The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum

Wiltshire Branch Report

Remembrance Day in Warminster 2020

A much muted affair this year due to the pandemic. The Warminster Council that oversees the War Memorial allocated organisations a time slot in which to lay their wreaths and pay their respects. They also restricted numbers able to attend and obviously we had to observe social distancing. Two days were made available, either the Sunday closest to the 11th or the actual 11th which fell on a Wednesday. We the Wiltshire branch decided to lay our wreath on the 11th and on the day a number of members paraded and paid our respects to the fallen. Let’s hope we can return to some semblance of normality in November.

ROYAL GREEN JACKETS ROYAL GREEN JACKETS Veterans Reunion Veterans Reunion

Saturday 10th July ATR Winchester Sir John Moore Barracks Saturday 10th July from 1400hrs ATR Winchester Sir John Moore Barracks SO22 6NQ ( Continuous Buses from City Ctr to ATR All Veterans, Families and Friends Welcome Featuring: The Rifles Band & Bugles Buglers Association The Military Wives Choir The Bournemouth Carnival Band The Melodic Belles Parking: As directed by Reunion Staff COVID Permitting CANCELLED

External Range Car Park Limited Blue Badge Parking Buggy Ferry available Camping: Assault Course Trg Area Access to site from 1400hrs on 9/7

Winchester & District Branch Report

On a wet and chilly evening in February 2020, 33 members of the Winchester & District branch happily met for its 33rd annual AGM, completely unaware of course that in a matter of weeks everything it had planned to do as a branch for the ensuing year would have to be either suspended or cancelled as the Covid-19 pandemic spread, and a whole new way of living (and sadly dying) was thrust upon the world. As the pandemic began to take hold and social restrictions were applied and social inactivity and isolation became the norm, our most worrying concern was the very real possibility that the branch would begin to experience ‘drift away’ of our membership. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common and well-known occurrence in organisations such as ours when regular contact is broken or extended for whatever reason. To prevent or at least counter this, it was decided right from the outset that whatever the future held we would make every effort to try and carry on as normal within whatever rules were in place at the time, and crucially to maintain the links with our membership through the issue of regular emailed updates and general notices of interest. At the time of writing this seems to be working fairly well as membership of our branch continues to remain steady with everyone positively looking forward to the future – whatever it holds. Despite the limitations and restrictions placed on our lives the good old British bulldog spirit remained as strong as ever with branch members participating in or supporting whatever limited activity they could. For example, Lyndon one of our Associate members, and son of John Harper had planned to do a 3-day 100km Frontline Walk Challenge (Somme to the Menin Gate) in October in support of ABF fundraising, but unfortunately and inevitably as the pandemic took hold this had to be

postponed until 2021. But being the person he is and instead of twiddling his thumbs and doing nothing, and to keep himself fit he volunteered to do the alternative Virtual Frontline Challenge instead. This was an ABF sponsored initiative which consisted of a 100km walk visiting whatever memorials the participant Christmas TOTP’s 2020 wished within the UK. In Lyndon’s case it included the RB Memorial in London via the Unknown Warrior Plaque at Victoria Station and finishing at the KRRC memorial in Winchester. For his efforts Lyndon managed to raise an additional £400 to add to the £1,500 he had already raised for the 2020 Frontline Challenge which he will do again in 2021. Although the rest of us didn’t manage to do anything on that scale the branch still continued to attend, support and be involved in the Turning of the Pages Ceremonies in Winchester Cathedral whenever it was opened to the public. And finally, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention John Scott, John Harper and Derek Randell who as both branch and Honorary members of the ATR WO’s & Sgts Mess, have continued to maintain and enhance our regimental connection with Sir John Moore Barracks. Where this year and despite a total access ban by the Garrison Comd on all civilians entering military establishments on Remembrance Day, they still managed to get themselves invited in and to lay a wreath in the LD Memorial Garden on behalf of the Regiment. A garden I remind everyone, which despite all weathers, restrictions and usage still gets incredibly well looked after by Pat and May Low who are now both in their 80s! The Regiment has much to thank them for. On a less happier note we sadly lost Robert ‘Nobby’ Clarke (ex KRRC) this year. Nobby had been one of our founding members in 1985 and had been the branch secretary for a number of its early years. Missed but never forgotten! And finally, it has become very obvious to me that this pandemic and its lockdowns can cause considerable and serious mental issues. Well it has for me anyway as I struggle with writing this article and the variation of grammatical tenses it has presented me with.

For example, I know this article will not be published until sometime in 2021, so do I write this now in the ‘past tense’? (which I think I sort of have). Or as we are still living through it right now, do I write it in the present tense? Or knowing it will carry on into 2021, do I write it in the future tense? For someone with only the academic level of ACE 1 this level of referencing time is really doing my head in, and as a consequence I think I have slightly lost touch with reality (no change there then). Mind you on the upside, this whole pandemic thing has also ensured it will stay in my memory for ever. Not least because of all the lovely new or refreshed words that have come back into our language such as Covid-19, hand gel, face masks, social distancing, furlough, and lockdown to name but a few. But the one thing I am sure we will remember most, will be the relatively new phenomenon of little square images pinging onto our computer screens, and within each tiny landscape a bemused, unshaven, and yet oddly familiar face staring back at us! Welcome to 2020 and the Zoom meeting!

John F-D

John(s) Harper & Scott Wreath Laying 4 November 2020