NEWSLETTER APRIL 2018

Newsletter for Branch meeting  on 18^th  April 2018

Please note any information for the newsletter to be passed on to Jan Bridle by the last Saturday before the next meeting; also if anyone has changed their email address or set up a new one could they please let Jan know.

Branch subs   

Remain at £15 and are due to be paid to the treasurer now if not already paid. Please send any cheques, made out to REA Bournemouth, to the above address for John Cusack.

Next meeting on 16^th May 

Will be Bingo with Fish and Chips. Orders and payment for these will be taken at tonight’s meeting.  Before that though is the Annual Lunch on 5^th May and any donations for the Raffle are still welcome.

Vacancies    

Following Bert Martin’s reluctant resignation, due to ill health, we are now looking for a new Standard Bearer.

Social   
At the AGM in March, the current committee members were re-appointed and a new Social Secretary, John McDermott was appointed.  John is a new member of the branch and will be a very welcome addition to the committee.

Monthly Informal Lunches

As usual held on the first Tuesday, menu lists on the table at evening meetings. Contact John Cusack for any information or to book/choose from menu if not at meeting.

Birthdays of Note
We wish a very Happy Birthday to George Wilby who will be 90 on 16^th May.


A Tall Order for the Flying Post Boys

This was the Daily Express heading for an article about Mobile Field Post Office 1160. On Sunday 10^th January 1971 Lance Cpl Richard Silsby trudged 2,000 feet up a windswept Snowdon to open up the Mobile Field Post Office. Setting up shop in a tent the 30 year old Richard set to work hand franking 15,000 Special Covers for stamp collectors. The wind on top of Snowdon blew the Mobile Post Office sign away and the piles of letters had to be handled carefully to save them from being scattered all over the mountain. 

Britain’s highest Post Office, if only for an hour, was really an RAF show. The slogan “Help Stamp out Fixed Wing” emblazoned on the helmet of one of the crew of a hovering helicopter gave a clue as to what it was all about.  The stamps commemorated the RAF establishment in 1934 of its Rotary Wing Force from which today’s helicopters have evolved.  The 15,000 stamped envelopes marked ‘Hedfan o Ervri’ (flown from Snowdon) were then lifted by helicopter to Tern Hill, Shropshire.

 “Quite an experience, certainly different from my usual duties” said Lance Cpl Richard Silsby        from the British Forces Postal Depot at Mill Hill, London.  Two of the letters he sent off were to his daughters, Julie, then aged 7 and Lynne, then just 2.

Forthcoming  Evening  Events 2018

May                           Bingo with Fish and Chips

June                          Talk on The Treasures of Dorset by Christopher Legrand

July                           Skittles Evening

August                      Music Quiz

September             Trip to Bovington

October                  Bingo with Fish and Chips

November              Skittles Evening

Forecast of National Events 2018.

26^th May                    Trooping the Colour – Major General’s Review

2^nd June                      Trooping the Colour – Colonel’s Review

6^th-7th June               Beating Retreat, London

7^th June                      Royal Hospital Chelsea Founder’s Day Parade

9^th June                      Queen’s Birthday Parade

22^nd-24^th June           Chillwell Weekend

27^th-29^th July             Minley Weekend

14^th-16^th September Corps Memorial Weekend

13^th October              REA AGM and Annual Dinner

14^th October              Sapper Sunday at Royal Hospital Chelsea

8^th November                        Field of Remembrance, Westminster Abbey

11^th November          Remembrance Sunday