THE ROYAL BRITISH
LEGION
WATLINGTON BRANCH
NEWS
November 2011
"Wherever we arrived, they
disappeared, whenever we left, they arrivedthey were everywhere and
nowhere, they had no tangiblecentre which could be
attacked,
( No, not the Taliban: A Napoleonic officer on fighting
Spanish guerrillas during the Peninsular War 1810.)
Branch Matters.
Membership, comings & goings: We extend a warm welcome to 3 new
members, namely Mr Kevin House (who incidentally joined via the
Legion's website), Mr Jim Stubbs, and Mrs Maggie Dawson; But
sadly we have lost 5 members: Renee Gibson, who was in the Land
Army, andwhose husband George was our Sports Officer until he died
in the 1980's; Sheila Jacquet who had only recently joined the
Branch; Peggy Wicks, a lumber-jill during ww2; and Arthur Hopkins,
a long serving member and local man who was a "tankie" during the
last war and served in the Far East, have all died ; we send our
condolences to their friends and families and hope that they may
rest in Peace. Our 5th loss was Richard Hudson who
has moved to Italy where we wish him well.
Occasionally people move house and forget to inform us, which means
not only that we lose track of them but also that they will
probably not receive the Legion magazine, this newsletter, or any
other Legion correspondence. Currently there are at least 3 members
on our books who fall into that category, so please, if you move,
send a note of your new address to the secretary whose details are
at the foot of this newsletter.
Meetingscontinue to be held on the second Monday of every month but
sadly attendance figures have been down this year into the low 20's
in spite of some very interesting talks. The October one in
particular bySqn Ldr Matt Aspinallwho gave us a first hand account
of flying Merlin helicopters inAfghanistanwas perhaps the most
exciting. No speakers have been engaged for November (AGM) or
December (Xmas Social/Carols), and at the time of writing this,
next year's diary is almost a blank canvas, so any ideas and/or
suggestions would be most welcome.
Please try to come to the AGM on 14th November:
at least 2 committee members will be standing down and some new
faces and ideas will be welcome to keep the Branch moving
forward.
