A letter from the President

RGJRA 2009 JOURNAL

Dear Fellow Riflemen,

You will recall that last year I sent out an appeal for financial support to fund our first RGJRA Journal “Swift and Bold”. This was due to the failure of our publisher to gain sufficient advertising revenue to cover the cost of production. At the time I thought that it was very important to get our first journal out, not least that the journal is a key benefit of RGJRA membership, and I hope that you were all impressed with the final product.

I am immensely grateful to those individuals who gave financial support, you indeed saved the day, but we must ensure that future editions are properly funded. The 2008 Journal cost us approximately £8500 including postage, and we have therefore started to examine in detail how best to fund and in what format, future editions of the journal should be. The A4 glossy format used for the 2008 edition is the ideal, but we have to consider and cost alternative solutions such as the A5 format used by both the RB and 60th Associations.

We are also looking at a variety of publishers and mailing organisations to get the best value we can, and initial quotes received show that we can reduce the previous cost by at least a third. We also plan to use RGJRA funds to fund the Journal, including £3 annually from each annual membership of £10 received. However the key to funding a quality journal, especially if we want to continue with the A4 glossy format, as well as reducing the impact where we can on our Association funds, is to try and maximise the amount of revenue that we can get from advertising.

The aim of this letter is therefore to appeal to all of you who are in a position, either as individuals or as representatives of commercial and other organisations, to pay for an advert in the RGJRA Journal. I am sure that both as Royal Green Jackets and in your civilian capacity many of you will be in a position to get your organisation to sponsor an advert, and as you will have seen from last year, this does not need to be of a military nature.

If you are able to help your Regimental Journal by sponsoring an advert, or indeed making a donation, I would be very grateful if you could complete and return the attached form with your payments by the 30th October, and we will then get in touch with you about the advertising detail you require. This will allow us to produce the next Journal at an affordable and cost effective price, free to all RGJRA members as a key part of their membership benefits, for dispatch in early 2010.

Yours sincerely

Jamie Balfour President RGJRA