Page 104 - Light Dragoons 2023 CREST

Ayear of change at Regimental Home Headquarters, after a wonder- ful innings Major Mel Tazey MBE has declared and has moved onto retirement, we the Association owe Mel and Gabby an enormous debt of gratitude for their service and support to the Regiment and Association over the years.
I was only too delighted to be appointed as the new Regimental Secretary in Nov 2022, it is perhaps worth noting that since joining 15/19th The Kings Royal Hussars, I have only had three Regimental Secretaries going back almost 40 years, Jim Walls, Gary Locker and Mel so I consider it a real privilege to follow in the footsteps of these three wonderful gentlemen and hope I can build on their legacy.
Since arriving I have been heavily reliant on Dicky and Mandy, who continue to provide advice and guidance on a whole range of topics, Dicky’s knowledge of Regimental personalities is phenomenal, and I can’t thank them enough for guiding me through these first six months.
One of the first things I did on appoint- ment was to visit “The Charge” in the Discovery Museum in Newcastle, although I had visited twice previously. The display is very impressive, I would recommend a visit to everyone, Bobbie our curator and
IP’s Geordie Collins and Bert Weastell host OC HQ Squadron and the Regimental Secretary
The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Association
Home Headquarters and Regimental Association News
her team of volunteers do us proud and are hugely enthusiastic about what they do.
Given my late arrival into post these notes may be a little shorter than normal, how- ever it is wonderful to see more Association events occurring now that the world has returned to normal after the Pandemic.
In August there was a strong turnout at the annual smoker held in Durham organ- ised by Trevor McDermott and Tommy Deverall apart from the good company the pie and pea supper are worth the journey alone.
The North East Dinner held in the County Hotel Newcastle in September and the Barnsley branch dinner event held in October were both well attended, we thank the trustees for their continued financial support to both of these events which means dinner tickets are a very reasonable £10 per head, I would strongly encourage anyone who has thought about attending to come along and be part of the evening.
It was great fun to meet with our In Pensioners (IP’s) prior to Christmas in the Royal Hospital Chelsea and I was delighted that Major Alex Thirlaway OC HQ Sqn was able to accompany me, the IP’s took a
keen interest in the brief Major Thirlaway gave them about what the Regiment had been up to throughout the year. We had a wonderful lunch there followed by some light refreshments, thank you to all of our IP’s who hosted us superbly.
The Sahagun celebrations held in Newcastle in December was very well attended, we must thank Marty Hoyle and Colin Brooks for organising the event and it was great to see the Commanding Officer, Regimental 2 I/C and RSM amongst the many members of the serving Regiment who attended.
The highlight of the Associations year however was the visit to the serving Regiment in July, this was a wonderful event and those Association members who attended had an excellent time, we must thank the Commanding Officer for allow- ing the visit and to Major Alex Thirlaway OC HQ Squadron who planned the event, the whole weekend ran like clockwork.
We look forward to 2023 and hope to intro- duce some new events to the Association calendar to attract more Association mem- bers, so if you have any new ideas, please share them with us at HHQ.
IP’s Collins, Weastell and Lines measure up OC HQ Squadron for his bunk
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