PRESIDENTS Round - Up

At the turn of the year we were all approaching 2020 with thought what will this year bring. I doubt any of us saw what was coming and how this pandemic would affect us a Nation and as individuals. My overriding impression during the last 8 months is how communities have come together. The pandemic is an enemy we want to beat, and we're going to beat. Amid all the personal lost and pain this virus, has had the effect of bringing us all together, uniting the community like we have not been in a long time. As I write this, we are hearing the news on vaccines and that the lock down measures are having a positive effect. I personally believe that there are green shoots appearing and as has been said, we must build on this experience and ensure that our values are focussed on fairness, kindness, accountability, resilience, respect and courage.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Branch Committee, who have operated throughout the pandemic, ensuring that the Branch continues to meet its obligations whether that be governance, financial, welfare and importantly marking all the commemoration events throughout this restrictive year. The chairman has already highlighted that they have successfully kept Branch members informed initially by social media, email and a flyer whilst more recently via the use of Stowmarket edition of the In-Touch Magazine.

I would like to highlight to all Branch members the excellent reputation that this Branch has within the local community. This was again highlighted during the very positive planning meetings held in order that we were in a position to facilitate the excellent commemoration service on Sun 8th Nov. The Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Mayor and Town Clerk all commented on a poignant and first - rate memorial service. At this point I would like to highlight the efforts of your Chairman and Parade Marshal, whilst also acknowledging David Marsh and his team from the council.

As we look forward to the end of this lock down and the hopeful news that in some way we will be able to celebrate Christmas with our loved ones. The Branch Committee are already scoping plans on how we can celebrate a hugely important year for the RBL, our Branch and the Town as we all mark 100 years in 2021.

Finally, I would like to thank you the Branch members for giving your continued support throughout this year and look forward to the time when we can all meet again in the refurbished Club.

Dave McGee President Stowmarket & District Branch

"Life imposes things on you that you can’t control, but you still have the choice of how you’re going to live through this."

Chairman’s report

These past eight months have had a profound impact on each of us and has called on our resilience, ability to adapt and deeply affected many people. There are those who have suffered the loss of friends, family, and neighbours these past months, and we have also had the loss of members from this Branch. My thoughts go out to everyone affected. I ask that we pause for a moment to remember those who are no longer with us.

The welfare of members has been uppermost in the minds of everyone on the Committee, and when restrictions were first introduced in March, a newsletter was emailed to, or posted by hand through the letterbox of each member, giving them details of who they could contact should they require help or assistance. During the past eight months I am aware of two such calls, both of which were dealt with immediately.

We have kept members up to date via a monthly article published in the Stowmarket edition of In-Touch, which Steve Runciman has co-ordinated and which has also included contributions from the Women’s Section, the Club, and ex-Service Associations. This initiative of Steve’s has been an outstanding success, keeping people mindful of the work of the Legion during these difficult times.

Additionally, on the welfare front, the Committee approved, in full, the Almonisation request received from County for five thousand, four hundred and sixty-one pounds and twenty-nine pence. The Committee were mindful of the fact that there would be many difficult months ahead and I am proud that we took that decision.

Despite restrictions placed upon us since March, the Committee, apart from one, for technical reasons, have met up at least once a month using Zoom, though Branch meetings have not taken place. Steps have been taken that will enable Branch meetings to be held using Zoom, today’s AGM being the first, and both Committee and Branch meetings will continue using this medium for the foreseeable future until the restrictions imposed are lifted sufficiently enough to allow face-to-face meetings. If the Club has not re-opened by then, we may have to look for another location.

This year’s County Conference in Needham Market was attended by me and David Matthews as Branch Delegates, where our Motion of Urgency to rescind the decision to close break centres and the ending of the handy van service was carried unanimously. At National Conference, this Motion was carried by a margin of three to one.

The 2021 County Conference will be held virtually on Saturday 30th January, with both David McGee and Steve Runciman putting themselves forward to be our Delegates.

National Conference this year was held virtually from the National Memorial Arboretum, with both Steve Runciman and I participating as our Branch Delegates, and Steve has made the minutes of the meeting available to members and sent them to all members we have an email address for.

Just a fortnight after my election last November as Chairman, I attended a Branch Management Course and though restrictions took away any further opportunity for Committee members to attend courses, I will be encouraging them to do so, if relevant and applicable, just as soon as is possible.

February saw the Branch hold an excellent Induction Day, attended not only by new members, but also members of the public who took the opportunity to drop in. Steve, who organised it, gave a highly polished and positive presentation about the work of the Legion, which also gave an opportunity for the other associations to introduce themselves. It is my intention that as soon as it is possible to do so, this initiative will be rebooted, as the momentum it generated was visible for all to see.

We had also entered a float in this year’s Stowmarket Carnival, which unfortunately was cancelled, and though it will not return until 2022, I see no reason why we cannot participate when it does return.

