, write to WMT, 42a Buckingham Palace Road London SW1W 0RE or visit www.ukniwm.org.uk

MORE INFO

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A Legion member volunteers for duty

Clive Blakeway, President of Eccleshall Branch of the Legion in Staffordshire, is a regional volunteer for WMT. Clive, who served with the Coldstream Guards for 12 years, says that he initially got in touch with WMT when it was first formed and known as Friends of War Memorials.

“In my spare time I’m chairman of Shropshire War Memorials Association and so I called WMT to volunteer to help after reading about it in the press.

It’s very enjoyable work. Someone will ring up and say a memorial is in need of attention. I’ll go and have a look. It may need a repair – or be at a stage where it’s difficult to read the names.

“I’ll help find someone in the area who can do the work. It’s not usually something a normal builder can deal with. They typically have to be repaired and cleaned by specialists.”

When a memorial is vandalised with graffiti (an example in Newburn, near Newcastle upon Tyne, is pictured above) well-meaning people can do even more damage. “All too often people will tell me: ‘Oh, a friend has got a graffiti-blaster, I can give him a ring...’

In those cases I have to step in quickly and say: ‘No, no, no!’ The same goes for high-pressure hoses. Fortunately, we’ve got a couple of good specialists locally and most councils are very good if a memorial is under their remit.”

One thing to note is that it doesn’t have to be a big, elaborate memorial.

It could be a little plaque on the

side of a house. “They’re all just as important whoever is on them, whether it’s a tiny roll of honour or a great big county memorial.”

Clive says that he was also able to help when WMT distributed a list of memorials stored at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. “WMT knew very little about their background apart from it thought that one or two might be from Staffordshire.

They were steelframed, which is quite unusual, with 70 names on each (see left). I picked a few names off and they all turned out to have a Stafford connection. We put the story in the local press to see if anyone could remember them being taken out of a local factory or a church. But there was no response.

We then repeated the exercise six months later. Unfortunately, no one came forward with any information that time either.

“Then, the vicar at the parish church in Stafford, St Mary’s, got in touch. He’d just taken over and was revamping the interior. He wanted a military-themed chapel in the church and said he’d love to have them.

They’re now in the church waiting to be fixed to the walls. There’ll be a rededication ceremony on Armed Forces Day this year.”

Unfortunately, says Clive, he still has no information about where they came from. “The cast-iron frame makes me think they might have come from a factory that’s closed down, perhaps English Electric, or Lotus Shoes, but we just don’t know. But they are from Stafford and at least they’re back in the town.” ● Anyone interested in becoming a WMT volunteer should contact Nancy Treves on 0300 123 0764 or email rv@warmemorials.org

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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THE SECTION FOR ALL YOUR LEGION NEWS, UPDATES AND EVENTS

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ILLUSTRATION: SYD BRACK

Howard Williams MY LEGION LIFE Secretary of Spondon Branch in Derbyshire, a Caseworker and founder member of the Prison Inreach service

ALAMY

Tell us about your Service history I joined up as a boy soldier in 1964 and started men’s service in 1966.

I enjoyed a full and active Service in a largely peacetime Army, serving in the UK, Germany and Norway. In 1975, I left to join the police force.

Why did you become a Caseworker?

I’d held a variety of branch roles and, when I retired from the police in 2002, I found plenty to be done at my Legion branch. Retirement offered me the chance to put something back. Taking on the role of County Caseworker meant I was able to be a founder member of the Prison Inreach service which, given

my previous employment as a police officer, has often been both rewarding and, at times, amusing when I meet people for the second time.

What’s the best thing about being a Legion member?

Being a member of the finest social and welfare organisation on Earth has given me great pleasure. Organising a Remembrance parade attended by a huge crowd in a small community and keeping our little club going is reward enough for me. One of my proudest moments was receiving my gold badge in 2000. The badge used to belong to my old mate ‘Tom’ Earith and had been returned to the branch upon his demise.

It was later presented to me, so I’ll always have Tom with me.

What’s been the biggest challenge?

There are many challenges: finding new

ways to raise money to support the welfare work we do; and bringing new, the Legion to keep younger members into th it going for the next 90 years are just two. But a perhaps the p biggest challenge b is overcoming the pride that our p cclients hold dear.

The Services do an excellent job a in giving troops pride in their pr appearance, their ap achievements and in themselves.

I would say my biggest regular challenge is letting people know what we can do for them and that there is no shame or embarrassment in letting us help.

What qualities does a good Legion Caseworker need?

My tip for any other Caseworker would be to be fair and friendly and to treat everyone, whatever their circumstances, as you would like to be treated yourself.

Also, be presentable and professional as you are the representative of this great organisation.

Describe yourself in three words: Caring, always available.

If you would like to nominate a Legion member to appear in My Legion Life, call the Legion editorial team on 020 7880 6210 or email editorial@legion-magazine.co.uk

GET IN TOUCH

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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Seeing is believing Rebecca Grant reports from Wells, which is keeping the memory of Harry Patch alive

A wreath is laid in memory of Harry and his pals.

E

ver since the day the guns fell silent on the Western Front, 11 November has been viewed as a time for the nation to remember all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

But Britain’s ‘Last Tommy’, Harry Patch, felt differently. For him, 22 September was the day that he viewed as his own personal day of Remembrance. On that date in 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele, members of Harry’s battlegroup were hit by shellfire as they were returning from the front line. Harry was badly injured in the attack, and three of his close friends were killed.

Harry didn’t speak about what happened for more than 80 years, but he never forgot his mates, and during 30

the final years of his life, when he was residing in Wells, Somerset, he asked members of his local Legion branch to lay a wreath on his behalf when they made their annual visit to Ypres.

“It started about six years ago,” Wells Branch Chairman Robin White recalls.

“Harry mentioned that he would love to lay a wreath for his mates, so when we told him that we were going to Ypres that September, he asked us if he could give us a wreath to lay there for him.”

After Harry’s death in July 2009, the branch decided to continue the tradition of laying a wreath during their annual Remembrance tour, but they now lay it in memory of the veteran and his comrades.

But as the branch was in the process of planning the 2010 trip, Robin’s friend Tony

Moon, a local businessman, approached him with a suggestion.

“He thought that we ought to be taking young people out with us on the trip, because it would be a good way for them to learn and understand at first hand something of the meaning and the essence of duty, service and sacrifice made by those who fought in the war.

“I told him it was a good idea, but I didn’t think that young people would be able to afford it. That’s when he suggested that we set up a fund in Harry’s name.”

The idea was immediately taken on board by the branch, and the Harry Patch Memorial Fund was born (see box).

However, with just months to go before the next visit to Ypres, Robin faced a race against the clock to find young people

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The Memorial Fund, which is an initiative of the Wells Branch, is run separately from other Legion businesses and is funded mainly through sponsorship by local businesses and organisations.

Following the success of the 2010 trip, plans are already under way to invite more young people to Ypres this year.

For more details, please call Wells Branch p MORE CChairman Robin White on INFO 001749 673 550 or email rrobin.white@talktalk.net

Branch Chairman Robin White (left) and the cadets on the trip.

able to join them on the trip. The branch already had good connections with local youth organisations – it had officially affiliated with three cadet units – so he made some calls to his contacts.

“I was originally planning to take two cadets from each of the units, but some of the units couldn’t make the dates because they were already committed to doing other things. So, at one stage, I thought we weren’t going to get anybody.

Then, at the last minute, the phone rang and I was told the Glastonbury and Street Squadron had four people who would like to go, so suddenly everything started to fall into place.”

The next challenge was arranging the funding. Although the fund was set up to help young people make a journey

‘THE GRAVES HAD A MARKED EFFECT ON THE CADETS… I NOTICED ONE STANDING WITH A TEAR IN HIS EYE’ over to the WWI battlefields, it was important that it was not viewed as a free holiday.

“Tony and I both believe that if you hand young people everything on a plate, they accept it as normal and don’t take a lot of interest in it,” Robin explains. “But if they have to contribute themselves, then they sit up and take notice.”

It was agreed that the Memorial Fund would cover the £75 deposit for each cadet – although Robin says up to 50 per cent of the full cost would be covered if a young person was in need of further financial support.

Fortunately, the cadets were more than willing to cover the remaining cost of the trip, so at 6am on 10 September, the quartet boarded a coach in Weston-

PA

The Harry Patch Memorial Fund

super-Mare to set off for the three-day trip. The itinerary was jam-packed, and included an opportunity for the cadets to take part in the famous Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate.

However, the part of the trip that proved most moving was the visit to the Tyne Cot war cemetery.

Robin recalls the marked effect that the graves had on the young men: “I told them to go around and look at the headstones, and in particular look at the ages of the men buried there. Then I noticed one of the cadets was standing there with a tear in his eye. He said: ‘Look at this. He was the same age as me when he was fighting a war and lost his life. That could have been me.’”

This sort of reaction is the very reason the Harry Patch Memorial Fund was set up, says Robin. “The fund enables young people to look and learn for themselves, and I think that it is essential. It’s all too easy for us old duffers to turn up once a year at a school and give a talk during an assembly, but all they see is old men talking about past wars, and to them it means nothing.

They’ve actually got to go out and see for themselves.

“I think Harry would be delighted that we set up the fund in his name, because he wanted people to understand the idiocy of war, and to always remember all those who gave their lives.”

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■ BRANCH FOCUS

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■ LETTERS

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REX

A

bove Victoria Coach Station in London is a small suite of offices shared by several benevolent organisations. ABF The Soldiers’ Charity is here, as is the Haig Housing Trust, the Lady Grover Fund and the Regular Forces Employment Association. Also housed here is the Officers’ Association (OA).

It is from these compact but cheery premises that the 20 employees of the OA conduct up to 900 meetings a year with commissioned officers – serving and retired – who are seeking help with employment in the civilian world. They also dispense around £1.4 million annually in welfare grants to retired officers and their families and coordinate the running of a residential home, Huntly, and a small estate of bungalows for disabled officers.

The charity’s mission is ‘to promote the welfare of those who have held a commission in HM Armed Forces and their dependents’. Like a lot of small charities, the OA keeps a low profile out of necessity, preferring to spend money on reaching out to beneficiaries rather than mounting PR campaigns. This is why many Legion members will be unaware of its existence and the fact that it is partly funded by 7.5 per cent of the Poppy Appeal money raised each year. This is an arrangement that dates back to 1921 and which prevents the OA from fundraising so as not to compete with the Legion.

The OA was instrumental in the formation of the Legion and was set up to provide support to commissioned war veterans when none was available from the State or other sources – as there was a false assumption that if you were commissioned you had independent means and didn’t need help. It is an assumption that still exists today.

OA General Secretary John Sutherell says: “Everybody can fall on hard times; officers are no exception. The difference is that by and large officers are used to having responsibility for other people – they’ve been the ones solving other people’s problems. So when they find themselves in difficulty they find it harder to ask for help. Therefore, it makes a big difference if the people who are helping them understand that, and the people running the OA have a shared experience with the people they are helping.”

32

The ‘officers’ branch Since 1921 the Officers’ Association has been guaranteed Poppy Appeal funds so that it can look after commissioned officers and their dependents. Sarah Campbell reports

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Follow the links for more welfare at www.britishlegion.org.uk

There’s no such thing g as a ‘typical t case’ Al Lockwood is proof thatt there is no such thing ass a typical charity case.

A Conservative Party candidate against Tony Blair in Sedgefield in D 2005, an occasional MoD g press spokesman during an the Iraq War and chairman of the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lincolnshire, he was recently employed as an interim compliance officer at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

The latter post was thanks to the OA. The 58-year-old former RAF pilot was grateful for the help of the OA’s employment services once he realised that his political career wasn’t going to take off. “Politics is a rough game, so I decided I would retire from it,” he says.

