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COUNTY WELFARE FUND

GROUP & BRANCH DONATIONS

1 JULY 2015 TO 30 JUNE 2016

THAXTED £ 100HORNCHURCH £ 1000KELVEDON £ 1400WIVENHOE £ 277TAKELEY £ 500HEDINGHAMS £ 1000WIVENHOE £ 751BRENTWOOD £ 83HARLOW £ 466SOUTH WOODHAM £ 600GREAT WAKERING £ 3000BURNHAM £ 500BROOMFIELD £ 2500

TOTAL RECEIVED FROM BRANCHES THISFINANCIAL YEAR TO DATE:

£12177

TOTAL RECEIVED FROM OTHER SOURCESTHIS FINANCIAL YEAR TO DATE:

£23068

COMBINED TOTAL TO DATE:£35245

‘Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.’(Henry Ford)

COUNTY NOTICES & EVENTS

THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGIONESSEX COUNTYNEWSLETTER

BRANCH FUND INITIATIVE 1.9851%

NOVEMBERDECEMBER

2015

WELFARE EXPENDITURE

AS YET THIS FINANCIAL YEAR

£12,904

A PASSING THOUGHTBetter to know and be disappointed than never to know

and always wonder

COMMUNITY FUNDRAISER

NEW APPOINTMENT

DARREN FULLER

I am 39 years old and currently live in Colchester with my wifeAnnmarie, a Physiotherapist working for the MOD. I have a 14year old son, Adam and a daughter, Sky Elizabeth, who was bornon the 21st of October this year. (Congratulations!)

In June 1994 I joined The Parachute Regiment and served for 20years, leaving the service in August 2014 with the rank of ColourSergeant. I was deployed on 11 operational tours of duty duringmy service to Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.Unfortunately on my second tour of Afghanistan in 2008 I wasinjured in a mortar incident resulting in me becoming a right armbelow elbow amputee. I continued to serve for a further 6 Years,however in 2014 I was medically discharged. Since leaving theservice I have carried out Volunteer work for my Regimental andother Charities.

It is my intention to approach this appointment with the samelevel of enthusiasm and professionalism that I did in my militarycareer, and will work as hard as I need to achieve the aims of theRBL and the Poppy Appeal. I look forward to working andmeeting with you all in the future.

Darren can be contacted at:

DFuller@britishlegion.org.uk07920 138798

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ESSEX COUNTY NOTICES

THE NEWSLETTERIs edited by Bryan Emery (Deputy County Treasurer)

He may be contacted on any matter concerning the newsletter including suggestions for improvement,layout, or what have you! You may send contributions for inclusion in the newsletter direct to the Email

address shown below. It would be helpful if all contributions are sent using Ariel 9 point font.bryan.emery@btinternet.com

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The October Special Circular has been sent to all theBranch Secretaries by post.

COUNTY CONFERENCE

2016

Will be held on Saturday 16th January 2016 atthe Marconi Social Club, Beehive Lane,Chelmsford.

LEGION AWARDS

Branches are reminded that elderly members, whoover the years have performed outstanding dutiesbut who are no longer as active as they were,should not be overlooked for awards.

As an acknowledgement and “Thank you” for theirpast services, some consideration should be givento recommending them for an award.

Longevity as a Legion Member is not a qualificationfor any award in itself, however, long servingmembers who have held office, even briefly, orworked tirelessly on behalf of their Branch in anycapacity should be considered for an award”

DON’T LEAVE IT TOO LATE!MESSAGE TO BRANCHES

FROM ESSEX MSO

It’s a busy time for us here, we have over 11,500membership renewals happening across Essex andwe are supporting 67 branches through this process.

As you are aware with the changes there are lots ofqueries and questions coming to myself and Leighvia email, the contact centre and direct telephone. Iknow there is some frustration with the new way ofworking.

Please can we ask that you bear with us, we aretrying to answer all your queries as quickly aspossible and return your calls.

Thank you for your support

VictoriaMSO Essex

COUNTY CONFERENCE

DELEGATE NOMINATIONS

TO BE RETURNED

Branches wishing to attend the Essex CountyConference must complete and return a BranchDelegate Nomination form by the 18th

December. Two Delegates may only be sent toconference if Branch membership is 301 or more.

Please remember that you are only eligible to senda delegate if your 14/15 Branch R &P Accountswere submitted by the 30th September 2015,form MS1 was submitted by 31 December 2014and your Branch Affiliation Fee paid by 31 March2015.

COUNTY CONFERENCE DELEGATES In order to send a delegate to the County Conference branches mustreturn the Delegate Nomination Form, Annex A, included in the Conference Circular. ATTENDANCE ISCURRENTLY VERY LOW, PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE RETURNED YOUR FORM IF ATTENDING.

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BRITISH LEGION STANDARDS

ON PARADE

The Branch Standards of both Debden and Saffron Walden RBLBranches were on parade last weekend at the dedicationceremony for the new Memorial to commemorate all the RAF andUSAAF personnel and units that served at RAF DEBDEN, duringand after the war. RAF Debden is now better known as CarverBarracks, Wimbish

RAF Debden was opened in 1937 and was first used by the RAF.During the early days of WW2, it was a Sector Station with anOperations Room for 11 Group. During the Battle of Britain, eightdifferent RAF Fighter Squadrons were based at Debden Airfield atdifferent times and theairfield was attacked severaltimes.

