The Moorings, Issue #72

THE MOORINGS ISSUE 72

DECEMBER 2018

Core Values: Unity, Loyalty, Patriotism & Comradeship - Once Navy, always Navy

POPPY POWER

RNA Rayleigh Shipmates Cllr Jack Lawmon (Chairman of Rayleigh Town Council), Rt.Hon. Mark Francois MP & Rev. David Oxtoby in front of the Poppy Installation at Holy Trinity Church, Rayleigh.

Incorporated by Royal Charter

Patron: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

ROYAL NAVAL ASSOCIATION RAYLEIGH BRANCH (No.5 Area)

BRANCH CONTACTS RNArayleigh@outlook.com President:

Bob Hill

01268 780449

Chairman:

Jim Hammond

01268 414616

Vice Chairman:

Terry Barker

01268 456165

Hon. Secretary:

Gary Daisley

01268 555570

Hon. Treasurer:

Joan Crick

01268 741303

Membership Secretary:

Bill Vernon

01268 772775

Standard Bearer:

Dave Bishop

01268 770521

Welfare Officer:

Dave Mead

01702 307922

Social Secretary:

Mike Sandbrook

01702 801103

Padre:

Rev. David Oxtoby

01268 971814

BRANCH DETAILS email: RNArayleigh@outlook.com Bank Details: tweet: @RNArayleigh HSBC Rayleigh Royal Naval Association Rayleigh Branch

Account number & sort code from Hon. Treasurer.

Meeting Venue: Royal British Legion 2 London Hill, Rayleigh SS6 7HP Tel: 01268 776503 Meeting Dates: Fortnightly (see back cover).

Registered Charity: Registration Number 1069148 2

High Life in the High Street:

On the beat! Shipmates Mike Sandbrook & Jim Hammond braving the bleak winter weather on Wednesday 7 November in Rayleigh High Street, collecting funds for the Poppy Appeal. Shipmate Ray Fenn led the band of volunteers who also included S/M’s Dave Mead, Eddie Dray, Mike Burnham, Alan White, Terry Barker & Tony Reeky.

We currently wait to hear the amount raised, but last year’s RNA team collected a staggering £461.98 in just one day!

In 2017 the Poppy Appeal nationally raised £47M, with £4M from Essex alone, of which nearly £38,000 came from Rayleigh.

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Extract from the Semaphore Circular November 2018 Dear Shipmates, Welcome to our November Circular. It has been marvellous to read about the success of the F35 trials on HMS Queen Elizabeth and how well the ship and aircraft are doing together. The F35 trials are all about getting the operating limits right for all types of weather and ‘all-upmass’ of the aircraft. The plots have also been trying a new running landing, which will allow the aircraft to come back with heavier loads (Sea Harriers had to ditch weapons to be able to hover back on sometimes).

We are now in the Remembrance season, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Field of Remembrance and at the Cenotaph. Remember that we have sandwiches and chips in the darts room of the Civil Service Club after the parade.

Thank you for your response to the call for crosses in our Field of Remembrance plot at Westminster Abbey, BZ to S/M Gordon Williams and 7 Area particularly.

Apologies that this Circ is slightly later than normal, we have just changed to arrangements for the Deputy General Secretary.

Andy Christie will now job-share DGS with Sarah Clewes, who joins the Central Office team. Sarah continues separate duties as Project Manager of Project Semaphore. There is no increase in costs, both will work 2.5 days a week as DGS. The new email is now dgs@royalnavalassoc.com – so please use that. For Project Semaphore please still use sarah@royalnavalassoc.com. There is a CV for Sarah in the Circ.

Some important matters of business: • There are important forms on the attached file for: •

Branch motions with a deadline of 15 February. Please chat over in branches anything that you might like to see discussed or decided at Conference.

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•

NCM and DNCM election forms for Areas 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and Scotland, deadline 15 February.

•

Nomination forms for Standing Orders Committee.

•

Diaries are in and Nigel is awaiting your orders, same for the Christmas cards that are selling well – order forms attached to the Circ.

•

There has been a revision on some costs of slops, these have all been caused by supplier increases. Price list included in this Circ.

