0+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++------------------- THE NEWSLETTER OF THE

SWADLINCOTE & DISTRICT BRANCH OF THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION SHOUT

Diary Dates

2013 Branch Meetings: June – 13th

July – 11th

August – 8th

September – 12th

October – 10th *

* Branch AGM

November – 14th

December – 12th

South Derbyshire Festival of Leisure June 29th – 30th

Overseal Gala July 13th

T h e R oy a l B r i t i s h L e g i on

S wa d l i n co t e & D i s t r i c t

B r a n c h - B R 0 0 6 5

Formed 1st July 1921

Af f i l i a t e d wi t h :

1211 (Swadlincote) Sqn Air Training Corps

P r e s i d e n t

Stuart Allen

C h a i r ma n

Phil Skawski

V i ce - C h a i r ma n

Anthony Hignett

Se cr e t a r y

Glyn Jackson

T r e a s u r e r

Carol Harper

M e m b e r s h i p Se cr e t a r y

Glyn Jackson

St a n d a r d B e a r e r

Neil Harper

1 2 1 1 S q u a d r o n L i a i s o n

Kurt Woodfield

P op p y A p p e a l Or ga n i s e r

Mick Golder

B r a n c h M e e t i n gs

The second Thursday of each month at the Belmont Services Club, Belmont Street, Swadlincote

7.30 pm Registered Charity No 219279

Hundreds turnout for Albert When ex-Royal Marine Albert Vaughan BEM died in a Tamworth nursing home with no known family, manager Chris Homer thought his staff would be the only ones to attend his funeral. He decided to make an appeal for some local veterans to attend but the local appeal soon went international. With the power of e-mail, Facebook and Twitter the message soon reached as far as India, Dubai, Australia & New Zealand. And so, on Friday, April 12th our Branch was represented amongst the many Standard Bearers, Members of Legion Branches and Ex Service Associations as hundreds of veterans and members of the public gathered from all over the country to bid Albert farewell.

Following the funeral service at St Editha's Church in Tamworth, hundreds more including dozens of RBL Riders attended the cremation service at Sutton Coldfield. All of those from the Branch who attended said how honoured they were to be a part of the day and how important it was for us to be there. Comradeship and Remembrance are two of The Royal British Legion’s four pillars so we will always make every effort to honour those who have served – We Will Remember Them. Glyn Jackson Branch Secretary & Editor

SHOUT - Issue: Summer 2013

THE

Editor: Glyn Jackson 0773 234 6631 secretary.swadlincote.rbl@gmail.com

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH ALL WHO SERVE

Summer 2013

Inside this issue Pg 2 Real Poppy Campaign

Pg 2/3 Students visit the

Western Front

Pg 3 Allestree Memorial Gates

Re-dedication

Pg 4 Combined Charity Walk

Diary Dates

WWW.BRITISHLEGION.ORG.UK/BRANCHES/SWADLINCOTE

Combined Charity Walk through the National Forest 18th May

Fundraising

The Swadlincote & District Branch Standard and Branch Members form part of the Guard of Honour - Picture courtesy of Pete Kelly

Our first ever Combined Charity Walk was the vision of Kate George, a member of Hill Street Baptist Church and wife of Matt, one of our Welfare Officers. It saw members and supporters of our Branch and members of local churches from Burton and South Derbyshire join together to walk through parts of the National Forest to raise money for our respective charities.

Walkers chose either a 5 mile or 10 mile route which started and finished at the Baptist Church in Overseal and wound their way through several villages in South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. Accompanied by several dogs and even a miniature Shetland pony everyone really enjoyed the day, got to make new friends and were already talking about doing it again next year before we finished.

Although we don’t have a final figure yet we should have raised over £300 for the Poppy Appeal when all the sponsorship is collected in. If you’d like to take part in our next walk it’s a much shorter 5Km, 3 laps of Albert Village Lake taking place on Father’s Day – June 16th starting at 10am.

