THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

COLSTON BASSETT, OWTHORPE AND COTGRAVE BRANCH

Chairman: John Ludlam, Trowell Stud, Owthorpe Road, Cotgrave, NG12 3PU.    0115 9899094

Secretary: Peter McLaughlin, 4 Eastwold, Cotgrave, Nottingham. NG12 3NQ.      0115 9894610

2015 SPRING NEWSLETTER

Granby, Barnstone and District Became a Sub Branch on 1 Jan 2015

SPRING SUPPER 21 FEB at the GOLF CLUB – see events on Page 4

TRIP to BLETCHLEY PARK 26 Feb – see events on Page 3

Dear Member,

I hope that you all had a good Christmas and New Year and are ready for a full on 2015. This is my Spring Newsletter which I hope will bring you up to date with what is going on in the Branch and what we will do in 2015. Nothing should come as a great surprise as the majority was agreed at the AGM last October.

The RBL.         The RBL has modified the Royal Charter and the Members Management Handbook and your committee is monitoring the changes for those that affect you, the members. Luckily most of the changes are in top level procedures which don’t cascade down, however some do. The overall picture is usually published in the ‘Legion’ magazine (now quarterly) and on the RBL web site www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us. Some important changes are:

The Branding.   ‘Shoulder to Shoulder with All Who Serve’ has been replaced with ‘LIVE ON - To The Memory of The Fallen and the Future of the Living’. The Poppy remains the emblem of the RBL but there is a fresher feel about the advertising. All good news.

Welfare.            Welfare in the RBL is now carried out not at Branch and not at County but at Regional level. A National Call Centre (0808 802 8080) has been established which runs 24/7 and concentrates on welfare information but also deals with any queries about the RBL. ‘Pop In Centres’ are being established on High Streets; one runs in Beeston and another will be opening soon in Derby. There is now an opportunity for members to back up the full time staff by becoming Volunteer Caseworkers, Visitors Volunteers, Information Volunteers, Community Support Volunteers, Ambassador Volunteers, Administration Support Volunteers and Volunteer Coordinators working for the EM Region. If you wish to volunteer get in touch with a member of your committee who will point you in the right direction. Our Fund Raising role continues as before.

House to House Fundraising.  £700 K was raised in 2014 by cold calling and signing up individuals to donate to the RBL by Direct Debit. Unfortunately Branches were not told about this National initiative soon enough and consequently there were some embarrassing incidents. Although one cannot deny that this method of fundraising works it does disadvantage the Branch as far as links with the community and recruiting are concerned.

Membership Renewal.            This year the RBL are introducing a variety of new ways to renew your membership. For those paying by Direct Debit there will be no change unless a member wishes to use a new method. For those paying by cash and wishing to continue to do so payment can be made by Giro through the post office and not through the Branch Treasurer as in previous years. Although details are yet to be published in full I expect the methods of payment to be: Direct Debit, Card by web site or telephone and cash by Giro. Each member will have a personal area within the RBL web site where changes to their membership can be made. This new facility will streamline the whole process and take away many of the more difficult aspects of the Treasurer’s job.

CBOC Membership. In the last calendar year we recruited 7 new members against our target of 5! Those joining us are: Freda Parrott, Sheila Astill, Nigel Ford, Wendy Ford, Dorothy Howard, Dennis Thomsen and Norma Toft. Sadly we lost a few members and are now 117 strong. We continue to aim our recruiting efforts at those who have served, but anyone is welcome to join.

Fundraising.    2014 was another magnificent year for fundraising both within and without the Poppy Appeal. Outside the Poppy Appeal our RAF Band Concert in May and Trent to Trenches supper in July were resounding successes which between them raised £1820. Add to this money raised at our raffles, the Branch Tombola at the Cotgrave Festival and other donations and the Branch raised over £2000 against our target of £1500. This year we have upped our target to £2000.

Poppy Appeal/Remembrance.    We did remarkably well with our Poppy Appeal collection raising £4526 during the fortnight leading to Remembrance Sunday; this is well on the way to our annual target of £5000. Once again we collected house to house in Cotgrave and for the first time this year we collected on the door at the Coop. 2014 was the first time for many years that Sheila Gray had not headed up our Poppy Appeal and we were most sad to hear of her death late last year. Our condolences go out to Gordon our President. Mary Myles is our new Poppy Coordinator and, with her team, did remarkably well. On Remembrance Sunday we supported services at all 3 churches and paraded with the other uniformed organisations in Cotgrave. 61 members and friends sat down to eat a very good lunch at the Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club.

AGM.    In October we held our AGM once again at The Lime Kiln; 46 members and 9 guests attended. We decided that our 2014 donations should go to: The Poppy Appeal £1000, Nottinghamshire RBL Welfare Fund £1000, Byng House £500 and Galanos House £500. With your  Secretary I will deliver the cheque to Galanos House in a couple of weeks.

Welfare.    Chris Cockayne is now well embedded as your Welfare Member. His job is changing as RBL Welfare changes but he has taken up the reins very quickly.