“But then I thought, ‘I have to find

somet something to do for the rest of my llife.’” Al had a meeting wit with Laurie Hopkins, head of e employment at the OA, and lilike almost all the staff tthere, a former officer.

A Al says: “When yo you talk to one of their co consultants you’re talking to a fellow military officer, someb somebody who understands the military, understands un what you’ve done and understands how best you can pitch that in a civilian world.”

It was Laurie who sent Al the job advert for the Standards Authority, which was looking for someone with a military background to set up the compliance office, including establishing policy on MPs’ expenses and recruiting staff. His contract was due to end as Legion went to press, although he hoped to stay on.

‘The Association ation has been a llifesaver’

The OA is also the sponsor of the St George’s Branch of the Legion, which raises more than £250,000 a year for the Poppy Appeal.

It’s a relationship the Legion’s Director General Chris Simpkins appreciates.

“The OA gets people approaching them who wouldn’t as easily approach us. So it’s giving access to a group of beneficiaries that might not find it as easy or convenient to approach the Legion,” he says.

This is the key for the OA too, as Chief of Staff Sheila Haughton notes. “The OA writes to all Royal Navy officer Service leavers two years before they come out and has recently come to a similar arrangement with the Army, with plans to do the same for the RAF. “We’re reaching officers and they are coming to us in increasing numbers.

We’re helping beneficiaries and that’s success as far as I’m concerned.”

Back in the mid-1980s, when hen 2nd Officer Ann Christian and her husband Petty Officerr o Steve Christian decided to leave the Navy, neither off them ever dreamed they would fall into financial difficulties.

Both carved out vy successful careers on civvy street, she as a general practice nurse and he in the finance industry. But, in late 2007, Steve was made redundant. The couple had just purchased a property that was in need of a complete refurbishment, and with a mortgage to pay and three children to support they were struggling to survive on Ann’s wages.

Things soon got worse for the Christian family. Six months after Steve lost his job, Ann discovered she had cancer.

“It was a really hard time,” Ann tells Legion. “We had no income, and were in the terrible position of having the house repossessed because we

couldn couldn’t pay the mortgage.”

In July 2008, Steve got in tou touch with SSAFA, who put th the couple in touch with o other military charities, in including the Officers’ A Association.

The OA provided the co couple with an initial grant to h help them pay off house household bills, meaning they didn’t lose los the house. The charity also helped the family obtain essential items, such as a cooker and washing machine, and a new bed for Ann. “I was so poorly at the time, and a bed was the one thing that I really needed,” she says.

Now the future is looking brighter; Steve has now found a full-time job as a lecturer at Gosport College, and Ann is in remission. However, both are forever grateful that the OA was there to help when they were most in need. “If they hadn’t stepped in we’d have been sleeping on floorboards,” says Ann. “The OA has been a lifesaver.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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£50m promised to recovery centres

■ LETTERS

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In brief

M0D/CROWN COPYRIGHT

■ Hay & District Branch has published a book commemorating the men who are named on Hay and Cusop’s war memorials. The book, called To the Fallen is available via the website www.oldhay.co.uk

■ Shoppers in Taunton got the chance to purchase a selection of poppy-branded items from a temporary ‘poppy shop’ that was set up on Main Street over the Remembrance period.

Erskine PRC in Edinburgh is benefiting from Legion funding The Legion is to provide £50 million to fund the Personnel Recovery Centre (PRC) programme – the largest single grant the charity has awarded in its 90-year history.

The amount is two-and-a-half times greater than the initial pledge made when the PRC programme was announced in February 2010.

The Legion’s contribution will fund the operation of four PRCs in the UK over the next 10 years. It will also provide the running costs for the Erskine PRC in Edinburgh, provide capital for a facility in Germany and allow for the creation and operation of The Royal British Legion Battle Back Challenge and Assessment Centre.

Director General Chris Simpkins said: “PRCs

and the Battle Back Challenge Centre will become a major part of the Legion’s welfare strategy. The trustees have increased our funding in recognition of the great demand there will be for support for injured Service personnel as the years go by.

“We are committed to looking after people who have been seriously wounded in conflict and who are long-term sick or injured, and we will support them throughout their lives.”

Among the initiatives that will help raise the £50 million is a race to the South Pole in November. Event organiser Lt Col Henry Worsley has promised all the money raised will go towards funding the Battle Back Centre.

To find out more about the race, see page 12.

Legion and Combat Stress unite for mental health conference More than 100 people, including representatives from forces charities, mental health trusts and the MoD, gathered in Newcastle upon Tyne on 18 November last year to discuss the problems facing veterans with mental health issues.

The conference was run by the Legion and Combat Stress as part of the Department of Health’s three-year strategic partnership programme. It is the first conference of its kind to be run jointly by the two charities.

The purpose of the conference was to identify the gaps in mental healthcare provision for veterans. Feedback from delegates who attended will now be used to help guide future policy work to ensure best practice is maintained throughout the Armed Forces community.

Further conferences are set to take place over the next two years as the strategic partnership evolves. For updates, keep checking future issues of Legion.

■ Ray Milford raised £329 for the Poppy Appeal by completing the Comet Line Freedom Trail – a 26-mile route from St Jean de Luz, France, to Errenteria, Spain, which was one of the most successful WWII escape lines.

■ Members of Sidbury and Sidford Branch recently enjoyed a visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum and RN Historic Flight at RNAS Yeovilton.

■ Legion members in Hampshire showed off their theatrical talents in November by performing in a two-hour showcase featuring music, pictures and verse (pictured).

The show, entitled For Our Tomorrows, was written and produced by Wellow & District Branch member John Smith.

■ Isle of Oxney Branch’s first Standard was dedicated on 19 September. The branch was set up in 2009, and was the first new branch to open in Kent in nearly 20 years.

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PA

Government responds to new Covenant report

The Government has welcomed the publication of an independent report into ways to support the Military Covenant.

The report, carried out by an independent group led by military historian Professor Hew Strachan, recommends ways that the Government – and society – can support the Armed Forces community.

Recommendations include enhancing accommodation allowances and introducing ‘privilege cards’, which allow veterans and Service families to obtain discounts on goods and services.

The report also proposes the introduction of a Chief of Defence Staff Commendation

Scheme, which will recognise the work of nonService individuals or organisations that give exceptional support to the Armed Forces.

Following the report’s publication in December, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: “This Government has already done much to support the Armed Forces, including doubling the operational allowance for deployed personnel. Rebuilding the Covenant is an ongoing process, not a single event.

This report gives us a great deal to study and take forward as part of that process.”

The Government will publish a full response to the report’s recommendations in the spring.

For more about the Legion’s services, visit www.britishlegion.org.uk/can-we-help

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New MoD support groups are piloted The MoD has launched a regional network of support groups to help members of the Armed Forces community access welfare services in their local area.

As part of a one-year pilot scheme, which began in November, 13 Veterans Advisory & Pensions Committees (VAPCs) are being set up around the UK. Each of the VAPCs will be run by a committee consisting of volunteers with backgrounds in a variety of fields, including health, social care and law.

The committees will provide assistance for Service personnel, veterans and their families by advising them on the support services available to them locally, and helping them to gain access to those services.

To find out how to get in touch with your local VAPC, call the Veterans-UK helpline on 0800 169 2277 or visit www. veterans-uk.info/vets_advisory.html

EMAIL ALERTS RECEIVE LEGION UPDATES

If you would like to receive regular policy and campaign updates from The Royal British Legion, you can sign up to the email alert service by visiting the Campaigning page at www.britishlegion.org.uk

Professional football clubs all set to kick-start veterans’ initiative Inside Right, a Legion-backed initiative that offers health and wellbeing support to veterans through football, has successfully rolled out five pilot schemes across the country.

Five professional football clubs – Chelsea, Colchester United, Everton, Lincoln City and Portsmouth – have all signed up to take part in the scheme, which is being managed by the Football Foundation.

Inside Right was set up to increase the physical activity 36

and social opportunities for younger veterans who are vulnerable, isolated, suffering from mental health issues, long-term unemployed or on low income.

The Football Foundation is now accepting referrals from health and welfare professionals who know of any young veterans who may benefit from the scheme.

For more information, visit www. footballfoundation.org.uk/our-schemes or call 0845 345 4555.

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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Poland pays tribute to the Arboretum team Two staff members and one volunteer at the Legion-run National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) have been formally recognised for their work to help raise awareness of the work of the Polish Armed Forces during World War II. The Polish Defence Minister presented medals to the NMA’s Chief Executive Charlie Bagot Jewitt, curator Paul Kennedy and volunteer John Brian (right) in honour of their contribution to the Polish Armed Forces Memorial project.

The memorial (right, below), a tribute to the Polish men, women and children who served and suffered during World War II, opened at the Staffordshire site in September 2009.

On receiving the award, Paul Kennedy said: “The Polish Armed Forces Memorial is both a focus for Remembrance and an important educational aid for visitors to the Arboretum who are not familiar with the significant contribution of the Allied Polish forces.

“Charlie, John and I are very proud to have been singled out for praise, but we collected the medals on behalf of all of the staff and volunteers who contributed towards this successful installation.”

■ Black Christmas trees popped up throughout the village of Stradbroke in Suffolk over the Christmas period (left). The trees were displayed at various business premises as part of a local Legion branch initiative.

■ Stratstone Jaguar is to donate almost £5,000 to The Royal British Legion. The money was raised through the sale of its limited edition Jaguar XFRs.

Tribute site goes live Anyone wishing ng to raise vital funds for the Armed Forces community in memory of a loved one can now set up an online tribute fund, thanks to a new Legion website.

The ‘Never Forget’ tribute website, which was launched on Armistice Day, allows members and supporters to set up a page in memory of a friend or relative. The site also allows you to share memories, photos, and to make a donation to the Legion.

Nicola Hall, the Legion’s Direct Marketing Campaign Manager, said: “We hope and expect that the Never Forget website will become the natural place to remember loved ones who have served in armed conflicts, both current and past, and in doing so, leave a gift in their memory to help us continue to support today’s Service and ex-Service men and women.”

For more information, or to start up a tribute page, visit www.neverforget. tributefunds.com

■ Farnsfield & District Branch spread the word of the Legion’s work by manning a recruitment and information stand at the Southwell Ploughing Match, which was held at Carr Banks Farm in Farnsfield. The branch recently celebrated its 75th anniversary.

■ More than £10,000 was raised on the day of Berkshire’s Poppy Appeal launch, which took place at Newbury Racecourse.

■ Nottinghamshire’s 2010 Poppy Appeal was launched with the help of 50 bikers, including members of the RBL Riders Branch.

the 180 people who gathered in Co Louth on 6 November for a service to remember those who died in WWI.

■ Morecambe & Heysham Branch’s Poppy Appeal Organiser Sylvia Nicholson has received a certificate from the branch as a formal recognition of her hard work.

the news pages are designed to give a snapshot of events from branches and counties.

Due to space limitations, there are many news items that we are unable to feature. However, we do always welcome submissions from members. See page 3 for our contact details.

■ Members of Whiteabbey Branch in Co Antrim were among

■ Please note

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

35 News.indd 37

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23/12/10 11:49:11

■ BRANCH FOCUS

■ WELFARE

■ LEGION NEWS

■ LETTERS

Annual Conference 2011: reminders for delegates

■ LOST TRAILS

■ Veterans from the UK, US and Ireland gathered at the War Memorial in Limerick’s Pery Square on 13 November for a wreath-laying service organised by the local Legion branch.

STEVE SMETHURST

■ Welsh poet Mark Christmas visited the NMA on 6 November to launch his new book The Abandoned Soldier: Reflections of War (SilverWood Originals, £8.99).

Branches wishing to send delegates to Annual Conference 2011 in Telford are reminded that applications for delegates’ credentials must be made in accordance with the instructions issued with the application form, which was sent to branches in October 2010. In particular, the applications must be submitted to arrive no later than 15 April 2011.

