THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

COLSTON BASSETT, OWTHORPE AND COTGRAVE BRANCH

www.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/colston-bassett

Chairman, Trowell Stud, Owthorpe Road, Cotgrave, Nottingham, NG12 3PU.    0115 9899094

2011 SUMMER NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

I try to bring out 3 newsletters each year to keep you up to date with what is going on in the Branch and what the future holds. I don’t duplicate what is in the ‘Legion’ magazine, although much of it is of great interest as the RBL modernises. The article ‘The road to recovery’ on page 8 of the July/August edition is of particular interest.

Branch Treasurer.    First and most important after 18 years fantastic service Roy Evley has decided not to stand for re-election as Treasurer this year.  We need to find a willing volunteer to take over after the AGM on 10 October and to keep our books in order in the future. The task requires accuracy but is not arduous and does not take up a great deal of time. Roy has the details (0115 9892861) and volunteers should contact him or me cbocchairman@aol.com without delay.

Membership.    In this calendar year we have recruited 14 new members! Our new members in Cotgrave are: Maureen Bolstridge, Pam Brooks, Terry Davies, Steve Gardner, Ian Goulding, Liz Long, Judy Mileham, Lillian Neeley, Sue Nicholson, Geoffrey St John, Eric Walton and Drew Wilkie. Johnnie Gibson and Jacqueline Dabell have joined from Cropwell Butler and Cropwell Bishop respectively. We will continue to recruit hard in Cotgrave and the Cropwells throughout the rest of the year so please spread the word, ‘ping’ your friends and help attract the 6 additional members we need to reach our annual target.

CBOC Gatherings.    The CBOC Gatherings on the last Thursday of each month that the Branch doesn’t have another event are going well with between 20 and 30 members and their friends attending. We alternate between The Cotgrave Welfare and the Martins Arms in Colston Bassett, although the latter has limited space and, if numbers continue to rise, we may have to look for a pub with a bigger room. We now run a quiz during the evening and have discovered considerable talent amongst our members. (Do you know who Herr Schicklgruber was?) We will continue to run CBOC Gatherings and the dates are on the calendar on the reverse. Look forward to seeing you there.

Visits.      In May members visited the Reserve Forces Mobilisation and Training Centre at Chilwell to see how every Reservist going to an operational theatre is prepared and what steps are taken to return them to civilian life after their deployment. In June members attended the post operational tour presentation from 16 Airportable Brigade recently returned from Afghanistan. The presentation was outstanding and given at Welbeck College the Armed Forces 6^th Form College near Loughborough, which is a fantastic facility. I will continue to advertise similar events as they become available.

Poppy Party.    The highlight of the year so far was undoubtedly the Poppy Party held in partnership with Cotgrave Welfare on 11 June. I have already sent out an e mail reporting on its success and thanking those who took part so I won’t go into detail. The headlines: Just £5 per ticket, non-stop entertainment from 6 pm to 10, over 300 attended, over £1000 raised for the RBL. I was delighted with the number of members attending and am most grateful to your Branch committee and to the Army Cadets under the leadership of Lieutenant Nick Trevena for all their help. We’ll do it again!