•

Please get your orders in for the subsidised beret badges, before we run out and revert to full-cost. Free issue to Branch and Area Standard Bearers who should wear it on all occasions from 1 January 19.

We still need members of the Standing Orders Committee between now and next Conference and we would love to hear from anyone interested as soon as you can. This is an important role in the governance of the association and is a great way of helping branches. SOC members have their expenses covered for Conference and one meeting in Portsmouth.

You might be interested to know that following a motion at Conference last year that S/M Peter Goodwin (NCM8) has been leading a study team looking into the issue of Centralised membership and how other Associations do it. It has membership drawn across the RNA and includes those who spoke against the motion too – to ensure a balanced view. The study group is nearing the end of Phase 1 of its studies and will report to the NC in December.

Finally, Bill Oliphant the new GS arrives 7 November for 4 weeks of training and briefing – taking over as GS at the NC meeting on 8 Dec. So, the next Circular will be my 87th and last.

Thanks and best wishes from the Central Office team.

Paul Quinn General Secretary 5

Poppy Power: The installation of more than thirteen thousand hand-made poppies created by supporters of the church, Town Council, WI and volunteer groups across the region officially went on display outside Rayleigh’s Holy Trinity Church on Saturday 27 October to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice marking the end of World War One. In a service outside the Holy Trinity Church on a very chilly Saturday afternoon, Shipmates Cllr Jack Lawmon, Mark Francois MP and the Rev. David Oxtoby gave short addresses reminding the assembled masses of the symbolic nature of the installation, how it took its inspiration from the installation at the Tower of London in 2014 and reminding everyone of the loss of life it represented.

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The installation was so large that it could be easily distinguished in aerial photographs of the area, like the one above from Terry Joyce.

The spectacle continued inside the church with displays from local schools who had produced their own poppy tributes to the fallen. Tributes included wreaths, banners and a poppy soldier.

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The Nation’s Tribute: Rayleigh branch members formed the honour guard at the Beacon lighting service in Bellingham Lane on the evening of 11 November as part of the town’s Battle’s Over commemoration.

Towns and cities across the country honoured the sacrifices made on the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice which ended WW1. Following national beacon lightings the Holy Trinity church bells rang out in unison with churches and cathedrals across the country as part of the nationally coordinated event.

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Operation Sweet Pea: RNA Rayleigh again played host with its annual Service at the RN & RNA Memorial in Rettendon. A short ceremony was led by Rev. David Oxtoby and wreath laying

by S/M Jim Hammond on Monday 12 November.

The event continues to build each year, as branch members continue to honour the immortal memory of those who have died in the service of their country.

This year we were also joined by S/M Terry Barker with the No.5 Area RNA Standard and Michael Westhead, the Standard Bearer from the Prince of Wales Sea Training School Society.

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No.5 Area Q4 Meeting: RNA Rayleigh hosted its first No.5 Area Meeting on 3 November at the Royal British Leigion Hall. Rayleigh Branch is committed to supporting the Area, with S/M Jim Hammond serving as National Council Member and Area Vice Chairman and S/M Terry Barker serving as Standard Bearer as well as Rayleigh Branch Delegate to the Area Meetings.

As hosts for our first Area Meeting, we were keen to show the Branch at its best to visitors from within the East Anglia area and we even brought out the ‘family silver’ to show off. Including the John Newsome Trophy (currently held by S/M Iain Hendry).

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The meeting itself dealt with the usual business of Area and branch interest, including the statement from Central Office about the new RNA beret badges.

It was reiterated that all Area and Branch Standard Bearers would be required to wear the new badge from 1 January 2019 and that all other branch members would need to replace their cloth beret badge with the shiny new metal badge by 1 January 2020. Badges are available through Central Office Slops for £5 each, a small number are available to each branch at a discounted rate for committee members.

S/M Terry Barker No.5 Area Standard Bearer

At stand-easy, Rayleigh Branch enjoyed a visit from Trevor (normally seen propping up the bar) supporting his newest alterego as a Steam-Punk!

Amongst cries of ’he’s old enough to know better’ Trevor always brings a cheer and a smile to the RBL, particularly when he’s stood behind the bar pulling pints and pouring out the Pusser’s!

Steam-Punk Ambassador & RBL Barman - Trevor Miller.