A written acknowledgement of the application must be obtained even if the application is delivered by hand.

If a written acknowledgment of the application is not received within seven days of the application being made, please immediately contact the person to whom the application was sent.

If delegates have not received their credentials by 6 May 2011, please contact the National Events Administrator at Head Office on 020 3207 2266.

To commemorate the Legion’s 90th anniversary, a programme of celebratory events has been planned in Telford for the week leading up to Conference 2011.

One of the planned events is the 90th Anniversary Open Darts Tournament, which takes place on 14-15 May. The event will consist of both a singles and a pairs tournament. To take part you need to make sure you have a valid Royal British Legion membership and complete a simple online registration, which is available to download from www.britishlegion.org.uk

Veterans’ stories wanted for online archive project Film company Legasee is looking for war veterans who would like to have their stories filmed for posterity.

Legasee would like to speak to ex-Service men and women of any age, who served in any campaign in any role, and who wish to recall their experiences in front of the camera for the benefit of future generations.

The footage will be used to launch a unique online archive of interviews for

use by schools, colleges and members of the public. Any travel expenses incurred will be paid for and each participant will receive a complimentary DVD or VHS copy of their film.

If you’re interested in taking part or know of someone who is, please contact Dave Player on 01992 719 363 or email dave@legasee.org.uk.

For more information, visit www.legasee.org.uk

■ Hovingham Branch boosted its 2010 collecting total by holding an informal reception and illustrated talk. The branch, which has just 12 members, raised £235 at the event, and more than £1,100 from door-to-door collections over the Remembrance period.

■ A group of Scouts in Tynemouth raised more than £800 for the 2010 Poppy Appeal by taking part in a five-hour sponsored silence.

■ Crewe Branch members took to the pitch during the Crewe Alexandra v Shrewsbury football match on 2 November to display the new nameplate for the Unknown Warrior, a memorial locomotive that’s being built by the Legion-backed LMS-Patriot project (pictured).

■ Brentwood Royal British Legion Youth Band had the chance to perform with the Grenadier Guards at a concert to celebrate the Youth Band’s 20th birthday. The concert, which took place at the Brentwood Centre, raised £10,000.

■ CORRECTION: In the October issue we reported that a group of soldiers donated £500 to Brockworth and Witcombe Branch’s Poppy Appeal.

We have been informed that this incorrect. A £500 cheque for the Poppy Appeal was presented to the soldiers by the branch.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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■ BRANCH FOCUS FOCU US

■ WELFARE

■ LEGION NEWS

■ LETTERS

■ LOST TRAILS

Regional focus: overseas

Fundraising initiatives boost Thailand’s Appeal Thai schools helped out by holding collections last year.

Sober thoughts in Benidorm bar Holidaymakers and expats packed into a karaoke bar in Benidorm in November for the annual Remembrance service.

The Cumberland Bar, which is also the meeting place of Benidorm & District RBL Branch, hosted the service on Remembrance Sunday 2010.

The ceremony, which was broadcast live on a Spanish radio station, featured readings of modern war poetry.

Support along the path for freedom Chonburi Thailand Branch is on target to raise more than 409,000 Thai baht (£8,800) for the 2010 Poppy Appeal – more than double the amount raised for the 2009 Appeal.

The increase is thanks to several new fundraising initiatives, including a Poppy golf tournament which attracted 136 golfers and raised 140,000 baht (£3,000).

Boxes of poppies were also sent out to local international schools for the first

time, and pupils’ collecting efforts over the Remembrance period resulted in a donation of more than 60,000 baht (£1,300).

Three major international companies also lent their support to the appeal, collectively donating 100,000 baht (£2,100).

The branch also held its first Remembrance service on 11 November. The service, which was held at St Nikolaus Church in Pattaya, was a success, with the venue full to capacity.

■ North Spain Branch’s PR Officer Peggy Wyatt (pictured) received a Long Service Award during the district’s 2010 Poppy Appeal Press Conference. Peggy began volunteering for the Legion 55 years ago, when she would help her parents distribute poppies.

■ Two hundred people attended a garden party on 11 November, hosted by the Santiago (Chile) Branch. The event raised £2,000 for the Poppy Appeal.

40

■ Representatives from six Spanish Legion branches gathered for Coin Branch’s annual Armistice Day service.

The service included a wreath-laying ceremony.

■ The Swiss Branch joined forces with the Museum of the Swiss Abroad to create a showcase for VC recipient Corporal Schiess. Cpl Schiess, who was born in Switzerland, was awarded the medal for his bravery during the Anglo-Zulu War.

Representatives from Bordeaux & South West France Branch met a team of intrepid female fundraisers as they trekked through the Pyrenees in aid of the Legion.

Branch Chairman John Allsop and Standard Bearer Tom Lewis joined the team, which included Olympic gymnast Suzanne Dando, to participate in Remembrance ceremonies along the route, which follows the path taken by WWII escapees.

The branch also supported a team of 80 fundraisers who also attempted the route – known as Le Chemin de la Liberté – in July.

■ Poppy Man joined members of Spain South District on 16 October for a 1960s ‘cabaret dinner’ event to mark the launch the 2010 Poppy Appeal.

The dinner, hosted by Coin Branch, generated an extra 580 euros (£490) for the Appeal.

■ More than 1,000 euros (£840) was raised at Hondón Valley Branch’s 2010 Poppy Ball. The ball, held at Restaurante Las Palmeras, Crevillente, was attended by 150 Legion members and supporters.

■ Members of Orihuela Costa & District Branch volunteered to raise awareness of the Legion by manning a stand at the This is Spain show, which took place in November. The stand helped the branch recruit several new members.

■ Valerie Bales, Poppy Appeal Organiser for Benalmadena Branch, raised more than 365 euros (£309) by designing and printing calendars for the Poppy Appeal.

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

35 News.indd Sec1:40

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22/12/10 11:37:03

■ BRANCH FOCUS

■ WELFARE

■ LEGION NEWS

■ LETTERS

■ LOST TRAILS

If you would like to share your views with fellow members, Legion’s Letters page is the place to get your voice heard

1

BY POST Send your letters to: Letters, Legion, Redactive Publishing 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP

2

@ EMAIL Contact our editorial team by email at: editorial@ legion-magazine.co.uk

Fee-rise proposal raises many questions The suggestion to increase subscriptions (‘Fighting Legion, Nov/Dec 2010) is outrageous, in my YOUR back’, opinion.

The following points all need to be VIEWS addressed before asking members for an increase: ● Why has the payroll cost been allowed to inflate with disregard for the available funds to meet it? ● Why were the Legion’s top brass put up in a five-star hotel for last year’s conference on the Isle of Man? ● With all public service pensions frozen in 2010, how does management expect retired members to afford a large increase? ● Many ex-Service men and women have spouses or partners who are also members. Many households will be asked to pay double on any increase in subscriptions. ● Subscriptions charged by other organisations should be disregarded – it’s not comparing like with like. ● Any substantial increase in subscriptions will greatly reduce the number of members, thus making branches unsustainable. ● Increased subscriptions will deter non ex-Service people, as many of them join solely to access membership to RBL clubs, which are already struggling to remain viable. ● A reduction in membership/branches should lead to a reduction in administration personnel and associated costs.

@ Brian Goulding By email The RBL replies: From this letter and others on this page it is clear that while the visible question is about the cost of the membership subscription fee, the real debate is about the future of membership.

There is no doubt that if the subscription fee rises many members will consider their position. The audiences at recent membership seminars were split. Those who had joined solely to access membership to RBL clubs were the most concerned about the rise; while those who joined to support the cause of the charity were prepared to pay more.

When the debate is concluded at Conference in May, and the subscription for 2012 set, we will need to look at the income available and, through the Membership Council, decide how to spend it, setting our budget to match the resources we have.

Part of that review will be looking at staff, administration and the cost of Conference. So these are valid questions to ask and ones which need to be debated.

42

3

Members debate subscriptions I read with interest ‘Fighting Back’ (Nov/Dec 2010). I may be an exception to the rule but I rejoined the Legion after a long absence. One of the many things that surprised me was the low subscription fee, as I pay a substantial annual subscription to other groups.

However it pains me to agree, being a true Yorkshire man, that subs should rise to reflect increases in expenditure/loss of revenue. But this could be a double-edged sword. If it increases too much then a mass exodus may occur.

May I suggest that small regular increases are made, as this usually does not have a major impact on membership?

Especially as in this present financial climate, everybody, not just Yorkshire folk, must watch the pennies.

@ PC Maher By email In the Nov/Dec 2010 magazine there was an article on the need to change perception of the Legion. The article suggests there is a need to raise the affiliation fee from £11 per year.

We are told that the money from collecting tins goes to help Service and ex-Service personnel and not to subsidise the membership. My question is, where does the money come from to cover the cost of supplying poppies? If we are to

www

ONLINE

Join the debate on the LegionLive forums by visiting: www.legionlive.org.uk

have an informed debate we need to know if membership fees are used in fundraising.

Regardless of the answer I would be happy to see the affiliation fee raised. The sooner it is done the less it will be.

@ Dudley Baker Hertfordshire Your article ‘Fighting Back’ talks of ‘members’, ‘volunteers’ and ‘supporters’, and I am a little confused as to where the lines are drawn. I thought that all subscriptions went to support ex-Service personnel and their families.

The article gives the impression, rightly or wrongly, that members’ subscriptions do not actually do that but go towards keeping the clubs afloat and paying for magazines.

Whatever is decided, if the full amount of my subscription as a ‘member’ is not going to the fund for those in need I would rather resign as a ‘member’ and become a ‘supporter’ in some other way.

G Speight Leeds

Let’s use some IT initiative You make much in the Nov/ Dec 2010 issue of Legion of reducing costs, better management and the increased use of computing. Yet, in one vital area, where it is simple to reduce costs, improve communication, and, of course,

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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use computers, the Legion promotes the old-fashioned method of Chinese whispers.

I’m talking about registering a change of address. There is no point in each branch setting up its own system to handle membership, when the Legion itself holds a central database.

So why can’t a member just email the membership section? There would be no more emails than phone calls or letters at present, and by not having to deal with those, they can work more effectively.

One day, we may even have a system to which we can log on and change our own address. You talk of an ageing membership, but very soon those older members will pass away, and so will the ways of 50, 60, 70 years ago.

Technology is so much a part of the modern-day Armed Forces, and of the world in which we live. Yet in the world of handling membership, we still live in the age of the quill pen.

@ Len Christmas Surrey

The future is bright in Cumbria We in Windermere had the best parade on Remembrance Sunday that I can remember.

I have been included in the

parade as a Girl Guide, a Sea Ranger, Brownie leader, and now as a Windermere town councillor. In that time it has changed for the younger people. It is not just a somewhat unreal remembrance of your grandad. For our young people, it is more realistic because of the war in Afghanistan.

The Royal British Legion is not fading away. Its help for our active young volunteers is most valuable.

Jennifer Jewell Cumbria

‘Lost’ heroes honoured at last Fromelles took 94 years and cost many millions of pounds before the men who died there were honoured (see feature ‘A corner of a foreign field’, October 2010). The British Service men who were killed and are buried in Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Belgium, had also been ‘lost from sight’ until my campaign finally bore fruit last year.

These men lost their lives in the savage, bloody and muddy battle for the Scheldt area, between September 1944 and the beginning of 1945.

Because they were attached to the Canadian Army, and are buried in the Canadian

Jim Woodward (right) pays his respects at Adegem cemetery.

The big issue Let’s all lighten up a bit You say in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue that we need to change perceptions of the Legion. That got me thinking: how does the nation perceive us today? From my observations, there is one vital element that we are not seen to be portraying. Ask any ex-Service person what they miss most when they become a born-again civilian and they will say ‘the humour’ – those quips, the jokes, that friendly and endearing banter.