0+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++------------------- THE NEWSLETTER OF THE

SWADLINCOTE & DISTRICT BRANCH OF THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION SHOUT

Diary Dates

2013 Branch Meetings: June – 13th

July – 11th

August – 8th

September – 12th

October – 10th *

* Branch AGM

November – 14th

December – 12th

South Derbyshire Festival of Leisure June 29th – 30th

Overseal Gala July 13th

T h e R oy a l B r i t i s h L e g i on

S wa d l i n co t e & D i s t r i c t

B r a n c h - B R 0 0 6 5

Formed 1st July 1921

Af f i l i a t e d wi t h :

1211 (Swadlincote) Sqn Air Training Corps

P r e s i d e n t

Stuart Allen

C h a i r ma n

Phil Skawski

V i ce - C h a i r ma n

Anthony Hignett

Se cr e t a r y

Glyn Jackson

T r e a s u r e r

Carol Harper

M e m b e r s h i p Se cr e t a r y

Glyn Jackson

St a n d a r d B e a r e r

Neil Harper

1 2 1 1 S q u a d r o n L i a i s o n

Kurt Woodfield

P op p y A p p e a l Or ga n i s e r

Mick Golder

B r a n c h M e e t i n gs

The second Thursday of each month at the Belmont Services Club, Belmont Street, Swadlincote

7.30 pm Registered Charity No 219279

Hundreds turnout for Albert When ex-Royal Marine Albert Vaughan BEM died in a Tamworth nursing home with no known family, manager Chris Homer thought his staff would be the only ones to attend his funeral. He decided to make an appeal for some local veterans to attend but the local appeal soon went international. With the power of e-mail, Facebook and Twitter the message soon reached as far as India, Dubai, Australia & New Zealand. And so, on Friday, April 12th our Branch was represented amongst the many Standard Bearers, Members of Legion Branches and Ex Service Associations as hundreds of veterans and members of the public gathered from all over the country to bid Albert farewell.

Following the funeral service at St Editha's Church in Tamworth, hundreds more including dozens of RBL Riders attended the cremation service at Sutton Coldfield. All of those from the Branch who attended said how honoured they were to be a part of the day and how important it was for us to be there. Comradeship and Remembrance are two of The Royal British Legion’s four pillars so we will always make every effort to honour those who have served – We Will Remember Them. Glyn Jackson Branch Secretary & Editor

SHOUT - Issue: Summer 2013

THE

Editor: Glyn Jackson 0773 234 6631 secretary.swadlincote.rbl@gmail.com

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH ALL WHO SERVE

Summer 2013

Inside this issue Pg 2 Real Poppy Campaign

Pg 2/3 Students visit the

Western Front

Pg 3 Allestree Memorial Gates

Re-dedication

Pg 4 Combined Charity Walk

Diary Dates

WWW.BRITISHLEGION.ORG.UK/BRANCHES/SWADLINCOTE

Combined Charity Walk through the National Forest 18th May

Fundraising

The Swadlincote & District Branch Standard and Branch Members form part of the Guard of Honour - Picture courtesy of Pete Kelly

Our first ever Combined Charity Walk was the vision of Kate George, a member of Hill Street Baptist Church and wife of Matt, one of our Welfare Officers. It saw members and supporters of our Branch and members of local churches from Burton and South Derbyshire join together to walk through parts of the National Forest to raise money for our respective charities.

Walkers chose either a 5 mile or 10 mile route which started and finished at the Baptist Church in Overseal and wound their way through several villages in South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. Accompanied by several dogs and even a miniature Shetland pony everyone really enjoyed the day, got to make new friends and were already talking about doing it again next year before we finished.

Although we don’t have a final figure yet we should have raised over £300 for the Poppy Appeal when all the sponsorship is collected in. If you’d like to take part in our next walk it’s a much shorter 5Km, 3 laps of Albert Village Lake taking place on Father’s Day – June 16th starting at 10am.

