Page 75 - Mercian Eagle Year of 2023

74
March 2023. Belgium. L-R, Pat Agar Armed forces champion for Worcester City, Worcester Branch President Lt Col (Retd) Mark Jackson OBE, Worcester Branch Treasurer Libby Massam, Worcestershire Regiments Standard Bearer Alan Fish, Capt Daniel Njuguna Padre 1 Mercian, Former Branch President Major (Retd.) Richard Fox
owner Suresh with a Gurkha Flag, and in return Suresh presented the Branch with
a decorative Kukri. Suresh also donated to the raffle a bottle of Gurkha Rum, the bottle shaped as a Kukri, which all wanted to win! As a memento, all attending were given a Coronation pen.
Remembrance parades were attended, with the schools’ parade at Chaddesden Park being the first, with six primary schools taking part, with the Mayor of Derby Cllr Alan Graves in attendance. Cllr Graves had a particular interest as his father was Alan Graves, Chief Clerk of 1 WFR. We then had Soldiers Corner on the 11th, a very moving ceremony held in the vicinity of graves
of the fallen. For the first time, the Derby Branch had a wreath laid at the ceremony in London with Kev Glover kindly doing the honours on behalf of the Branch.
Mick Doyle, assisted by John Higginbottom, both Derby Branch members, organised the Remembrance ceremony at the War Memorial Village, Allenton, Derby.
Finally, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes that goes unnoticed by most people, and we wish to thank our friends in the Worcester Branch for their valuable input into the Reunion at Worcester, and Cindy at RHQ Foresters House for her involvement with the Reunion at Worcester and the Crich Pilgrimage.
Long Eaton & West Notts Branch
Gary Crosby. Chair
The first quarter of the year was very quiet apart from assisting RHQ Mercian
(Nottingham) and Nottingham City Branch WFR Association with preparations for
the Badajoz Parade in the Old Market Square, Nottingham. The Captain Albert Ball VC Parade was attended on 7 May in collaboration with the Nottingham Branch of the RAF Association.
The Branch Standard Bearer and Bugler have both been very busy attending many Armed Forces Veterans Funerals in the East Midlands area both for the Regimental Family and other Tri Service Armed Forces Veterans.
We have sadly lost three Branch Members in 2023, Keith Stevenson, Peter Roebuck and David Waiton, all three had Branch representation, Branch Standard and a Bugler on their final Parade.
The Branch Chairman has been guiding CWGC War Graves walk and talks at Nottingham General Cemetery once a month from May until November, these events were attended by several Branch Members at various times as well as the general public. We managed to find the Memorial of Maj Jonathan White RHR,
the first Adjutant of the Robin Hood Rifles later becoming the 7th (Robin Hoods)
Bn, Sherwood Foresters, Notts & Derby Regiment. We can now monitor the condition of the Memorial and keep the general area weed and bramble free along with the many other Notts & Derby and early Robin Hood Rifles Memorials in the Nottingham General Cemetery.
The second half of the year began with the Crich Pilgrimage, then as many of our members are also Members of the 3 WFR Branch WFRA, several Members attended the 3 WFR Branch AGM and Alma Dinner in September.
We had Branch representatives on Armistice Parades and Remembrance Sunday Parades at Crich, Beeston, Long Eaton and at Whitehall for the Cenotaph Parade 2023.
Five Members of the Branch continue to play Walking Football with Nottingham Forest Community Trust as well as
attending the Nottingham Forest Forces Veterans breakfast club, Nottingham
Armed Forces Veterans breakfast club and Stapleford Armed Forces Veterans breakfast club; these social gatherings are a great place to meet like minded individuals and all help to contribute towards better mental health for everyone.
Mansfield Branch
Keith Kenworthy. Secretary
Mansfield Branch had the usual bland year, nothing unusual happened, if it did the Secretary managed to miss it somehow. Perhaps that is not strictly true since we attended our local Regimental Memorial on Armistice Day. The Secretary almost missed the occasion because his car developed an objection to the use of its brakes/automatic gears. Maybe its computer thought that
it would play a whimsical joke on the technophobic half wit that drives it! By the greatest of good fortune, he had offered
a lift to another branch member who was unsure of the way to the Carr Bank Park Memorial. The said member then obligingly gave the Secretary, plus Standard and
three wreaths, a lift instead and solved the transport problem. We share the Armistice Day commemoration with the Royal British Legion, they attend the old Town Memorial, which is about 100 yards from ours, that way we only need one bugler who is positioned in the centre of the park and is visible from both memorials.
Apart from the very recent Christmas ‘fuddle’ following the branch meeting, with only five members present, the branch calendar has been somewhat sparse.
That’s the problem with very low attending members. Once the hard core of members shrinks below a Quorum, that will sadly be it for Mansfield branch. The branch will be 100 years old at the end of 2024 so we should make that target. My Dad helped to form this branch, but it looks like I will administer the ‘coup de grace’ before too long. It’s just another sign of the times.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE