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Forthcoming Events
ANNUAL
SUMMER GARDEN PARTY – 2008
Once again the Annual Summer Garden party was held at The Garden
House, Blackheath, courtesy of Alan and Judith Middleton-Stewart.
After a relatively sunny week Saturday 21st June dawned
grey and damp! However, Alan and helpers had managed to erect the
tent the day before and set out all the tables and chairs, Sally
Montague and Jennifer Rogers arrived at about 09.30 on Saturday
morning to set the tables, organise glasses and generally ensure
that everything was in place before people started arriving. This
was managed by the skin of their teeth, the last items being put in
place as the first people arrived
Sally, Alan and Sheba working
hard
The table is set
The food and drinks tables were soon laden and drinks poured
Sally Montague organising the
food John Drewery, Jennifer
Langeskov
and her guest Anthea, with Judith
M-S
We were pleased this year to welcome Reg Hickmott’s son
Richard, Jennifer Langeskov’s guest Anthea, and new members Don
Shiers and Alan and Linda Brooks, who, in spite of baby sitting
their young granddaughter Libby brought her along to enjoy the
day!
Brian Howard, Joe Maude, Reg and Richard
Hickmott
Don Shiers & Joe
Maude
Linda, Libby and Alan Brooks
The marvellous tent Alan had recently purchased did a great job in
keeping us all dry in spite of several sharp showers of rain.
Conversations ebbed and flowed and everyone appeared to have a good
time.
Everyone left around 3 to 3.30pm, except Alistair
Banks, Sally and Jennifer
who stayed behind to help clear away the debris and do the washing
up etc.
A very big THANK YOU to Alan and
Judith for letting us use their garden
and house for this, once again, very successful
day.
VISIT TO THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM
1st JUNE 2008
On the 31st May a small contingent from the Branch left
Lowestoft with
Belle Coaches to make their way to Walsall for the night ready for
an early start
on the 1st June to visit the National Memorial
Arboretum at Alrewas where
the service and dedication of the Royal Marines Wall was due to
take
place at 11.30am.
The Group
We all passed a pleasant evening at the hotel
after an excellent evening
meal. The next morning we left at 09.15 and arrived at the
Arboretum at
about 09.45, which gave us all time to wander round and enjoy the
surroundings.
The main wall with the two magnificent sculptures is incredible,
although most of
us had seen pictures; nothing prepared us for the impact on seeing
it in person.
Magnificent Sculptures at the
Arboretum
The dedication ceremony got underway at 11.30 with
the arrival of the
CTCRM Band, followed by Standard Bearers from the many branches
of
the RMA, and then various RMA members and veterans
paraded.
The Band
Standard Bearers
RMA Members
At this moment a small, sharp shower fell, but this did not
dampen the spirits of all those attending.
Taking
shelter
It was especially poignant to see widows, children and other
family
members being given pride of place at the ceremony.
The Marine Wall before and after the
unveiling
Following the dedication and unveiling of the wall, the Band,
Standard Bearers, RMA members and veterans marched past
RMA Members and Veterans
Standard Bearers
The Band
After all was over everyone was invited to a reception, which
was being held at Weston Hall Hotel, a magnificent hotel about half
an hour’s drive from the Arboretum. However, Central Office had
deployed people to leave visible direction signs at major roads,
which was an enormous help. The reception, food and drink was much
appreciated by all.
Waiting to be fed!
Our group left the reception at about 3pm to make our way back via
Ipswich,
Wenhaston, Beccles, Carlton Colville and finally back to the depot
at Lowestoft,
arriving back tired but thoughtful after an extremely good
weekend.
Our thanks must go to Central Office for the hard
work put in behind the
scenes to make this even go without a hitch.
Mountbatten
Festival
23rd February
2008
A 53 seater coach was hired this
year for the trip to London for
the Mountbatten Festival of Music, all seats being taken by
members of the Branch and members of the RNA Beccles Branch.
The journey down was somewhat horrendous due to the A12
having been closed south of the A120, and all traffic diverted via
Stansted and on to the A11. On reaching the service area at
Stansted we had to wait for 45 minutes while the driver had his
statutory break, the journey so far having taken up his total
driving time of nearly 4 hours.
However, in spite of this we arrived at The Albert Hall with
10 minutes to spare before the performance started. The
journey back was also very long, the A12 still not having
been
opened, and although the volume of traffic was not as bad
many
people did not reach home and bed until well after 03.00
hrs.
Even so, everyone agreed that the performance was extremely
good and the seats excellent. Next time we all may consider
staying overnight in London!
CHRISTMAS DINNER
2007
7th December 2007
The Christmas
dinner was, this year, held on Friday 7th
December at the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club,
everyone
meeting at 7.30 pm for dinner at 8.00pm. Numbers were
restricted to a maximum of 60 on a first come first served
basis, but, due in the main to ill health the final
tally
was 50, which in fact was quite comfortable.