Agendas, strategies, conferences and ‘battleplans’ all have their place, but when did you last tell a joke in Legion? How about some humour that will get readers grabbing ‘their’ magazine and non-members asking if they can have a look.

Allow me to start you off with this joke…

A Legion branch committee, all in their 50s, met to decide where to hold their anniversary dinner. The decided on ‘The Ocean Hotel’ as the beer was cheap and the barmaids were friendly.

Ten years later, now in their 60s, they once again opted for the Ocean Hotel, as there was a good menu and selection of wines.

And again, when they were in their 70s, they decided on the Ocean Hotel for its wonderful cream teas, comfortable sofas and lovely views of the sea.

Ten years later, with the committee now in their 80s, they all decided to go to the Ocean Hotel... as none of them had ever been there before.

Ian Tyson Twickenham

cemetery, they disappeared from the British radar.

With the help of my friend Margaret Marriette and of our British military attachés Colonel Jerry Heal RM and Captain Peter Lambourn RN, and with support from our own Royal British Legion, Britain was fully represented for the first time at a service last September.

I want to let all former comrades, families and friends of the men buried at Adegem Canadian War Cemetery know about this important annual event so they can also include it in a visit to Belgium. Adegem is easy to find, located on a straight line, a little less than half-way between Bruges and Ghent, and 2km from the Dutch border. If readers want any more information, my number is 0151 526 1489.

@ Jim Woodward By email

Snapper showed such disrespect I attended the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on 13 November – a fitting tribute to our serving and fallen comrades of recent and past conflicts. But imagine my dismay to see one of our members in the front row of the stalls taking flash photographs (despite the request not to take photographs in the Festival programme) during the twominute silence.

I hope the gentleman reads this and reflects on his lack of respect, which the rest of the audience showed as we stood with heads bowed during those two minutes.

@ Robert Strong By email JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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7/1/11 14:20:28

■ BRANCH FOCUS

■ WELFARE

■ LEGION NEWS

■ LETTERS

■ LOST TRAILS

Read more views at www.legionlive.org.uk

Festival forgot about carers I watched with interest the Festival of Remembrance on BBC television on 13 November.

The only section that I did not see represented were the carers for all those Service personnel injured mentally and physically. Once again this group of people have been forgotten.

Roberta Boyd Co Tyrone The RBL replies: The Festival traditionally includes The Muster of personnel from all three Services, which includes representatives from the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps and the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service. In 2009 the Defence Medical Welfare Service and representatives from Headley Court were specifically invited to participate in addition to the above carers.

What hope for ex-Service homeless?

The Yorkshire Post recently reported that one in 20 homeless people is an Armed Forces veteran and the antipoverty charity the Church Urban Fund lists leaving the Armed Forces as one of the main triggers of homelessness.

Kate Adie, in her book Nobody’s Child, writes that, until recently, boys – and I suppose girls – would join the forces upon leaving a children’s home, exchanging one ‘family’ for another. At the completion of their engagement they were out – ‘nobody’s child’ again. What can the Legion do to help?

most interesting. My brother John used to say that his ship, HMS Northern Sky, led the fleet which occupied the Faroe Islands in 1940, and would have escorted HMS Suffolk into the harbour.

Northern Sky was one of the large number of deep-sea trawlers converted for naval use by the addition of an elderly four-inch gun, four Lewis guns and a rack of depth charges. The crew were initially fishermen, but later men with no seagoing experience.

Not all, however, were as overwhelmed by the continuous bad weather as the ex-schoolmaster who entered a formal request to be transferred to the Army.

AG Marsden Wakefield

Paddy Booth Essex

Memories of the Faroe Islands

Too soon to show Poppy support?

Your article about the Faroe Islands (October 2010) was

I was at Bolton West services on the M61 on 9 October and was surprised to see that they had a collecting tin and poppies on the counter.

I realise that collecting for the Legion is a year-round effort, but surely poppies shouldn’t be available that early? Maybe Britain should copy Canada and have an official launch day with the Queen being presented with the first poppy?

Can you help?

■ Cleobury Mortimer Branch marks its 90th anniversary this year. To help them plan their celebrations, branch members would like to hear from anyone who has any memories or memorabilia that date back to the branch’s early years. If you can help, contact Mark Baldwin on 01299 270 110.

■ To assist her with her dissertation, Karen Clifton would like to hear from former ATS members who served in the Ack Ack batteries during WWII. She is also looking to speak to anyone who served with the Women’s Home Guard. If you have any information, write to 66 Selsea Avenue, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 8SD. ■ If you are planning a trip to Duisans British Cemetery, France, in the coming months, Gareth Booker would like to hear from you.

His great uncle, Pte Albert E Card, is buried there, and Gareth is hoping to find someone who is willing to lay a floral tribute on the grave on his behalf. Email gmbooker@aol.com ■ The Can You Help Entry in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue, in which John and Audrey Smith were seeking information about Pte Billy Hill should have read: Pte Billy Hill was killed in May 1954, and is buried in Cherish Road War Graves Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur.

If you have any information, please write to 13 Collingwood Avenue, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 4BA.

44

@ Richard Elwell Preston

A warm welcome from the cold Would you be so kind as to pass on my gratitude to the staff at the Greenhithe and Swanscombe Branch? During the very bad weather at the end of November I was travelling home from work and, due to roads in north Kent being gridlocked, I found myself trying routes off the main roads. This turned out to be pointless.

After about three hours – during which I had travelled

10 miles – I found myself in the proximity of the Club. Its staff were offering cups of tea and coffee to stranded motorists.

This gesture was very welcome and most appreciated by myself and many others. My journey of some 40 miles took seven hours in total but the cup of tea was a boost to carry on and the staff were a credit to your organisation.

@ Les Harrod By email

Rest-stop worries on Remembrance I was at the Cenotaph in London last Remembrance Day and was very disappointed to see that, yet again, only two gents’ toilets were available on Horse Guards Parade.

Because of the sheer volume of veterans and organisations that are there (mostly men), the queue for the gents’ is always 100-plus in each line.

The wait this year took so long that many veterans nearly missed the line up to Whitehall so at the last minute there was a mad rush to use the two ladies’ and two disabled toilets provided.

Could the organisers provide an extra two gents’ toilets, maybe located on the other side of Horse Guards Parade, for easier access next year?

@ Ron Smith Catford The RBL replies: The toilet facilities on Horse Guards are provided by contractors on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The space available on Horse Guards Parade is restricted due to other requirements for the event but alternative toilet facilities are available in St James’s Park and in Whitehall Place.

The Legion’s National Events Coordinator will discuss this matter further with the contractor before this year’s event to see whether more facilities can be made available.

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

42 Letters.indd 44

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21/12/10 11:07:12 16:04:11 22/12/10

■ BRANCH FOCUS

■ WELFARE

■ LEGION NEWS

■ LETTERS

■ LOST TRAILS

in search

David Blatt Norfolk, 1940 The photograph is of ‘A’ Company, 4th Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment, and it was taken in Great Yarmouth in 1940. David is standing in the back row, fourth from the left. He would love to hear from anyone else in the photo.

Contact Write to 63 Loxwood Avenue, Worthing, West Sussex BN14 7RF.

Frank Spooner 1942 Frank would like to trace any of his comrades from his RAF training days through to his Service in 103 Squadron, Bomber Command, during WWII. He especially would like to get in touch with pilot Flt Lt Tom Thompson, engineer Sgt Taffy Owen, wireless operator Sgt William Skinner and Canadians William Nimmo and Hank Yerxa.

Contact If you can help, write to PO Box 1788, Belize City, Belize, Central America.

46

Where are they now?

Lost Trails is our regular feature that allows you to trace and contact former forces colleagues.

Do you recognise anyone in these photographs?

B i Smith Barrie S ith h 0 Berkshire, 1958-60 Barrie (on the left) served in the Army from m 1958 to 1960 and was based at 5 Trainingg Battalion, ‘C’ Company REME at Arborfield,, Berkshire. He is trying to find his friend Keith h Rawlinson (on the right), who was an MTT driver while Barrie was in the workshops..

Contactt Write to Porthleah, Townshend, Hayle,, Cornwall TR27 6AQ..

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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Follow See also the www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/lost-trails links for more welfare at www.britishlegion.org.uk

ch of the comrades we miss…

Bernard Allen 1950-51

Bernard (left-hand picture) wass a LCpl in the RAMC. He is tryingg to find his friend LCpl Tony Payne (right-hand picture), who o was in the Royal Engineers in the 1950s. Bernard was in the e 18th Field Ambulance stationed at Tai Po in Hong Kong and Tony was with the DCRE.

Contact

John (Jack) Sidney Hammond RASC The daughter of Jack (standing at the front) would like to hear from anyone who knew or served with her dad in the RASC in Egypt, Italy or Germany. Jack was one of Monty’s Desert Rats, but he was killed in a road accident in Hannover in 1945 and is buried in a War Graves Cemetery in Celle, Germany.

Write to 10 Tai Ar Y Bryn, Builth Wells, Powys LD2 3US.

Audrey Phillips 1956

Contact

Audrey (left) gave birth to a son, now known as Roux Renard, in September 1952. Roux doesn’t know who his birth father was but believes he may have been a Service man who attended camps close to Little Cheverell, Wiltshire. Can anyone shed light on the mystery?

Mrs J Ellingham, 199 New Barns Avenue, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4RE.

Contact If you can help, write to 20 Sedgemoor Way, Woolavington, Somerset TA7 8JG or email roux@rouxrenard.com Please send Lost Trails submissions to: Lost Trails, Legion, Redactive Publishing, 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. Please include a brief Service history, names of people you are trying to trace, contact details, and both an old and a recent photo.

All images will be returned once published.

HAVE YOU FOUND AN OLD FRIEND? If you’ve been reunited with an old comrade thanks to Lost Trails, we’d love to hear about it. Email your story to editorial@legion-magazine.co.uk ServicePals.com is a free UK reunion and social networking website for those who served and are currently serving.

ServicePals.com will help you find lost military friends and colleagues. It is proud to support The Royal British Legion.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

Poppy direct Jan/Feb 11 50

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52 56 59 65 66 ENTERTAINMENT

TRAVEL

BOOKS

DIARY DATES

LAST POST

Homefront

COMPETITION

!

N I W

WIN! A SEVEN-NIGHT MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE FOR TWO Enjoy a trip on the elegant MSC Opera Now that the new year is in full swing, it’s time to start the forward planning and think about how you’ll be spending your summer.

At the top of many people’s to-do list will be deciding where to go on holiday. And whether you want a lowkey, great value trip somewhere close to home, or to explore further afield, you might want to check out the range of trips offered by MSC Cruises.

MSC’s fleet of stylish, state-of-the-art cruise ships travel to destinations all over the world, from the coastal towns of the Mediterranean to the shores of South America, and from the Caribbean to North America.

Each of MSC’s 11 luxurious ships are home to several restaurants offering delicious dining choices; bars; a casino; a theatre; and the lavish and serene

MSC Aurea Spa. For the more energetic, they also boast a fabulous fitness centre and multiple swimming pools.

For more information about the range of cruises MSC has to offer, call 0844 561 7412 or visit www.msccruises.co.uk

Competition Legion has teamed up with MSC Cruises to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a Mediterranean cruise for two.

The seven-night cruise onboard MSC Opera sets off from Southampton on 30 July, calling at Amsterdam, La Rochelle, Bilbao, La Coruña and Cherbourg before returning on 7 August.

The prize also includes accommodation in an outside cabin, with all meals included.

