The RAF Association (RAFA) is a
membership organisation of serving and former members of the Royal
Air Force, their families and dependants and all those supporting
the aims of the Association.
The Association provides help and advice, assistance,
comradeship and, where required, welfare and care for the whole RAF
family.
It is the largest single-service membership organisation in the
United Kingdom and has roughly 80,000 members and 500 Branches in
the UK, Europe and further afield.
Membership is open to everyone who is interested in supporting
our aims as well as to current and former members of the RAF or
Commonwealth air forces.
Click
here for information about joining.
NewsFlash - See below for information about
the future of the Diss & District Branch
The Diss and District branch is based in Diss in
the Waveney valley and serves an area that includes large parts of
South Norfolk and North Suffolk.
The branch meets on the second Monday of each month at Diss Town
Football Club, Brewers Green Lane, starting at 7.30pm. But please
check before coming to see us. Visitors are always welcome.
RAFA also arranges social events, outings to places of interest,
participates in quizzes and generally takes the theme of
"comradeship" seriously.
However, the main purpose of RAFA is to assist serving and
former members of the RAF and their families who need help. So we
work to raise money throughout the year and especially during
Wings
Appeal in September.
Our Welfare
Officer is there for anyone needing help. This may vary from a
friendly chat to some item that's needed, such as a wheelchair, or
the provision of transport. RAFA takes pride in responding quickly
to requests for help.
What does the future hold for the Diss &
District Branch?
The future of the Diss and District branch of the
Royal Air Forces Association will be decided in the next two
months.
The monthly meeting at Diss Town Football Club on February 13th
will be told of the problems the branch faces since no one has
volunteered to become chairman, secretary or treasurer - and no-one
is standing for re-election. A final decision will then have to be
taken at the annual general meeting on March 12th.
One option being considered, assuming that three people cannot be
found to take on these key posts, is for it to become a registered
members group. The group would cease to be an independent charity
but would still be part of the national RAFA organisation and would
continue to raise money for Wings Appeal. It could retain the
branch standard and still take part in various events, but would
cease to have formal monthly meetings.
You can now send us your donation online
Great News. We have teamed up with Charity Choice and the
Co-Operative Bank to accept donations online. So now you can send
us a donation straight away using your credit or debit card! Just
click on the Donate Now button and you will be taken to our page on
the Charity Choice website. It’s 100% secure.
Wings Appeal 2011
For various
reasons a number of planned events did not take place - but the
house-to-house collections and collections at a number of stores
went ahead. We were helped by cadets of 1070 Diss ATC and personnel
from RAF Honington. As a result we were able to send £3,149 to
headquarters for Wings Appeal.
2010 Fundraising for
Heroes
For the third year running the
branch has increased the amount raised for Wings Appeal. The total
for 2010 was £9,104, compared with £8,760 the previous year and
£7,926 in 2008.
Dora bows
out
On Valentine's Day 2011 the branch said goodbye to one of its
hardest-working supporters.
Dora Hunter was presented with a bouquet by vice-chairman John
Dryburgh at the February meeting. Dora, a member for 18 years was
associate members secretary.
She collected for Wings Appeal, helped with the fund-raising
stalls and took part in branch events. She is moving to Saffron
Walden to be nearer her family, but will be keeping in touch with
Diss RAFA.
Branch President is a
winner
Our branch president Wing Commander
Gerry Honey has won the competition to design the Halton Grove
gates at the National Memorial Arboretum. He was responding to
an invitation to all former RAF Halton Apprentices and Gerry
was surprised and delighted to learn that his design had been
accepted. "It only took me about five minutes" he says.
He describes his design as quite basic, but it includes three
essential ingredients - the dates, the tree of learning and the
apprentice wheel. These symbols will be familiar to the thousands
of apprentices who trained at Halton.
Wing Commander Honey qualified at an aircraft engineer technician
but later became a pilot. He still teaches flying at Old Buckenham
Airfield.
August 2010 The Battle of Britain
remembered
Aircrew who flew in World War Two proved a big attraction
at our Battle of Britain Day at the Norfolk and Suffolk
Aviation Museum, Flixton, on August 22nd. An estimated 6,000 people
poured through the gates and many stopped to chat to the
veterans.
Read all about it on our Events page or go
straight to the Battle of Britain celebration pictures.
Sponsored swim for Wings Appeal
In two years chairman and treasurer, Herbert and Julie Websdell,
have raised £778 for Wings appeal with sponsored swims. In 2009 and
again this year they completed 40 lengths of Diss Swimming
Pool.
August 2009 Celebrating the Centenary of
the 1st Cross-Channel
Flight
The
day was a great success. An estimated 5,000 people visited the
Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, Flixton, on Sunday
16th August 2009 for Diss and District Royal Air Forces
Association’s major annual event. Around £1,700 was raised to help
current and ex-RAF personnel and their families.
Click
here to read all about it and see the
pictures.
A salute to 90 years of the
RAF
In 2008 the branch's Salute to 90 years of the
RAF was a great success. Well over 3,500 people poured
through the gates of the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum at
Flixton to enjoy the festivities with RAFA raising more than £1,300
and the museum's NAAFI was kept busy all day. Among the special
guests, who were greeted by branch president Wing Commander Gerry
Honey, was a Battle of Britain pilot - Wing Commander Tom Neil DFC.
Click
here for more details.
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holder.