Brian Howard with friends
Gordon Clegg & Eric Baldwin
Unfortunately, the President - Wendy Montgomerie,
and
the Chairman - Joe Maude, were unable to attend, and
the
Chairman’s address was therefore given by the
Vice-Chairman, Alan Middleton-Stewart (photo) followed
by
a brief address from Rosemary Cochrane who presented
the Certificate awarded to the Branch for the
Onesuffolk Community Portal Award 2007. It is hoped that
this will eventually be displayed at the Yacht Club.
Alan Middleton-Stewart
Len Manners
sampling the port
Members had once again been
very generous in bringing
prizes
for the raffle being
drawn
at the end of the meal.
The 'Pussars' Rum raffle was this
year won by Ken Wright,
(pictured right),
guest of Mike Smith,a popular
win judging by the cheers!
The evening ended at about 11.15 pm, Members agreeing
that it had once again been a good evening.
Tom Knot with Jennifer Rogers & Russell
Brown
343rd CORPS
BIRTHDAY
Celebrated on 27th October
2007
The years seem to be going by faster and faster and once again
we have had the Annual Corps Birthday Bash. This is held at
Spexhall Village Hall, just outside Halesworth, and where, by
popular agreement we have a Fish and Chip lunch.
Alan Middleton-Stewart with a small band of helpers arrived at the
Hall at 10.45 to set up the tables in readiness for the onslaught.
Reg Hickmott and Andrew Cunningham, our walking wounded, did a
grand job of wrapping up the cutlery in napkins of Corps
Colours!
Sally Montague and John Drewery were detailed to set the tables and
organise the glasses
People started to arrive at about 11.50 so Jennifer Rogers and John
Drewery were detailed to go into Halesworth to collect the food, by
the time they got back everyone was there and the room was full of
laughter and chatter. Trisha Johnson was doing a grand job of
selling the raffle tickets to a captive audience!
Tucking in
Once the fish and chips had all been devoured there was fruit salad
with cream or ice cream, followed by tea or coffee and the piece de
résistance a magnificent fruitcake with a band in corps colours
around and with 343 candles on top!
Joe Maude, the Chairman,was detailed to blow out the
candles!!
At the end of the meal many people chipped in to help clear the
tables, Alan rolled up his sleeves and dived into the sink to do
the washing up, with many willing hands drying up and putting away,
while others stacked the chairs and tables away and swept the floor
– before very long the room was back to being in pristine condition
and the 343rd Corps Birthday was over.
It was great to see so many members make such an effort to be
there, - in particular it was great to welcome back Geoff and Linda
Kitchen who due to ill health have been unable to make the journey
to Lowestoft for any of the meetings for so long. It was also a
pleasure to welcome Sid Hale’s sister, Joan and family, Gaynor and
John who joined us representing Sid who is in hospital unable to
attend.
Our Chairman, Joe Maude, expressed vote thanks to all for their
organisation in making the day a success.
Battlefield Tour of Western
Italy
3rd – 10th October
2007
The Battlefield Tour of Italy was, by unanimous vote, a great
success. Leaving on 3rd October, Belle Coaches of Lowestoft picked
up travellers from various points along the route to Stanstead
arriving in very good time. Forty smartly dressed Royal
Marines and Royal Naval personnel and their wives marched to the
check in, only to be told to come back later. The bar beckoned and
an hour later, a less well ordered band wandered to the check in,
then security, boots and shoes off, and on to passport control and
finally on the way to Naples, where we were met by our driver for
the week, Pasquale, and taken to our very comfortable hotel.
The Naples Group
The next morning the group
divided into 2, some doing a tour of Naples while the others going
to Salerno Cemetery where Andrew Cunningham, our World War 11 guide
came into his own.
Firstly, the tour of Naples. See
Naples and die! So the saying goes. Well some of us nearly did
trying to dodge scooters, buses, and cars, coming from every
direction. But, about the town we could marvel at the exquisite
views across the bay, almost as good as the heavenly Italian ice
cream we all enjoyed. A visit to the museum with artefacts taken
from Pompeii including beautiful mosaics and statues was a
fascinating experience where we could have spent much longer had
time allowed. Our driver gave us all an hour and a half to explore
the city, do some shopping and enjoy a leisurely lunch. After which
we returned to the hotel stopping on the way in the middle of the
road on a roundabout while our driver disembarked leaving us all
stranded while he raced across the road to try and find a place for
our evening meal. The Carabinieri, in the
form of the local traffic police, drew up in front of the
parked, engine running, driverless coach, took one look at
all the English tourists, smiled, shrugged and waved and drove
off!! Great relief to us all.
The rest of the group went to
Salerno Cemetery where a short Service of Remembrance was held. The
cemetery was immaculately kept and extremely moving with row upon
row of graves remembering young men many in their teens, sons,
brothers, husbands, fathers, but the saddest of all were the graves
without any name.
Salerno Cemetery
Crosses were placed by various head stones of fallen members of the
Royal Marines and Royal Naval personnel. After the short
services, the last post and reveille, Joe Maude, Chairman of the
RMA Lowestoft Branch, laid a wreath.
At 12.20 (11.20 UK time) the members of the RNA held a short
service around the Memorial Cross for Ken Savage, a popular member
of the Beccles Branch of the RNA who was being buried in the UK at
that time.