Granby, Barnstone and District (GBD).    GBD became a sub Branch of CBOC on 1 Jan this year after they had a very successful Poppy Appeal in 2014. We look forward to developing a close relationship with their members. Andrew Charlett from Barnstone is the GBD representative on the CBOC Committee.

Names of War Memorials.   Our research into the names of those on our war memorials who died in, or as a result of WW1 is moving forward. The web site www.CBOCGWP.co.uk tells the story and this year we will concentrate on those who died in 1915. A few of us will visit Flanders this year to photograph all the graves and memorials of our names.

2015    In 2015 we see the 200^th Anniversary of The Battle of Waterloo (18 Jun 1815), the Centenary of the start of disastrous operations in Gallipoli (25 Apr 1915) and the 70^th Anniversary of VE Day (8 May 1945). All stark reminders of what the RBL is all about.  We have set our targets for 2015 and there are lots of opportunities for everyone to get involved. Our main role is fundraising and to that end I am most grateful to Jon Carlton for arranging the ‘Belvoir Wassailors’ to come and sing for us in All Saints church on 14 March. Our main fundraising event will be on Sunday 12 July when we have supper after hearing the excellent story of the escape of the crew of an RAF Bomber which during WW took off from Langar airfield on its way to Germany and was shot down over France. We start our events with the Spring Supper at the Golf Club on the evening of 21 February. Just one month from now, so hurry to get your bids/choices in (page 4). Our excellent speaker for the event will be the Nottinghamshire RBL main fundraiser who raised record amounts, over £750 K, last year.

Please see the next pages for the events list and call in notice.

* 21 Feb Spring Supper , 7 for 7.30 for Members and their Friends. A booking Proforma is on page 4. Complete now.

*26 Feb Visit to Bletchley Park . One needs 4 hours to take in all that is on offer at Bletchley Park. To achieve that and avoid rush hours we need to leave Cotgrave at 9 am, arrive at Bletchley at 1030 am, depart Bletchley at 2.30 pm and arrive Cotgrave 4 pm. Lunch can be taken in Bletchley Park café (hot food). The cost of entry to Bletchley for a party numbering over 12 is £11 pp. Fewer than 12 is £14.75 pp (Over 60s). The cost of a coach is restrictive and therefore traveling in private cars will keep the costs down.

I need 11 other members or their friends to make the visit worthwhile. I will take my car with 5 seats and look for 2 other volunteers to take their cars. Repayment of petrol money will be arranged.

Please contact me before 20 Feb on 0115 9899094 or cbocchairman@aol.com if you are interested.

*14 Mar ‘Belvoir Wassailors’Concer.       Just can’t wait for this one! All Saints church Cotgrave doors open 6.45 pm for a 7.20 start. Tickets cost £9 which includes a drink and a few nibbles. There will be a raffle.

The Belvoir Wassailors are an amateur group of about 30 singers from the Vale who provide an exceptionally professional performance. They will give us a couple of hours of singing with a 20 minute break in the middle. Their performance includes songs popular in both World Wars and there will be the opportunity to fill your lungs.

Tickets from Jon Carlton on 0115 9893710 or other sellers.

21 Feb - Spring Supper Booking Form,    7 for 7.30

For members and their friends, the more the merrier. 7 for 7.30 in a private dining room and bar upstairs at The Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club, NG 12 3HB.

After dinner Elaine Hopkins the County RBL Fundraiser will talk to us about the ‘better than ever before fundraising in Nottinghamshire’.

There will be a raffle.

The defined menu is fixed at £18 per head which includes a tip.

MENU

Starters:         (S1)     Chicken and Pork Liver Pate, plum chutney and toast

                      (S2)     Duo of Melon, raspberry coulis

                      (S3)     Warm comfit of tomatoes and goats cheese tart (v)

Mains:       All main dishes are served with seasonal vegetables, roast and new potatoes

            (M1)    Grilled Salmon, white wine and dill sauce

            (M2)    Pan Fried Pork Chop, sage and garlic sauce

            (M3)    Mediterranean Vegetable Stack (v)

Desserts:

(D1)     Strawberry Eton Mess

(D2)     Apple and Cherry Crumble

(D3)     Chocolate Mousse

(D4)     Cheddar and Stilton, onion chutney

Coffee or Tea and mints.

Wine, at £15 per bottle is far cheaper that by the glass.

.....................................................................................................................

RETURN PROFORMA

It is essential that all meal selections are pre-booked by way of the following Proforma -

For further details, or to confirm your attendance and Menu Selection:

by mail to Gilly Cross, Little Field, Harby Lane, Colston Bassett, NG12 3FH

or by email crossgilly@btinternet.com

or by phone Gilly Cross on 01949 81532 before 17 Feb.

I/we confirm that the following will be attending the Annual Spring Supper, and herein are our Menu Selections:

Name……………………. (Tel number……................) S1/ S2/ S3     M1 / M2 / M3   D1 /D2 / D3/ D4

Name.................................................................................S1/ S2/ S3     M1 / M2 / M3   D1 /D2/ D3/D4

Name.................................................................................S1/ S2/ S3     M1 / M2 / M3   D1 /D2/ D3/ D4

Name.................................................................................S1/ S2/ S3     M1 / M2 / M3   D1 /D2/ D3/ D4