To be in with a chance of winning, answer the following question: The Battle of Cherbourg took place immediately after which WWII Allied operation? a) Operation Market Garden b) The D-Day landings c) The Dam Buster raids

to Legion/MSC Cruises competition, Jori White Public Relations Ltd, Studio 2, 2 Bourchier Street, London W1D 4HZ. Terms and conditions: This competition is open to all Legion readers aged 18 or over, excluding employees of Redactive Media Group, MSC Cruises and their families. Entrants must be free to travel between 30 July and 7 August 2011. The prize is capacity controlled, non-negotiable, non-transferable and non-refundable. There are no cash or other alternatives in whole or part exchange. Full MSC travel booking conditions apply. Prize excludes flights, all transfers, any items of a personal nature and any excursions. MSC reserves the right to alter, amend or foreclose the competition in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Closing date for all entries is 28 February 2011, and the winner will be notified within 21 days of draw.

The judge’s decision is final. The winner must agree to participate in any reasonable press or PR activity relating to the competition. MSC Cruises may contact competition entrants to notify them of future offers and promotions. If you do not wish to be notified, please write ‘no further correspondence’ clearly on your competition entry.

To enter, send your answer on a postcard along with your name, address, telephone number and (if applicable) email address JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion 51

51 Homefront.indd 51

7/1/11 12:00:13

At ease Entertainment

DVD

Documentary offers rare insight into WWII T

V audiences were gripped when the ground-breaking WWII documentary Apocalypse: the Second World War made its debut on Channel 4 last October.

Now, the six-part series, which includes previously unseen colour footage, has been released on DVD

by Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment.

Narrated by Steven Cree, each episode explores key events, such as the invasion of Poland and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and looks at the impact that the events, and their consequences, had on those involved.

52

The series took three years to make and has been carefully crafted using raw archive footage collected from more than 60 public and private archives.

As well as all six episodes, the two-disc DVD set also features 110 minutes of extra footage, including a series of mini features and a ‘making-of’ documentary.

Apocalypse: the Second World War is available from all major retailers on DVD (rrp £19.99) and Blu-ray (rrp £29.99).

Competition Legion has 10 copies of Apocalypse: the Second World War on DVD to give away.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy, answer the following question: In which US state is Pearl Harbor? a) Alaska b) Hawaii c) Florida To enter, write your answer, along with your name, address and telephone number, on a postcard and send it to Apocalypse DVD competition, Legion magazine, Redactive Publishing, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Terms and conditions: This competition is open to all Legion readers aged 18 or over, excluding employees of Redactive Media Group and Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment and their families. Closing date is 1 March, and the winners will be notified within 21 days of draw. Only one entry per household will be permitted. The judge’s decision is final.

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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CONCERT

DVD

Celebrate St George’s Day with the Legion this April Help the Legion celebrate ‘all things English’ on 27 April at the charity’s 2011 St George’s Day concert.

The annual event, which takes place at St George’s Church on Hanover Square in Central London, is one of the most popular highlights in the Legion’s calendar.

This year’s concert will be hosted by newsreader Martyn Lewis, and a host of celebrity guests will be appearing to read some of England’s finest poetry and prose. Music for the concert will be led by the highly respected St George’s Choir and the Central Band of The Royal British Legion.

The Legion is also hosting a post-concert champagne and canapés reception at the nearby Lansdowne Club in Berkeley Square.

Tickets are £30 each for the concert only or £65 for the concert and champagne reception. Call Rebecca Pride on 020 3207 2272 or email rpride@britishlegion. org.uk for more information.

MUSEUM

A tribute to forces sweethearts A new exhibition at the National Army Museum is celebrating those who held the fort at home in Blighty when soldiers were sent away to fight on faraway shores.

Wives and Sweethearts features letters, postcards and love tokens that belonged to women whose partners took part in conflicts as far back as the Napoleonic wars.

The exhibition also explores the changing role of soldiers’ loved ones through the centuries. Once upon a time they would have been expected to undertake domestic roles at home, but nowadays many serve alongside their partners on the front line.

Curator Frances Parton said: “The museum has such a wealth of social history material on the subject of soldiers and their love lives that I was spoilt for choice. These items provide us with a touching insight into the lives of others and remind us of the people behind the conflicts.”

Wives and Sweethearts is on at the National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HT, until 30 July. For more details call 020 7730 0717 or visit www.national-army-museum.ac.uk

Soldiers sing for Service pals Lance Corporal Ryan Idzi, Sergeant Major Gary Chilton and Sergeant Richie Maddocks first captured the public’s imagination with their 2009 album Coming Home, which sold 500,000 copies.

Now, the trio are making their DVD debut with The Soldiers Live, a compilation from various dates on their UK tour last year.

The likeable lads cover a number of well-known tunes including Crazy Little Thing Called Love and He Ain’t Heavy. What really stands out from their performances is their passion and enjoyment of performing in tribute to their fellow Service men and women to the obvious delight of their audiences across the country, which makes this DVD a compelling and somewhat emotional experience.

Extras include interviews with the singer soldiers, confirming them as thoroughly decent chaps – with perhaps just a taste for mischief.

The Soldiers Live is out now on DVD through 2 Entertain (rrp £19.99).

Donations from the sale of the DVD will go to forces charities including The Royal British Legion.

CD

Veteran becomes recording artist at 93 A 93-year-old ex-Army Captain has stepped into the recording studio to help raise funds for the Poppy Appeal.

Tom Hedges, who is President of Ramsgate RBL Branch, has recorded a selection of poignant poems and readings for a CD titled Lest We Forget.

Among the works Tom recites for the

CD include John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields and The Soldier by Rupert Brooke.

The CD is priced at £10, and the proceeds from sales will be split between the Poppy Appeal and St James’s Church in Ramsgate.

St James’s Churchwarden Richard Lord, who organised the recording, said: “I heard Tom reading in church. I was struck by how beautifully he read, and he kindly agreed to record readings of some of his favourite poems and other quotes.”

For details about how to purchase a copy of Lest We Forget, visit www.ramsdenvillage.co.uk JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

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Travel B E L FA S T

GETTY

I

n 1969, Northern Ireland was a country divided. Tensions between the republican and loyalist parties had reached dangerous levels, and violence and rioting on the streets were an everyday occurrence. The arrival of British forces in August of that year was intended to restore stability, but their arrival simply became the opening chapter in a period in Belfast history that’s become known as ‘the Troubles’.

Belfast cabbie Gerard McLade was born in 1971 – just two years after the Troubles began. Four decades on, he says that the city he grew up in is a far cry from the Belfast that his children know.

“It’s unbelievable how much the city has changed,” he says. “My youngest child is 11 and my eldest is 18. Their generation doesn’t really understand what went on here. People are trying to move on with their lives and forget about the troubled past.”

Proof that Belfast is a more peaceful city is evident in its booming tourist industry. Tourist numbers are rising every year, and in 2009 the city, which has a population of just under 270,000, welcomed 9.3 million visitors. There are now more than 30 hotels here, with more set to open over the coming year. It’s a stark contrast to the situation at the height of the Troubles, where the city’s handful of hotels were frequent IRA targets. One hotel, the Europa, even earned the moniker ‘Europe’s most bombed hotel’.

The majority of the tourists that Belfast welcomes today tend to come from Britain and Australia, but an increasing number are coming from southern Ireland for weekend breaks – mostly to take advantage of the weak currency.

“People come up to do their Christmas shopping, because the money that they’re saving means that they are able to stay two nights in a nice hotel,” says Gerard.

Even though the people of Belfast have put their troubles behind them and the city is thriving, they are adamant that the sacrifices made will never be forgotten. Dotted around 56

Pack up your Troubles After years of conflict, Belfast is on the mend.

But although it welcomes tourists in droves, the sacrifices made during the troubled years are not forgotten. Rebecca Grant reports

the city are Remembrance gardens, honouring the 3,568 people who died during the Troubles, including 766 members of the British Armed Forces. But the most striking reminders are the hundreds of political murals that appear on the sides of buildings and on walls around the city. Some of the most famous of these lie along the ‘peace line’ which divided Belfast during the Troubles.

Originally created to promote political parties and as a means of protest, today these murals help tourists – and the younger generations in Belfast – understand what went on from both sides’ perspectives.

For example, along the Falls Road, a Catholic area, artworks such as the famous Bobby Sands mural have been installed to commemorate the victims of the 1981 hunger strike. Then just

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

56 Travel.indd 56

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In association with Poppy Travel, the Legion’s Battlefield and Remembrance Tour provider.

Tel: 01622 716 729 Email: info@poppytravel.org.uk

These colourful murals have a dark history, but are turning into a tourist attraction.

down the road in the protestant area of Shankhill Road, you’ll find loyalist images depicting British soldiers and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The murals have become one of the city’s most important attractions, and tourists are keen to know more about the stories behind the artworks.

One of the most popular ways to get around and see the murals is a guided tour in a black cab. Gerard’s company,

‘What’s Visitor happening in information Afghanistan happened here, and it happened for 40 years’ Belfast Attractions, offers 90-minute tours around the murals. People enjoy the tours because they offer a more personal insight into the city’s history.

“You find that local people have the best knowledge and give you a real good taste of what happened here,” Gerard explains. “We have the Ulster Museum, which has lots of artefacts from the Troubles, but it’s quite formal and the objects don’t give much in-depth information – they just skim across the surface.

“The taxi tours are more personal because you have a guide in the taxi driver and anything you want to ask, you’ll get answered.”

The taxi tours can also be tailored to what each tourist wants to see. “We do have a standard route that we take, but we have actually done tours that are eight hours long before now. I’ve been doing this job for 14 years and in that time must have done about 200 different types of tours with people.”

The taxi tours have also become popular with young British Service recruits who are preparing for deployment to the front line.

“I’ve talked to a lot of young squaddies who’ve been recommended by their colonels to come over to Belfast and have a look, because it helps them realise what’s happening at the moment in Afghanistan happened here, and it happened for 40 years.

“We wouldn’t ever try to glorify what happened here, we just try to give a clearer picture of what it’s all about.”

Seeing the Belfast murals Belfast Attractions offers a 90-minute political tour of Belfast in a black cab, complete with tourist guide cabbie, starting at £30 per tour.

Alternatively, you can see the city in an open-top bus. Prices start at £12.50 per adult.

For more details, visit www.belfastattractions.co.uk or call 02890 294 345.

Other things to do in Belfast As well as the murals, Belfast’s other top attractions include the Ulster Museum, which reopened in October 2009 following a £17 million revamp.

Entry to the museum, which includes a variety of historical, natural and art collections, is free. For more details visit www.nmni.com or call 0845 608 0000.

Next door to the e Ulster Museum are the Botanic Gardens, which are housed in two Victorian buildings, the Palm House and d Tropical Ravine..

The gardens open every day at 7.30am.

For more details, see www.belfastcity.gov.uk/ parksandopenspaces Visitors can enjoy free tours of Belfast’s City Hall every Monday to Friday at 11am, 2pm and 3pm, and every Saturday at 2pm and 3pm.

No booking required, but places on the tour are allocated on a firstcome, first-served basis. Visit www. belfastcity.gov.uk/cityhall/tours.asp to find out more.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

56 Travel.indd 57

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☛ The Darn Things work!

“I purchased two Ampli-Ears because it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. What I did not expect is – that at that price – the darn things work!

I am not easily impressed and I usually don’t write letters. However with your sincerity (and care for the customer – something very rare these days) – I couldn’t help but write you and thank you for your continued great success.” – Mr. A.F.

£17.95

The Very Best!

Since the year 2000 – Ampli-Ear has been our No. 1 selling hearing amplifier in America. With 750,000 units sold all across the United States – Ampli-Ear has proven itself to be our best and most reliable hearing amplifier – and amazingly UNDER £18! Now, in 2011, the engineers at Ampli-Ear have developed an ALL NEW top of the line hearing amplifier... appropriately named the Mega Ampli-Ear 2011.

