News from the Branches

The Branch is going from strength to strength with regular meetings being held at the Gosport Royal British Legion on the fi rst Thursday of each month at 1930hrs. Our fi rst major event was the attendance at the Winchester Reunion in July this year which was supported by a large contingent and as we all disappeared off to our homes plans where already being put in place to attend next year.

A small section headed off to the remembrance parade in Gosport at the invitation of the Lord Mayor of Gosport and our Chairman Roger Forder placed a wreath at the War Memorial in remembrance of those who had given the ultimate sacrifi ce. Our entertainments team are planning a Battle fi eld tour to the SOMME in March next year there are a few places left so if any one wants to attend please contact the secretary James at sailingagain@btinternet.com or via the Royal Green Jackets web site.

NORTH EAST BRANCH

Hello Brother Rifl emen,

Welcome to the North East Branch and we hope you will all enjoy reading what we have been doing since our last e-zine entry. We held our last meeting on Friday 27th September with 31 Rifl emen on parade and 18 apologies due to other duties. The details for the Remembrance Weekend were fi nalised, others matters were discussed and we then moved upstairs to enjoy a social evening.

Our fi rst pleasurable event of the Autumn was the marriage of Serjeant Dave Sproat and Suzanne Stephenson on the 26th October 2013 (the same weekend SAFC beat NUFC 2-1). We hope it didn’t spoil their celebrations too much!

David and Suzanne were childhood sweethearts as well as lifelong Newcastle fans (doesn’t make them bad people) and have been together since1981.

Dave Joined the RGJ family in November 1981, going into 10 Platoon at the Rifl e Depot. He was one of the recruits that were trained by a certain Sjt J Cheetham with Lt Col Nicholas Prideaux as Commanding Offi cer. Dave’s training was the best as we all know with lots of show parades and boots being slung out of windows, before passing out as a trained, thinking Rifl eman in March 1982, when Dave was posted to the 1st Battalion in Northern Ireland.

Dave went onto the JNCOs’ cadre in 1986 and was promoted, becoming the Company Commander’s driver. 1988 Dave attended the Section Commander’s course in beautiful, sunny Brecon. During 1990, Dave saw the amalgamation of the Battalions and he was posted to 2 RGJ. In 1992 he was posted to Cyprus and while there, he was part of the Support Company Rugby team that won the Cyprus Rugby cup.

Dave then decided to change his career somewhat and joined the Mortar Platoon where he went to Jordan (another holiday) before returning to ATR Winchester. When this posting was over he became a Corporal in the Regimental Police at Bulford.

Dave’s Army life did not end here, he joined a civilian fi rm who participated in a new concept for the Army as a sponsored reservist driving the newest tank transporter which meant he had to re-badge to the Royal Logistic Corps. This Dave describes as an eye- opener when he was in Iraq and Afghanistan but he still made lots of new friends, never forgetting his roots as a thinking Rifl eman.

Our main event of the Branch’s year was the Remembrance Weekend for which we had been working and planning since May. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Jake and Liz Cheetham for all their hard work along with the other Committee members who assisted in the preparations. Also, I wish to thank our sponsor for his continued sponsorship of the Branch; without his generosity we wouldn’t be able to host such a prestigious event.

The weekend celebrations started on the Friday afternoon when numerous Rifl emen and WAGS, from all over the country and Europe, began to arrive at the various hotels and guest houses within the local area of Roker and Seaburn.