The next day on the way to Cassino we stopped at
Pompeii where we were allocated an excellent Guide, Franco, who's
knowledge of the history of the site was second to none. We spent
about one and a half hours there, but could easily have spend
longer.
Pompeii
Monte Cassino was awe-inspiring –
the Monastery perched high above the town – it is hardly
surprising that it was thought to be a strategic outpost. But
sadly 50,000 allied troops
died, and
for what? It could, and should, have been by-passed, as it turned
out that the only German in the Monastery was a Monk,
yet it was all but totally destroyed. The rebuilding has been
remarkable and the amount of artefacts rescued and restored no
small feat.
Monte Cassino
It was a poignant day particularly for one member of our group
whose father had fought here. She was extremely proud to have been
able to visit where he had been and understand a little of what he
may have gone through.
We did a short trip to Sperlonga where we found a small, but very
impressive museum. In 1989 a well was found filled full of
fragments of various statues. Archaeologists found over 15,000
fragments, which have been, and still are being, pieced together
like a jigsaw puzzle with amazing results; the largest statue was
some 12ft high x 15ft across.
Statue at Sperlonga
Finally on to Rome, via Anzio were we called at The Beach Head
Cemetery, once again immaculately kept.
A short Service of Remembrance was given with Richard Ling,
President of the Royal Naval Association Beccles Branch laying the
wreath.
The Group at Anzio
Our final day in Rome was a free day with everyone going
his or her own way to explore this fascinating City.
The Colosseum in Rome
The Hotels were, on the whole, extremely good, clean and
comfortable – although in Rome some rooms appeared to act as a
channel for the nearby railway noise. And, after Naples all rooms
were equipped with a shower only – one member of the group was
overhead to say that she did NOT use a shower and would have a bath
even if it meant doing so in the bidet!!
So, the tour was over. We would like to thank Margaret
Lavender of Galina Battlefield Tours for her patience, help and
guidance and The Lottery Commission ‘Awards for All’, without whose
help this trip would not have been possible.
Bargain
Sale
21st July
2007
Jennifer Rogers and John Drewary - RMA
Tombola Stall
The weather forecast for Saturday 21st July was not
good, rain and winds were anticipated, however, the day dawned
slightly grey, but so rain and as the day progressed it continued
to stay fine with many sunny periods!
However, sadly the initial forecast seemed to have put many punters
off, and that combined with the fact that one of the access roads
was closed, and the release of the last Harry Potter book meant
that this year there were fewer visitors than expected.
The Galley Slaves - Jennifer
Langeskov,
Margaret Robinson and Pat Howard
Nevertheless, the day went well stall holders managing to sell
their wares to the
visitors who did make it. In the Kitchen, the Galley Slaves worked
very hard
providing coffees at 10am, then an excellent lunch, followed by
afternoon teas.
Punters enjoying their
lunch
The overall profit made was £408, which is being divided between
the
Wenhaston Village Hall and Royal Marines Association, Lowestoft
Branch.
Stall
Holders
All in all it was a good day all round, and many
thanks must go to Alan and Judith Middleton-Stewart for allowing
the use of the home and gardens once again,
and to all the workers for their sterling efforts.
RMA (Lowestoft Branch) Summer Party
23rd June
2007
Joe Maude
(Chairman) and Alan
Middleton-Stewart
The Summer Party this year was once again held in Alan and Judith
Middleton-Stewart’s lovely garden. The day prior to the party had
been lovely with sunshine and light winds, but the 23rd
dawned with rain, and not just any sort of rain, heavy rain! Alan
had had the tent erected the day before and all tables and chairs
arranged ready. The rain managed to penetrate the roof vents in the
tent and wet the tables and chairs, which caused some
consternation. Jennifer Rogers, Sally Montague and guests, John and
Sandy Cullen arrived early to help with final setting up either in
the tent, or transferring into the house should the rain continue.
Luckily, the rain stopped, the chairs and tables wiped down and
cleaned, and although the sun did not shine the entire day, at
least it was dry most of the time.
People started to arrive at 12 noon on the dot laden with delicious
plates of
food, which were placed on the tables. Drinks flowed and
conversation and
laughter was soon heard.
Coffee had just been served when the heavens opened and the rain
came
down, but it only lasted for about 10 minutes or so, and then
the sun came
out again. The party started to break up at about 3pm and by 4.30pm
everything
was tidied away.The day went extremely well and it was very nice to
see so
many members and some guests, in particular our Late Treasurer,
Alan Pegg’s
daughter Alison her husband Kieran and daughter Aisling.
Alistair Banks &
Alan
M-S
Andrew Dotchin, Lucy Dothcin, & Trisha
Johnson
Many thanks must go to Alan and Judith Middleton-Stewart for not
only allowing
us the use of their garden, but also for all their hard work in
getting everything
ready to ensure we all had a wonderful day.
Ian Bond, Fred
Robinson &
Reg
Hickmott
Jill Rose & Pam Miurhead
David, Trish Sharman & Alistair Banks
David Young, Trish Sharman &
Alistair
Banks