The new advanced amplification circuitry and the Enhanced Capacitor is now available in the UK. Compared to previous hearing devices we believe the Ampli-Ear 2011 is by far our best product, providing clarity, amplification and comfort!

Yes! The NEW Mega Ampli-Ear 2011 is 100% adjustable (now designed to be adjustable for the smallest to the largest ear opening), fits both men and women – and is very discreet in your ear. So, end those embarrassing moments.

Never apologise again for not being able to hear. Use Ampli-Ear amplifier to increase the volume of: • Whispers • Phone conversations • The TV – even with the volume on LOW • Conversations in crowded rooms

Trust Ampli-Ear Quality • Mega Comfort – 4 silicone ear tips • Mega Discreet – Super small size • Mega Power – High-tech circuitry amplifies like never before!

• Mega Value – Amazingly this device costs just £17.95 and that’s with a 3-month risk-free home trial • Mega Easy – Easy sound adjustment and easy battery changes!

© Ampli-Ear, Regis House, 23 King Street, Cambridge, CB1 1AH

LEG.02.02.11.058 1

Thank you for letting me take a minute of your time. Look. I know you may be sceptical of a £17.95 hearing amplifier. I would be too since they can sell for hundreds of pounds.

So how do I supply a good product at a low price? Easy. We have no middle men or mark ups so that the customer – YOU – are charged a fair price. I promise you Ampli-Ear is a top quality product... that will make a real difference to your quality of life. With over 750,000 units sold, many testimonials, and factory direct pricing – I can say that you will be happy with your purchase.

And if you aren’t – I will send your money back.

Christopher England, MD, Ampli-Ear

VERY DISCREET

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but you can also set lower volumes, minimizing the risk of sound distortion in the ear, which can cause audible strain and fatigue. You will find it easier to tell the direction a sound is coming from – this is particularly useful in crowded places, listening to public address systems and in negotiating busy roads. At Ampli-Ear we understand the importance of binaural amplification and are therefore offering a discount of £7.00 when you buy two AmpliEars – see coupon below.

Our Risk Free Guarantee. Easy. Simple. Honest.

Ampli-Ear is a company that does business the old fashioned way – with pride and integrity. We take all the worry out of ordering. Try Ampli-Ear RISK FREE for 3 MONTHS and if you are unhappy for ANY reason... just send it back for a complete and immediate refund, no questions asked. In addition we include a 1 year manufacturers repair/replacement warranty.

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CALL NOW

0871 224 0789

QUOTE REF: 200HA

LINES OPEN 9am-5pm 7 DAYS A WEEK

CALLS COST 10ppm, NETWORK EXTRAS MAY APPLY

Send to: Ampli-Ear, Dept 200HA, Regis House, 23 King Street, Cambridge, CB1 1AH

❑ Please send me 1 MEGA

Ampli-Ear (including batteries) for £17.95 + £2.95 insured p&p

❑ I enclose a cheque/PO for £___________ payable to Ampli-Ear ❑ Please charge my VISA/MASTER/SWITCH/DELTA/MAESTRO:

❑ SAVE £7.00 – 2 MEGA

Ampli-Ears (including batteries) for £31.85 + £2.95 insured p&p

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Buy online at www.ampliear.co.uk/200HA

22/12/10 11:08:45

Books Latest reviews

Legion reviews the latest releases, which include an insight into life as the first female Chelsea Pensioner, and the front-line realities for the men we call heroes Courage Under Fire: true stories from the front line Tim Lynch Combat Stress/ E&T, £18.99 hardback When the actions of troops facing extreme conditions on the front line are reported, the phrase ‘hero’ is often used. The introduction of this book, published by the charity Combat Stress states quite plainly that there are no heroes in Afghanistan, only soldiers going about their work.

Written by an ex-Service man who has studied post-traumatic stress disorders, Courage Under Fire goes behind the headlines to explore the realities of warfare, and reveals what it’s really like for those in the most intense combat situations, from WWII to the present day.

Books in brief RAF Tempsford: Churchill’s most secret airfield Bernard O’Connor Amberley, £18.99 paperback Designed so enemy aircraft would assume it was a disused airfield,

The First Lady Chelsea Pensioner Winifred Phillips Pen Press, £7.99 paperback In March 2009, Winifred Phillips ended a 300-year tradition by becoming one of the first two women to don the famous scarlet uniform and take up residence at the Royal Hospital Chelsea (RHC).

In her memoirs, Winifred records her adventures serving in ATS and WRAC. During her time in the forces she travelled around the world, serving in places such as Egypt, Singapore and Cyprus.

She also reveals how she campaigned for many years to change the rules at the RHC to allow women to live there alongside their male counterparts.

the Bedfordshire airbase was one of the best-kept secrets of WWII.

The Great Battles Giles MacDonogh Quercus, £20 hardback From the ancientworld battles of Meggido and Thermopylae to the Allied operations of World War II, The Great Battles is an illustrated guide to some of the world’s most significant battles.

The book features battleplan maps, artwork, and archive photography, alongside historian Giles MacDonogh’s narrative. Each battle is explored in detail, offering an introduction to some of history’s little-known but important moments in warfare over the past 3,000 years.

The book’s engaging prose, describing the details of each battle’s most decisive moments, makes the collection accessible to history novices and military enthusiasts alike.

comrades in WWII. Royalties from the book’s first-year sales will be donated to The Royal British Legion.

Fly Army Les Dalton AuthorHouse, £25 paperback The author recounts his experiences during his 10-year stint representing the British Army international rally team.

The Motley Bunch Jack Ricketts Vanguard, £7.99 paperback A former soldier from the Warwickshire Yeomanry recounts the story of his

Goodbye Old Chap: a life at sea in peace and war Philip Algar Peakpublish, £12.99 paperback This is the story of Stanley Algar, whose Merchant Navy career spanned two World Wars. It is based on the diaries he kept as a PoW during WWII. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

59 Books.indd 59

59

6/1/11 11:42:45

Classified Trade & Holiday price on request. For rates call 020 7880 6231 or fax 020 7880 7553. Email: t.chan@redactive.co.uk

UK Holidays Lawnswood Guest House

Holidays Abroad

EXMOUTH, DEVON Victorian Guest House, close to the Beach, Town and RAFA Club (RBL Affiliated). Tel: 01395 271 969 www.clinton-house.com

Torquay 4 stars ✰✰✰✰ Family run guest house, all rooms en suite & centrally heated.

Ground floor room available.

BB & EM. Central location.

Next door to services club.

Many winter break special offers.

Quality and value for money assured.

OPEN ALL YEAR 01803 292 595

WESTON SUPER MARE. Richmond Hotel is a small friendly welcoming and 3* hotel situated on sea front. Lift.3-4 min level walk to town centre. Pets and children accepted. www.richmond-hotel.co.uk 01934 644722

DERBYSHIRE Delightful 4* spacious barn conversion bungalows. Close to Ashbourne/Carsington Water.

Village location. Sleeps 2/4.

Tel: 01335 370 817. www.highmeadowcottages. co.uk

CORNWALL Mevagissey near Eden & Heligan Gardens. Small holiday park. '10 Supersize caravans.

Chalets, clubhouse, indoor heated pool, indoor bowls, pets welcome.

Special offers for couples. 01726 740 70 or www.carnmoggas.com

RAILWAY WAGONS. luxuriously converted, sleeps 2,4,6. 4 poster beds. Pets welcome. No giraffes.

Yorkshire Wolds. 01377 217 342. www.thewagons.co.uk

SEA VIEW HOTEL Eastbourne Sea-views, balconies & en-suites.

Friendly relaxed atmosphere.

Traditional home cooking. B&B from ÂŁ27. RBL discounts all year.

Call now for brochure.

Tel: 01323 736 730.

Bookings/Brochure

ROSS-ON-WYE, HEREFORDSHIRE Highly recommended by Legion members - 2 lovely self-catering bungalows in the beautiful WYE VALLEY with panormaic views towards the Welsh Hills. Real ‘home from home’.

1 x 2/4 (1 double, 1 twin) 1 x 2 (double). BOOKINGS NOW BEING TAKEN FOR 2011. From ÂŁ195.00 PER WEEK. DISCOUNT FOR RBL MEMBERS. Sorry, no pets. For brochure phone 01989 566 301/ email: marjo1940@hotmail. co.uk N.DEVON / CORNWALL BORDER 4 cosy cottages and ensuite B&B. Lovely rural location. Close to village, shops & pub.

Pets welcome.

Brochure: 01409 241 962 www.lakevilla.co.uk

SAVOY HOTEL SKEGNESS

Regularly used by the local and national RBL. Situated on the seafront, close to Ex-Service. Club, shops, beach, bowls, theatre, gardens and all resort attractions.

The Savoy is a 50 bedroom family run hotel offering all ensuite rooms, some with sea-views, good food, ballroom with dancing and entertainment.

Discounts for senior citizens.

Special group rates available.

OPEN ALL YEAR. Tel. 01754 763371 for brochure BRACKLESHAM BAY, WEST SUSSEX Self catering holiday chalets, one & two bedrooms available. Quiet 90 acre picturesque site, 2 minute walk to beach, disabled access, pets welcome. Tel: 01243 674 444 www.waveschaletrental.co.uk

Isle of Wight Island Cottage Holidays Charming cottages in lovely rural surroundings and close to sea.

Situated throughout the Isle of Wight. 3-5 stars. 01929 481 555. www.islandcottageholidays.com

Legion Classified Jan/Feb 11 60

Lord Kitchener Holiday Centre for ex-service personnel.

Over looking the sea front, this 10 twin bedded en-suite centrally heated centre, with a lift to all floors, offers a welcome to all guests. Rates pw for half board are: Ex service ÂŁ120 Non service spouses/partners ÂŁ160 Please apply to the secretary for a brochure and application at 10 Kirkley Cliff, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0BY Tel: 01502 573564 CLEVELEYS LANCS, GARLANDS HOLIDAY FLATS on South promenade overlooking sea and conveniently placed for beach, shops and all amenities including British Legion club within 160 yards. Phone now for more details and brochure. Tel: 07941 225 363.

FRANK VOYCE Secure wheelchair friendly 2 bed apartment. Ring for brochure. 01234 295 475 HOLIDAY COTTAGE, STOW-ON-THEWOLD Beautiful area, 2 bedrooms, shower & WC upstairs. Spacious kitchens. Lounge/Diner. Near RBL. Short breaks, children & dogs welcome. Enclosed garden. 01451 830 045.

NORFOLK HOLIDAY COTTAGE Near Dereham ETC 4 stars. Sleeps 2/4, quiet, rural, no stairs, pets welcome. ÂŁ175-ÂŁ295 per week. 01362 692 079. www.norfolkcountrycottage.co.uk

Personal

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WINSTON SELF CATERING APARTMENTS MALTA/BUGIBBA APTS. One bedroom from ÂŁ160 p.w.

2PRS 30 Days from ÂŁ510, 2PRS 3 Bedroom sleeps 2/6 PRS from ÂŁ186 for 2PRS Tel: +356 79572039 www.winstonmalta.com

YAKAMOZ HOTEL – TURKEY Small, friendly hotel situated in between Fethiye and Oludeniz in SW Turkey.

Open May to October Adults only except selected UK school holidays.

10% discount for BL members Special offers available.

Email: info@yakamozhotel.com www.yakamozhotel.com Tel: 009 0252 616 6238 Malta, M’Scala Family run guesthouse, 3 double rooms, inc English breakfasts and trans. Tel: 00356 216 32277 Costa del Sol (Fuengirola) 3 bed family apt, centrally located, close to town centre & beach. Call: 01226 765 812 MALTA, Msida. Very central House. Self catering, ensuite guest rooms. Airport transfers.

