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

SPRING SUPPER 19 FEB at the GOLF CLUB and

NEWARK AIR MUSEUM 16 MAR – booking on Page 3

Dear Member,

I hope that you all had a good Christmas and New Year and are ready for a full on 2016. 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 2016. Nothing should come as a great surprise as the majority of the content was agreed at the AGM last October.

The RBL.         The updating of the RBL has continued throughout 2015 and there is some light at the end of the tunnel:

The Branding.   Our new branding, ‘LIVE ON - To the Memory of the Fallen and the Future of the Living’ is now well established.

National Call Centre.  A National Call Centre (0808 802 8080) runs 24/7 and provides a single point of contact for all information about RBL business. It deals with all welfare and membership matters and handled over 790,000 calls last year.

Welfare.            The Regional Welfare team has gained another year’s experience and is providing a good service. Your Branch is looking outward to identify welfare cases for referral to Region and inward towards any of our own members who may need assistance. Chris Cockayne (01949 81956) is your Branch Welfare representative and will give you any advice you need.  

Membership.     The Biggy of 2015 were the changes to the membership data base and the method by which members pay their fees. The new database on ‘Office 365’ can be used by your committee and is now proving its worth. I am glad to say that all but 5 of our 122 members have so far successfully changed to the new payment system. We have until 1 March to sort everyone out. However in some cases the process has been lengthy and frustrating, for which I can only apologise on behalf of the RBL.

Each member is now able to have a space on the RBL web site where they can manage their membership. To set this up go to https://selfservice.britishlegion.org.uk/security/login and click on ‘No password? Set up web account’.

CBOC Membership. In the last calendar year we have welcomed 8 new members against our target of 5! Those joining us are: Ray Brown, Phil and Sue Hodgkinson, Tom and Michelle Bee, Sybil Griffiths, Sam Mitchell and Nancy Hodgkinson. Sadly we lost 3 members and are now 122 strong. We continue to aim our recruiting efforts at those who have served, but anyone is welcome to join.

Fundraising.    2015 was our best year yet for fundraising, both within and without the Poppy Appeal. Outside the Poppy Appeal our Belvoir Wassailors musical evening (thank you Jon Carlton) in May and Lost Lancaster supper (thank you Gilly Cross) in July were resounding successes raising almost £2000 between them. Add to this money raised at Easter Egg rolling, our raffles, the Branch Tombola at the Cotgrave Festival (almost twice the amount that we raised in previous years (thanks Peter McLaughlin)) and other donations and the Branch raised well over its £2000 target.

Poppy Appeal/Remembrance.    We did better than ever before with our Poppy Appeal raising almost £8500 during the fortnight leading to Remembrance Sunday. This demolished our target of £5000. For the first time this year we collected on the door at Morrisons raising over £2500 in just 4 days. Mary Myles, our new Poppy Coordinator, with the organisation team did remarkably well as did the 37 members who were actively involved. On Remembrance Sunday we supported services at all 3 churches and paraded with the other uniformed organisations in Cotgrave. 67 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; 44 members and 5 guests attended. We decided that our 2015 donations should go to: The Poppy Appeal £1000, Nottinghamshire RBL Welfare Fund £500, Alderson House £500 and Galanos House £500. Various members will present the cheques in the next few weeks.

Granby, Barnstone and District (GBD).    GBD have once again had a very successful Poppy Appeal. In 2016 they will have a concentrated effort to recruit sufficient officers and members to enable them to return to full Branch status.

Names of War Memorials.   We researched those who had died in 1915 in great detail throughout the year and are continued to develop our www.CBOCGWP.org  web site. We have had a great deal of help from Cliff Thomas, a Cotgrave resident but not currently a member, who has developed the detail of the names on the Colston Bassett memorial. In Jun Ian Shaw and Jim Reeves joined me to visit Flanders and take photos of as many memorials and graves as possible. In2016 we see the centenary of the battle of Jutland and start of the battle of the Somme. No less than 12 of our 31 names died on the Somme, so we have a lot of work to do. Volunteers always welcome to help.

2016    We have set our targets for 2015 (£9000 from the Poppy Appeal and £2000 outside the Appeal) and there will be lots of opportunities for everyone to get involved. Our main role is fundraising and we have a full program of events which will give us enjoyment as we raise the cash. Our main fundraising event will be on Sunday 17 July when we have supper after listening to a talk with a military flavour. We start our events with the Spring Supper at the Golf Club on the evening of 19 February when we have a short talk by a veteran injured in Afghanistan. Not to be missed.

19 Feb - Spring Supper Booking     For members and their friends, the more the merrier. 7 for 7.30 upstairs at The Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club, NG 12 3HB.  The defined menu is fixed at £20 per head which includes a tip. Pay on the evening. There will be a raffle.

After dinner Aron Fowler and member of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment who was badly wounded in Afghanistan in 2007 will tell his story.

Please send your menu choices to Gilly Cross either by telephone 01949 81532 or e mailcrossgilly@btinternet.com

  Starters        (S1)     Chicken & pork liver pate, plum chutney & toast

                      (S2)     Duo of Melon, raspberry coulis

                      (S3)     Prawn cocktail, Marie Rose sauce

Mains:       All main courses are served with garlic & rosemary roast potatoes, new potatoes with herb butter & a selection of seasonal vegetables

                        (M1)    Grilled salmon, lemon butter sauce

(M2)    Beef Bourguignon

                        (M3)    Roasted chicken breast, tomato & tarragon sauce

(M4)    Baked field mushrooms, with mozzarella, olives & vine tomatoes (v)

  Desserts:

                        (D1)     Nottinghamshire Trifle

                        (D2)     Apple & cherry crumble, custard

                        (D3)     Sticky toffee pudding, vanilla ice cream

                        (D4)     Trio of cheeses, crackers & onion chutney

Coffee or Tea and mints.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

16 Mar – Visit to Newark Air Museum Booking

The Newark Air Museum has an excellent reputation as an interesting place to visit. Ray Brown, one of our members has offered to take us around the museum which includes 2 of the aeroplanes which he flew as an RAF pilot. As with other spring visits we will travel by car and share the cost of petrol. The entry cost at the museum will be £8.50.

We would leave Cotgrave and Colston Bassett at 09.30 am to enter the museum at 10 am. Lunch would be taken in the café which has a variety of hot and cold food and we would think of departing at 3 pm. Some of the exhibits are outside and warm clothes and sensible shoes are highly recommended.

You can see more about the museum at its web site http://www.newarkairmuseum.org

To book please contact Peter McLaughlin on 0115 98974610 orpeter.mclaughlin@live.co.uk

                                                Or Ray Brown on 0115 9893610orr.brown58@btinternet.com