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Life as a Standard Bearer: I never thought I would become a Standard Bearer for Rayleigh Branch RNA. Thanks to Shipmate Gary Daisley approaching me, I said I would give it a try. S/M Terry Barker showed me the ropes and after a few lessons, all was done.

Terry said he was pleased with my progress and told me I had made the grade. I have now presented the Standard on five separate occasions and I was very nervous on the first one but got on with the job. I must say that i enjoy doing it.

I feel honoured and privileged to be RNA Rayleigh’s Deputy Standard Bearer, especially as I am a proud Pongo!

S/M Dave Mead Branch Welfare Officer & Deputy Standard Bearer

Rayleigh Branch on Twitter: If you use Twitter to keep abreast of what’s going on in the world through Social Media, you may like to know that RNA Rayleigh now has it’s own Twitter page. You can follow us at @RNArayleigh. You’d be surprised who else is out there, including the RN, RNA Central Office, the First Sea Lord, HMS Queen Elizabeth and many others.

If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it is an online news and social networking site where people communicate in short messages called tweets. Tweeting is posting short messages for anyone who follows you on Twitter, with the hope that your messages are useful and interesting to someone in your audience. Another description of Twitter and tweeting might be microblogging. Some people use Twitter to discover interesting people and companies online, opting to follow their tweets.

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Social Round up: Recap on RNA Rayleigh Branch Social Events 2018 I was asked by our Hon. Secretary S/M Gary Daisley to give a brief overview on our Social events for 2018, but when I looked back, I realised how busy we have actually been: Visits: February: Cutty Sark, Greenwich Market and the National Maritime Museum.

April: RNA Basildon Branch St. George’s Day Dance.

May: Museum of Power.

June: Portsmouth Dockyard and RNA HQ. July: RNA Maidstone Branch Sea Service.

September: Paradise Wildlife Park with an evening meal at the Three Horseshoes.

We also had three Mess Deck Suppers and a Christmas Social.

If this wasn’t enough S/M’s Dave Smith and Eddie Dray also hosted a Race Night and a Games Night. Finally, I have to mention another very successful Formal Mess Dinner at Saxon Hall.

It’s easy to see that we are a very active branch but what you can’t see is the camaraderie of our members. The real highlight for me is seeing our members socialising and enjoying the company of their shipmates.

Thank you all for taking part in our social events this year. As this is our last Moorings for 2018, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

S/M Mike Sandbrook Social Secretary

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RNA Dagenham Mess Dinner: The run ashore to support RNA Dagenham’s annual Mess Dinner was put together and organised by S/M Mike Sandbrook who due to a family holiday in Crete, was sadly unable to join us.

However, the ‘away team’ of S/M’s Gary Daisley, Jim & Pat Hammond, Terry & Eileen Barker and Bill Vernon pulled out the stops and proudly flew the flag for Rayleigh.

The Rt Hon. Jon Cruddas MP was the guest of honour for the evening and very kindly donated two bottles of Lamb’s Navy Rum. Neither bottle survived the evening and both were consumed within minutes of opening (it would have been rude not to really!)

We would like to thank everyone at RNA Dagenham for making us feel most welcome and we are truly sorry about the number of raffle prizes that were taken back with us to Rayleigh, but you know what they say? That’s life in a blue suit!

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Diary Dates

2018 Uckers Tournament Hosted by Southend RNA Saturday 8 December 2018 RBL, London Hill, Rayleigh - 10am-4pm

RNA Rayleigh Christmas Social Wednesday 12 December 2018 Enjoy letting your hair down and spending the evening with Frank & Edna.

First Branch Meeting of 2019 Wednesday 9 January 2019 RBL, London Hill, Rayleigh - 8-10pm

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RNA No.5 Area AGM Hosted by Harwich RNA Saturday 2 February 2019 United Service Club, Harwich - 2-4pm

RNA Rayleigh Branch AGM Wednesday 6 February 2019 RBL, London Hill, Rayleigh - 8-10pm

Auction Night Wednesday 6 March 2019 Proceeds to Annual Mess Dinner - All welcome!

RNA v RBL Darts Match Friday 3 May 2019 (TBC) S/Ms Dave Bishop & Dave Harding 15

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