This year I presented the British Legion Shield to the best cadet at 1331 Stowmarket Squadron’s presentation evening, and it was quite evident that when given the opportunity to blossom, young people within our community succeed where they are encouraged to do so, and it begged the question, why are we not engaging with these young people more often? With my experience of having been a Cadet Instructor myself, I know that there are many young people who would be interested in hearing about the Legion and its work and I will be speaking with the Unit Commanding Officer to ask if we can engage with the cadets at a drill evening or two during the coming year. Then there is also Stowmarket High School, which as we know, has just been re-built and within its building there is a plaque remembering those who attended the school and lost their lives in war. We will be approaching the Headmaster about having the plaque rededicated, and in doing so, ask to engage with the students about the work of the Legion.

Our relationship with Wattisham and local Armed Forces personnel is good, and the plans we had this year to organise a visit to the camp, and arrange a reciprocal visit for personnel to meet us in the club, will be re-visited. I also look forward to continuing to work closely with the ex-service Associations we have in the town and I keep in close contact with their Chairman.

We have an excellent relationship with the Town Council, particularly with the Town Clerk David Blackburn and Events and Theatre Manager David Marsh and when it came to Remembrance activities in particular, this relationship was clear.

The work carried out by Rachel Oakley and the Poppy Appeal volunteers continues to impress, and the amount raised last year was a staggering achievement. This year, despite restrictions, volunteers were again to be found around Stowmarket, and I thank them all for their hard work and dedication. I look forward to having an update from Rachel just as soon as she has any information on how things went locally, and of course nationally.

As we all saw, this year it was not possible to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and the 75th anniversaries of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan in a way that each quite rightly deserved. However, and despite having to cancel our VE Social Evening and Concert, we did mark both VE and VJ Day at the Memorial Gates, though unfortunately official attendance was restricted to six people at both.

Regarding Remembrance activities, the Festival of Friends and Armistice Dinner had to be cancelled and we knew early on that there would neither be a Parade nor indoor Church Service on Remembrance Sunday. This, along with having had restrictions on numbers who could attend the VE and VJ Service, made the Committee even more determined to see as many people as possible be present for the Services held on the 8th and 11th of November at the Memorial Gates. We therefore came up with a plan that we presented to the Town Council, which so impressed them that it became the blueprint for both Services and helped with achieving a fitting Service in the most difficult of circumstances. I thank everyone for the part they played in achieving this and can tell you that discussions have already taken place about changes for next year.

I now wish to talk briefly about the Club. The Club has been closed since March, which originally came about due to government restrictions but remained closed when those restrictions were lifted due to it still undergoing a refurbishment, though we were informed it would be opening in early October. Its continued closure is of concern to the Branch as we use the facilities and we also have members who are Club Members. We are as interested as anyone to see the outcome of the refurbishment, but it is up to Club Members to ask questions of the Club Committee about the funding of the refurbishment and raise questions about the loss of money reported by them at the Club’s AGM earlier this year.

I now wish to speak about our future. I am mindful of the fact that many members will be thinking about the effect that the pandemic has had on them personally and I am also mindful of the fact that the environment in which we live and operate will be different. Let me be quite clear here. Even before a possible vaccine was announced, I for one have remained optimistic about the future. Things will be different, but I see no reason for the Branch not to be ready and prepared for this. Therefore, I have asked the Branch Vice Chairman Jason Sewell, and the Women’s Section Chairman Sue Priest, to work with me on looking at putting together a “Road Map – Post Covid” for the Branch and our members, and I have set us the deadline of reporting back to the Branch Committee with preliminary ideas in February 2021.

Next year is the hundredth anniversary of the Royal British Legion and a landmark anniversary for Stowmarket RBL, as we will also have been at the heart of our community for one-hundred years. I see the following as an opportunity to have a Branch that our members want to be a part, broaden our engagement within the community and recruit new members. It will need though the help and assistance of the members. I have called this ‘Project 100’, which is in addition to the objectives within our three-year plan.

1. The 100th anniversary of the dedication of the town’s Memorial Gates, which falls on Saturday 13th February, which the Town Council are already actively looking at and are speaking directly to me on.

2. The Founding of the Royal British Legion, which falls on Saturday 15th May, where we can remember not just how and why the Legion was formed, but also look ahead to the future, and committing to continue to provide lifelong support to serving and ex-serving armed forces personnel.

3. Holding a Garden Party to celebrate the Royal British Legion’s work on Monday 31st May.

4. Holding a Social Evening on Saturday 24th July to mark the 100th anniversary of Stowmarket Royal British Legion.

In bringing my report to a close, I wish to firstly thank everyone on the Committee, who throughout, especially during the past eight months, have diligently continued to carry out their duties whilst also having their own personal challenges. I would also like to thank the Branch President, Major Dave McGee, who has always been available at Committee Meetings and provided help and support throughout the past twelve months. Secondly, again I thank Rachel Oakley for her work as our Poppy Appeal Organiser, and all the volunteers who do such sterling work during Remembrance. Finally, a big thank you to Mick Norman, who this year marked his 20th year as our Branch Standard Bearer, a role he carries out diligently and without any fanfare. Congratulations Mick.

Though there remain challenges until a vaccine has been fully rolled out, we will pull through this and I believe that opportunities lay ahead for both the Branch and the members over the next twelve months. Stay safe and thank you. Pete Chivers Chairman, Stowmarket & District RBL 26th November 2020

FINANCE REPORT