The original grass runwayswere replaced by hardsurface runways in 1940and from mid-1940 untilSeptember 1942, the airfieldwas the home of No: 71,121 and 133 “Eagle”Squadrons equipped initiallywith Spitfire V Fighters.These three “Eagle”Squadrons were formedwith volunteer US pilots whosigned up and joined the RAF before America’s entry into the war.

In 1942, the airfield was transferred to the US 8th Army Air Forceand became the home of the US 4th Fighter Group. Initiallyequipped with Spitfires, the US squadrons were first re-equippedwith Thunderbolts and then subsequently in 1944 with P-51Mustang Fighters. After the war, Debden Airfield was returned tothe RAF and was occupied by the Empire Radio School, a unit ofthe RAF Technical Training Command, and then, in due course,in 1960 by the RAF Police School and Dog Training Unit. In 1975the Station was transferred to the Army and was re-designatedCarver Barracks.

POPPY APPEAL LAUNCH

LEIGH ON SEA BRANCH

Like other branches in Essex the Leigh on Sea team arearranging various events to raise funds for the 2015 PoppyAppeal which was launched at a Concert featuring “THE SHOWCHOIR” on 24th October at Chase High School. Our guest ofhonour was Southend West MP, Sir David Amess.

COUNTY RECRUITING

OFFICER NEEDED.

There is a current vacancy for the role ofCounty Recruiting Officer. This is a vitalCounty position and plays a pivotal part ofrecruitment of new members and raisingthe profile of the Legion across theCounty. Please contact the MSO for moreinformation.

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DEBDEN BRANCH

ANNUAL DINNER

Debden Branch RBL held its Annual Branch Dinner in theOfficers Mess at Carver Barracks on Friday 6th November bythe kind courtesy of the Commanding Officers of the twoRoyal Engineer Regiments (EOD) stationed there. TheDinner attended by 66 Members and their Guests waspresided over by both the outgoing Branch Chairman Colonel(Retd) Roger Burgess OBE and his successor, Mr MichaelClarke.

Official guests were the President of Essex County RBL,Brigadier (Retd) Malcolm Ratcliffe DL and his wife Shirley andthe Chairman of “C” Group Essex County RBL, Mr John Monkand his wife Shirley. Guest Speaker was LieutenantAlexandra Bradford RE, a young female EOD and Searchtrained Officer based with 101 Engineer Regiment (EOD)based at Carver Barracks.

Entertainment wasprovided in the AnteRoom after dinner byLisa Peretti, theMusical Director of theCarver BarracksMilitary Choir. Lisasang a mixture ofpopular modern andWW2 songs.

Debden Branch wouldlike to take thisopportunity to publically thank the officers and men based atCarver Barracks for the marvellous job they are doing underdifficult circumstances.

NEW CHAIRMAN

FOR

DEBDEN BRANCH

After 3 years at the helm, Colonel (Retd) Roger Burgess has just

stood down and been replaced as Chairman of Debden Branch RBL

by Mr Michael Clarke.

Roger, who served for more than 30 years with the 9th/12th Royal

Lancers, was once stationed in Carver Barracks at nearby Wimbish.

During his tenure as Branch Chairman, Debden has increased its

membership from 23 to 110 members and been awarded one

National Trophy and 6 County Trophies for Recruiting and

Efficiency. In addition several members have received awards for

their service and support to the community. Roger is Essex County

Chairman (designate) and has been obliged to vacate the post of

Branch Chairman before he can assume his new role in January

2016.

Mr Michael Clarke, who now works for the Royal Bank of Scotland,

served in the REME and was attached for some time with the Royal

Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. He has been a member of the RBL for

many years and transferred to Debden from Thaxted Branch in

2012. He relinquishes his position as Debden Branch Vice

Chairman to take up this post.

COUNTY RECRUITING

OFFICER STILL NEEDED.

There is still a current vacancy for the role of CountyRecruiting Officer. This is a vital County positionand plays a pivotal part of recruitment of newmembers and raising the profile of the Legionacross the County. Please contact the MSO formore information.

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COGGESHALL 2015

FIELD OF REMEMBRANCE

In this 70th anniversary year of the ending of WorldWar Two Coggeshall Royal British Legion honouredCoggeshall’s Fallen of that war with a Field ofRemembrance alongside the war memorial. Afenced area surmounted by a large oak cross wasplanted with a named cross for each man and a copyof the Book of Remembrance, compiled byCoggeshall Museum, with a page for each of thefallen was available for perusal and attracted a lot ofinterest.

The Chairman of Coggeshall Parish Council laid awreath and students from Honeywood School readout the names on the Roll of Honour. They thenscattered poppies among the crosses.

Despite wet weather there was a good attendanceincluding some relatives of those who had died. TheField was in place for a week to include the 11th

November. On that day a large crowd gathered atthe memorial including 30 children from the localprimary school who each received a poppy pin.

TO ALL MEMBERSMay you have a joyfulChristmas Time, and

may the New Yearbring peace and

happiness to you andyour families

AND FINALLY

Isn’t it funny how day by day

nothing changes, but when

you look back everything is

different?