Reasonable rates. Tel/Fax Edward: 00356 213 13797

KYRENIA, North Cyprus Village house, swimming pool, from ÂŁ100pw in Winter - ÂŁ240pw in Summer. Ideal all year, excellent weather, flowers..

Fax: 020 7931 7211 or Tel: 0774 596 1677 & 0791 287 3865 Janedot99@hotmail.com ALGARVE, PORTUGAL Wheelchair accessible villa with pool. Sleeps 6/8. Opposite 9 hole golf course.

Beach 10 mins walk. Tel: 01277 354 313 BARBADOS Superb one bedroom apartment, situated on fabulous West Coast.

Private sun terrace, large pool, sea views, large tropical garden. Near all amenities, 400 yards walk to the beach. Tel: 01637 874 716. www.beautifulbarbados.com COSTA DEL SOL Beach villa, 3 bed, pool. ÂŁ199 per week. 0116 348 0202 CYPRUS, NR PAPHOS luxury 3 bedroom detached villa, private heated pool.

Short walk to quiet village with tavernas and shops. For brochure, telephone Anna 01452 723 474 KISSIMEE, FLORIDA Luxury villa in Lindfields. Own 30ft heated pool, 4 bedrooms, sleeps 8-10.

Disney 10 mins, Gulf 70 mins, Belz Shopping 20 mins. From ÂŁ475 per week. Tel owner, Anna Thompson: 02891 461 423. Email: annthompson49@hotmail.com www. brackneyvacationhomes.com LOS CHRISTIANOS To let; 1 bedroom apartment on private complex. Tel: 02870 822 203 or 0776 175 8112 NEAR BENALMADENA Two bedroom, 2 bathroom beachside apartment in quiet village. Own garden and pool.

Tel: 01823 275 729 CRETE DETACHED VILLA SLEEPS 4, SEAVIEWS. 01444 483 312

Events

NORMANDY Modern Park Homes close to D-Day Beaches. Bar/restaurant.

Fishing lake. Swimming pool.

1 hour drive from Cherbourg or Cean. Phone 07891 128226 or 0033 233 57 2514 or normandiefr@gmail.com Luxury 1 & 2 bedroom frontline beach apartments - Dona Sofia, Fuengirola - sat TV, beach and sea views.

From ÂŁ175pw. www.donasofia.com BENALMADENA COSTA DEL SOL members comfortable 1 bed apartment, sleeps 4. Pool, garden. Convenient for beaches, restaurants, markets.

Phone: 01277 633843 & 0034 648 858 976 Madeira Member’s delightful thatched cottage in large private UK-owned Quinta garden overlooking Funchal (5 min), golf course 15 min. Fully furnished, sleeps 2/3.

Tel: 00351 291 220 468 patrickgarton@hotmail.com

Wanted CONCERTINAS URGENTLY WANTED

by Britain's top specialist. Any type of condition. Up to ÂŁ2000 paid for best quality instruments. Mr Algar.

Tel: 01782 851 449.

Model ships, aircraft and engines Static or working wanted by Private collector. All marine, aviation or motoring items wanted.

Everything considered. Cash buyer.

Distance no object.

Discretion and integrity ensured Contact Mike 0784 306 0843 or 01747 840 318 A LONG STANDING BRITISH LEGION PRIVATE COLLECTOR requires pre 1967 football programmes/ memorabilia, especially Scottish and non league items. Other sports considered. Good prices paid for required items. Please contact Leigh on 01257 278923.

A BLACK WATCH CAP BADGE 01992 814 66 BOY SCOUT BADGES wanted by collector. Tel: 01752 774 467 BUTLINS & BOYS BRIGADE BADGES BOUGHT - 01788 810 616 FOOTBALL PROGRAMMES AND TICKETS Pre-1960 wanted by private collector.

Contact Mike 01637 876 330 MASONIC & RAOB Jewels bought 01788 810 616 SAILORS/CAP RIBBONS/ TALLIES wanted by collector, top price paid.

D Howell, 26 Kingsbere Gardens, Hazelmere Avenue, Highcliffe, Dorset BH23 5BQ. Tel: 01425 273 623.

NURSING BADGES BOUGHT 01788 810 616 OLD NUMBERED MET POLICE HELMET PLATES wanted by Legion collector. 01992 893 286 SCOUT & GUIDE BADGES ETC WANTED Peter 01604 452 156.

Email: p.maryniak@ntlworld.com WANTED medals purchased by collector, especially WW1 & WW2. 01570 493 205, evenings and weekends.

WOODWORKING TOOLS REQUIRED. Complete kits, individual items, modern or antique. Telephone: 01923 771 562.

22/12/10 10:45:43

Healthcare/Mobility

For Sale THE GOLD WIRE BADGE CO. Regimental blazer badges £15.00, ties £16.00, leather gauntlets £35.50 etc. Send for free price list: The Gold Wire Badge Co., 11 Dalehead Drive, Shaw, Lancs OL2 8JT. Tel/Fax: 01706 846648

Books

AUTHORS

Low price guarantee*

PLEASE SUBMIT: A synopsis plus sample chapters (3) for consideration.

Olympia Publishers www.olympiapublishers.com 60 Cannon Street, LONDON, EC4N 6NP

Call for a free survey or information on

0800 566 8858

LG1

Healthcare

Handicare manufactures and provides the stairlifts in association with Age UK Trading Limited and Age UK (charity number 1128267) and up to 50% of the stairlift net profits generated from this ad go to the Charity. Exact mechanism for profit-share calculation available in writing upon request. Age UK Trading Limited is a trading company of Age UK which donates net profits to that Charity. *If you find the same, or similar product and service level at a lower price, Handicare will happily match it.

Legion LLe eg giion on Offer O ff ff

Insurance

• Mobility Scooters • Wheelchairs • Bathlifts • Walking Aids

Over 50s Travel Insurance

TRACE YOUR ANCESTORS With Britain’s leading genealogists. For FREE estimate, contact:

FREEPHONE 0800 093 9383 ACHIEVEMENTS Northgate, Canterbury CT1 1BABL Web: www.achievements.co.uk

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Quote code LM2299 Call for an instant quote:

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TRAVEL INSURANCE 4U ANY PERSON, ANY DURATION aged up to 99 years, up to 365 days

ANYWHERE in the WORLD Special Rates for travel by coach, road, rail example: 5 days in UK - £11.50 5 days in Europe - £17 UK Annual just £40 per person any age

Tel: 01753 400128

Legion Classified Jan/Feb 11 61

Staysure.co.uk Ltd is a FSA regulated company. No. 436804.

Policies from

Information

Travel insurance you can feel safe with. : : : :

No upper age limit Cover for pre-existing medical conditions Online savings for standard cover Scheduled airline failure cover available

www.staysure.co.uk ABTA travel industry partners

To advertise here please call 020 7880 6231 or email t.chan@redactive.co.uk

has the largest choice of worldwide travel insurance plans at the smallest prices.

Call 0844 55 77 601 or visit www.insurancechoice.co.uk/legion

22/12/10 10:46:52

Medals

PREPARE FOR PARADE Award Productions, medallists to the Royal British Legion provide a comprehensive and professional medal replacement, cleaning and mounting service.

For details of available full-size & miniature medals and related items contact: AWARD PRODUCTIONS LTD, (Dept. LJCL), PO Box 300, Shrewsbury SY5 6WP, UK. Telephone: 01952 510053 Fax: 01952 510765 E-mail: info@awardmedals.com or visit www.awardmedals.com

www.awardmedals.com

MEDALLISTS TO THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION LOST MEDALS

Karen & David Bower

KD Tailoring are one of the UK’s Top Military Tailors based at Woolwich Garrison, SE London

• Medalists & tailors to The Royal Hospital Chelsea

Medals re-plated ‘NEVER EVER CLEAN AGAIN’

INTERNATIONAL PRISON SERVICE MEDAL

ine’

‘ultra sh

Campaign medals replaced full size & miniatures, Mounted, court or swing style. NO GLUE OR STICKY TAPE USED.

Replaced in record time Full-size & miniature 3 Day mounting service RAYMOND D HOLDICH INTERNATIONAL PO BOX 2123, HOCKLEY, SS5 9AG Tel: 01702 200 101 Email: rdhmedals@aol.com Website: www.rdhmedals.com

Medals, Badges Ties Blazer & cap badges, Ties, Replacement Medals. Contact: Service Commemoratives, PO Box 4, Hinckley, Leicestershire. LE10 3ZT. Tel: 01455 239262 or www.servicecomm.co.uk

THE VETERANS SERVICE MEDAL THE INTERNATIONAL POLICE MEDAL PLUS MANY MORE COMMEMORATIVES www.servicecomm.co.uk

Residential/Retirement Homes

33 The Crescent, West Wickham, Kent. BR4 0HB 020 8777 2455 www.kdtailoring.com

Boxed set £69.50 Full size medal £42.50 Miniature medal £19.50 Tel: (0044) 01745 59 1805 alan@fisherpatton.wanadoo.co.uk

60+ ?

Rent for life?

0800 525 184 www.girlings.co.uk

Sarah Jane Framing & Medals 'Thatches', Long Green Lane, Bardfield Saling, Braintree, Essex CM7 5EE. 'We provide a complete service to help you display your own or your loved ones medals'.

Displays for Medals, Cap Badges and other memorobilia:-Medals Mounting and Refurbishing, Ribbons and Medals also supplied.

Information

Ancestors.co.uk 11 Crosbie Road, Harborne, Birmingham,

Tel: 01279 718 953 Email: medalia@tesco.net Website: www.sarahjanemedals.co.uk

B17 9BG (LG)

0 1 2 1

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YOUR FAMILY TREE RESEARCHED Free information pack. Tel: 01444 248 563 www.ancestral-research.com

Local volunteers support staff to provide a home-from-home in our 12 houses across Dorset and Hampshire, including Fordingbridge, and the New Forest. Our residents maintain their independence in a safe, comfortable and secure environment while enjoying the home cooked meals each day.

We have limited vacancies for permanent and holiday accommodation to rent and opened a new house, with mainly separate bedroom accommodation in Bournemouth in November 2009.

Our inclusive charges range from £200 to £350 a week for the year ending 31st March 2012.

For more information contact 01202 880958, or visit our web site www. abbeyfieldwessex.org. Registeredoffice 31 West Street,Wimborne BH21 1JS. Charity 230902

To advertise here please call 020 7880 6231 or email t.chan@redactive.co.uk

Legion Classified Jan/Feb 11 62

21/12/10 10:01:57

Cold, aching hands?

OPENING JARS

DRIVING

Try Heat Therapy Gloves The lightweight, fingertip design of our Heat Therapy Gloves are perfect for anyone who suffers from cold or aching hands.

Made from neoprene, they lock in the natural warmth generated by your body which increases blood flow and soothes the aching joints and muscles of your hands.

They are perfect for everyday activities such as writing, typing, sewing, driving, opening jars, etc.

Available in four sizes and suitable for men and women. Take advantage of our buy 2 get 1 free introductory special offer – avoid disappointment place your order today.

Heat Therapy Gloves: • Are adjustable for a custom fit • Provide support and warmth • Reflect natural heat back into finger joints & knuckles • Increase blood flow • Washable neoprene fabric Lightweight design • allows complete freedom of movement.

Sends therapeutic warmth into all knuckles and finger joints

© Blakefield LLP, Hamilton House, 2 Station Road, Epping CM16 4HA

Could make everyday tasks less painful

BUY TWO AND GET ONE FREE!

Full Glove Now available as a full glove design in both black and beige Lines Open

We are proud to be supporters of The Royal British Legion

8.00 am - 9.00 pm Mon-Fri – 9.00 am - 8.00 pm Sat-Sun

0871 224 0777

TYPING

Ask for Dept 310G

CALLS COST 10ppm, NETWORK EXTRAS MAY APPLY

Guaranteed satisfaction – or your money back WRITING

SEWING

LEG.02.02.11.063 1

You can try our Heat Therapy Gloves for a no-risk three month period. If for any reason you are not delighted with the way that they increase blood flow and soothe your aching joints, just send them back for a full no quibble refund – guaranteed.

Post To: Windsor Products, Please send me a pair of Dept.

310G, Emery House, Greatbridge Road, HEAT THERAPY GLOVES for Romsey, Hampshire SO51 0AD only £19.95 + £3.95 I enclose a cheque/PO insured postage and payable to Windsor Products for £ handling

Please charge my VISA/MASTERCARD/MAESTRO/SWITCH/DELTA:

SPECIAL OFFER

BUY TWO GET ONE FREE Please send me three pairs of HEAT THERAPY GLOVES for just £27.80 + £3.95 p&p Please indicate quantity of:

Start Expiry Title

Issue No

Signature

Name

D.O.B

PLEASE PRINT

Address

SM MED LG X-LG

BLACK FINGERLESS BLACK FULL BEIGE FULL

Post Code Telephone

Yes, I would like to add £______ to my order as a donation to The Royal British Legion

Email Delivery normally within one week but please allow 28 days. If you do not wish to receive other interesting offers from reputable companies, please tick this box .

Postage and packaging is non-refundable

Buy online at www.windsorproducts.com/310G

22/12/10 11:09:30

Computing for Seniors – it’s never too late to start! (no experience necessary – it’s a piece of cake!)

A

Learn about the parts of your computer – their function and how they work ● Discover how to contact friends or associates anywhere in the world – FREE! ● Make your computer ‘double’ as a fax machine ● Send precious family photos – FREE! ●

re you petrified by computers? Does the sight of a keyboard make you tremble? Does computer jargon seem like gobbeldygook? Have you tried to crack computers – only to give up in despair?

Now there’s good news!

Computer expert Jeff Clarke has written a book that targets seniors – and all those who suffer from ‘computer anxiety’!

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S SO EASY!

Master Your Computer in Just 2 Hours! is very easy to use. So whether you’re a complete beginner – or someone who has tried and then given up on computers – Master Your Computer in Just 2 Hours! is the perfect book for you!

All your questions answered – no jargon, just plain English!

“This is the best book on computing I’ve ever come across – and I’ve read a few!

Now I’m getting the most out of my computer!”

G Edwards, London

“I keep your book right on my desk. Because whenever I’ve got a problem with using my computer – I know it will give me the solution.”

B Nelson, Yorkshire

“My grandchildren are amazed that I am using my computer with as much confidence as they have!”

T Patterson, London

“I finally get it, after struggling with my computer company’s instruction manual… I have finally found a book that tells me exactly how to do the things I need to do” R Brown, London

LEG.02.02.11.064 1

step-by-step instructions that begin at the very beginning: setting up your computer! In just two hours, you’ll master dozens of computer skills including surfing the Net, sending emails, downloading photos, creating documents and more!

The book is organised in easy-to-follow lessons that will build your skills – and turn you into a computer whiz! You’ll follow the lessons at your own pace… and move onto the next level only when you feel ready. What’s more, the book features big type – for easy reading.

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Diary dates REUNIONS ARMY Army/RAF 1953-54, the Experimental Mobile Column (Civil Defence) Epsom reunion, 22-23 April 2011. If you served there please get in contact. Wives and carers welcome.

Call Robin Reid on 01494 785 446.

BETFOR (British Element Trieste Force) Association reunion, 18-20 March 2011, Holiday Inn Bristol-Filton, Bristol. Call Colin Russell on 01283 790 147 or email crrussellqs@aol.com Butchers/Bakers RASC/ROAC/RCT reunion, 2 July 2011, Birmingham. Call Norman Washburn on 07793 697 252 or email washburn.yogibear.bob@gmail.com Chester Branch of the QARANC Association’s 2nd reunion, 2-5 September 2011, Chester. All past and present QARANC members welcome.

Call Lynn Orfanelli on 01829 741 189 or email l.orfanelli@tiscali.co.uk Queen’s Royal Lancers (16/5 QRL & 17/21L) North West reunion, 2 April 2011, Blackpool. Call Mike on 01772 324 795 or email mike.kelly@talktalk.net Royal Army Dental Corps Reunion Club reunion, 14-16 October 2011, Coventry. All ex ADC/RADC/QARANC (Dental), Regulars, Territorials or National Service welcome. Call Brian Sims on 01332 515 653 or email 34@simsb.plus.com

EVENTS Cowbridge Welsh Male Voice Choir’s concert for the Calne Branch of the RBL, 9 April 2011, Calne, Wiltshire. Call Roy Evans on 07956 393 619 or email rod@healaugh.orangehome.co.uk St George’s Day concert, 27 April 2011, St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London. Tickets £30. Call Rebecca Pride on 020 3207 2272 or email rpride@britishlegion.org.uk

ROYAL NAVY HMS Cambrian Association reunion, 13-15 May 2011, the King Charles Hotel, Gillingham. Call Don Macdonald on 01344 774 386.

HMS Decoy Association 24th annual reunion, 15-17 April 2011, Southport. New members of all commissions welcome. Call Malcolm ‘Dobbo’ Dobson on 01502 677 395 or email dobbo.exrn@btinternet.com HMS Diana Association reunion, 4-6 March 2011, Blackpool. Call J Fisher on 0116 3678 360 or email johnjackie. fisher@talktalk.net HMS Duchess reunion, 11-13 March 2011, the Bay View Court Hotel, Bournemouth. Call Sharky Ward on 01522 872 998 or email adie.ward@ ntlworld.com HMS Dunkirk Association reunion, 16 April 2011, Chatham. Call Jackie Carroll on 01692 678 721 or email jande.carroll@talktalk.net HMS Fisgard Association reunion, 2-4 September 2011, Portsmouth Guildhall. Searching for members of Series 11, 12 and 13 apprentices classes who will be celebrating 60 years since joining in 1951. Call Mr Legg on 01329 286 262 or email bill.legg@talktalk.net HMS Lowestoft 50th Anniversary reunion, 28-29 October 2011, Chatham.

Call Ian Mackenzie on 01935 825 672 or email ian.mackenzie480@virgin.net

90th Anniversary concert, 30 April 2011, Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire. Part of the series of 90th anniversary concerts – the band of the RAF College will feature. For more information call 01636 812 933.

Windsor Castle Royal Tattoo, 12-15 May 2011, Windsor Castle.

Tickets £25-£65. All proceeds go to the Legion. To book call 0871 230 5570 or 0844 581 0743 or visit www.windsortattoo.com

HMS Protector Association reunion and AGM, 29 April–2 May 2011, Royal Court Hotel, Coventry. A reaffirmation and memorial service will be held at the NMA, Alrewas, on 30 April. Email Doug Harris at dougatspindrift@aol.com or call 01495 718 870. For more information go to www.hmsprotector.org HMS Veryan Bay Association reunion, 6-8 May 2011, Royal Maritime Club, Portsmouth. All ‘Bay Class’ ex-crew members welcome. Call John Miller on 01744 602 459.

ROYAL AIR FORCE 27 Squadron RCT, Munster 1969-79 reunion, 16 April 2011, Staffordshire.

Call Jenny on 01303 870 031 or email reunion27sqn@hotmail.co.uk RAF Sopley Association AGM and reunion dinner, 2 April 2011, RBL Christchurch and dinner at the Suncliff Hotel, Bournemouth. Call Ray Porte on 02380 701 582 or email raymond. porte@btinternet.com 42nd Entry Telegraphists 50th Anniversary reunion, 9-10 April 2011, South West. Call John Sadler on 01480 391 424 or email jm.sadler@ntlworld.com 249 Squadron Association Canberra Crew (Ground and Air) 1958-1969 reunion, 25-26 February 2011, Charlecote Pheasant Hotel, Charlecote, nr Stratford Upon Avon. Call Tommy Cullen on 01914 550 229 or email tcullen@tinyworld.co.uk 404, 405, 413 and 415 Squadrons’ 70th Anniversary reunion, 9-11 June 2011, Canada. For more information go to www.rv2011.ca or call Kim Smith on (001) 902 765 1494 or email Chris Larsen at chrislarsen@forces.gc.ca No.1 Fighter Squadron Association reunion, 14 May 2011, the Garden House Hotel, Stamford. Call Chas Cairns on 01635 866 021 or email no1sqnassn@aol.com WAAF Association AGM and reunion, 1-4 April 2011, Scarborough. Call Eileen Hollidge on 01329 825 663.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 • Legion

65 Diary dates.indd 65

65

6/1/11 11:43:11

The last post IT HAPPENED TO ME…

Johnson Beharry LCpl Johnson Beharry of the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment was awarded a VC in 2004 for two acts of bravery while driving a Warrior armoured vehicle in Iraq.

It was to change his life forever

“

I suspect it’s hard for people to understand how difficult my life is. Healthwise, I’m still recovering. I won’t ever be 100 per cent.

I might look it; I carry myself well. But the injuries happened and I can’t change that. I still suffer with flashbacks. I’ve been in constant pain for six and a half years, but I’ve learned to live with it.

I want to leave the Army too. I joined to be a soldier, but I don’t feel like one. I work in recruitment and it’s not fulfilling. I want to do more. I want to get on the ground and run around, but I’m not allowed to go to Afghanistan. My medical grading won’t let me deploy and, unfortunately, it’s not something that’s going to change.

What I do enjoy is working with teenagers and sharing my story with them. I was involved in drugs and robberies before I joined the Army. I wanted to get away from it. It wasn’t the way my gran brought me up to be. She’d have wanted me to do something positive with my life. I could have ended up in prison for the rest of my life, so I had a choice to make.

Hopefully, the teenagers I meet won’t go down the same road as I did. And even if they do, then I’m an example that they can turn their lives around. Enlisting was the right thing to do. Now, I’ve got tattoos of the two most important things in my life: my gran on my arm and the Victoria Cross on my back. Getting the Cross tattoo was so painful that it was easier to get shot. It was eight sittings, once a month, for eight hours each time. Imagine just sitting there as someone carves into your back.

My life has totally changed since the award. And for all the right reasons. But even so, having children telling you that they’ve read about you in history books is a strange feeling.

You’re thinking: ‘I’m standing here right in front you, yet I’m history?’ The other thing is that it doesn’t matter if I’m in uniform or out of it, I’m always on parade. I love wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but even if that’s what I’m in and I’m washing the car, I have to be professional. All the kids know me and I also know that what I do makes newspaper headlines. I’m always aware that I’ve 66

done things in my past that I’m not proud of. I know they might come back to haunt me. But there’s no point stressing about it – you just have to move forward. Today, I can share my experiences and hope that people can learn from my mistakes.

I don’t often dwell on the fact that I’m one of only seven living VC holders, but I did recently. We had a dinner for all the VC and GC holders. It was only the second time I’d allowed myself to think about it. Everyone in that room had the same value – and what a club to be in. I’d arrived late and everyone was sat at the table. The best way to describe it is to imagine being away from your family for a few months, and when you get home they’re so happy to see you. They want to know all about how you’ve been. It doesn’t get any better than that. I’m really, really proud to be part of that family.

The things I’m able to do now are things I’ve always wanted to do. Having a VC opens any door. It’s like having a master key. I’ve helped make loads of progress on mental healthcare provision.

I made a fuss about it and it’s amazing to see what’s happened, because I’m just a boy from Grenada. When I was growing up I had no food, no clothes and no school. Today, I’ve got a VC and I’ve written a book (Barefoot Soldier, Little, Brown Book Group).

Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder how that’s been possible.”

Johnson Beharry’s Victoria Cross is one of 210 on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Legion • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

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22/12/10 10:58:48