LINTA

PR

INT Kindly printed by Lintaprint Ltd

Midland Road SwadlincoteDerbyshire DE11 0AN

T: 01283 221536

0

The William Allitt School students visit the Western Front This February we spent four wonderful days during half term with 20 of our Year 10 and 11 students in France and Belgium. We spent our time visiting a wide variety of sites including Thiepval, Hill 60, Polygon Wood and Tyne Cot.

The 2014 Real Poppy Campaign

In our Winter 2012 issue we told you how, to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1, The RBL’s 2014 Real Poppy Campaign is inviting people to purchase packs of poppy seeds and sow them wherever they can to carpet the country in a sea of red.

Packs of 1,000 Poppy Seeds are now available to buy from Swadlincote Tourist Information Centre in Sharpes Pottery, for just £2.99

Quiz Night & Disco

Friday August 16th

Quiz Starts at 7.30pm

Belmont Services Club

Tickets cost £3

Available from Tourist Information in

Sharpes Pottery

County Show Cancelled Sadly the RBL County Show scheduled for July 21st advertised in the last issue has been cancelled.

Allestree Memorial Gates Re-Dedication Sunday, April 14th On a very cold, damp and windy Sunday afternoon, a number of Branch Members and our Branch Standard Bearer travelled up to Allestree to attend the re-dedication service for their Memorial Gates following their re-location. The Recreation Ground at Allestree was provided by Col L. G. Gisbourne CMG and his son Capt Guy Gisbourne and presented to the Parish Council of Allestree as a memorial to those of the parish who gave their lives in WW1. Subsequently the Gates were provided and dedicated as a War Memorial. The Dean of Derby Cathedral conducted the service which was also attended by the Mayor of Derby, the Lord Lieutenant and the High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Royal British Legion County Chairman, Bernard Page MBE.

The two highlights for me had to be watching our Year 11 students lay a wreath on behalf of the school at the nightly service of remembrance at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, and the act of remembrance that all of our students took part in at Thiepval.

As this was our first departmental trip abroad we chose to book with Poppy Travel. I cannot praise them highly enough for their helpfulness and organisation. We were provided with an extremely knowledgeable guide, Tom, an ex-serviceman himself who really brought the trip alive for us. He went out of his way to make the trip as memorable as possible, even bringing with him an original Lee Enfield Rifle, and replica WW1 kit for our students to see and try on. He even went out of his way to make sure that I was able to visit Polygon Wood, where my Great-Grandfather had fought and been buried alive, making me the first member of my family to visit.

I was incredibly proud of our students throughout their time abroad. In the words of our guide, they were 'great ambassadors for our school and country'. We are currently looking into trips for next year to visit WW2 sites in France, and will be booking through Poppy Travel again.

Miss Owen - Head of History

Note: Remembrance Travel (previously called Poppy Travel) is the specialist travel division of The Royal British Legion, and has been arranging visits to battlefields, war cemeteries and memorials since 1927.

To find out more about trips of Remembrance for schools and individuals please visit http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/remembrance-travel

Out and About Upcoming Events

5Km Father’s Day Honour Walk

Sunday June 16th

10am

Albert Village Lake

Be sponsored or make just a £1 Donation

Sponsor Forms available from Tourist Information in

Sharpes Pottery

Armed Forces Day Fundraiser Saturday June 22nd

9am – 4pm

The Delph Swadlincote Town Centre

Please come along and show your

support.

WWW.BRITISHLEGION.ORG.UK/BRANCHES/SWADLINCOTE

Our Branch Standard Bearer Neil Harper (centre) lines up alongside some of the other Legion and Ex Service Association Standard Bearers before the service.

“When we were asked to lay the wreath we both felt very honoured to represent our school in such a way. Whilst waiting for our turn it felt overwhelming and very powerful as we realised actually how many men had fought for us and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.”

Aimee Wright and Bethany Swindale

“I found the trip to the Western Front both interesting and moving. I was moved to tears several times as were many of the others. This is the best trip I have ever been on and I would love to go on it again.”

Euan Beardmore

“The history trip was a great experience that really put across the impact of World War I. As well as learning a lot I had an amazing time with a great group of people.” Jessica Boddice