Page 105 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

The Laurels Evening Packathon – 6th July 2011. A combined effort by Hednesford Branch and Townswomen’s Guild of Cannock. Anne Partridge (left foreground) was a prime mover in the main College effort. Howard Pike President of Hednes- ford Branch is second from left.
Holy Trinity School, Walsall – 13th July 2011. As part of the Campaign, Ron Mat- tison and Alex Franks (both WW2 veterans) spoke to the children with help from Cpl Swann and his team.
Support for Soldiers – Wolverhampton College
During the past year support for our soldiers has continued and there is a separate article by Eddie Pickering highlighting the extensive work done in Cheshire during the 1st Battalion’s tour last year. Some of this continued with Royal British Legion Riders Branch and many from East Cheshire have continued to support the 3rd Battalion in 2011. Other examples of offers received during the year include free tickets to a concert in Longton, provided by Stoke- in-Trent City Council, free tickets to watch Birmingham City and reduced priced tickets to watch Aston Villa.
The support from branches and members of the public for The Mercian Regiment
in Afghanistan has been amazing. From selling wristbands, to raising much valued benevolence funds, to baking cakes and supporting the families coffee mornings, through to donating and collecting a vast array of goodies to send out to our soldiers in Afghanistan. To all of you - thank you. Every little helps and each act of kindness
is much appreciated. As the saying goes, “from little acorns, great things grow” and we are sure that these two mothers, who wanted to “do their bit” didn’t expect such a response when they started out.
Mrs Lorrain Brown, mother of Pte Jamie Mumby, 2 Mercian, started out selling wristbands to her colleagues and to date her fundraising efforts have raised over £2,000 for the Mercian Benevolent Fund which was presented to Brigadier Williams, 49 Brigade Commander, on behalf of the Regiment. Mrs Julie Wright, mother of
Pte Karl Collins, 3 Mercian, began the “In
a Jiffy” campaign to collect goodies to
send to her son’s Battalion when he was deployed. She focused the collection point at Wolverhampton College, where she works, and the support and donations were overwhelming with enough goods collected to supply every soldier from the Battalion
Captain Steve Ostle and WO2 Paul Thompson with Regimental Association members. Both Hednesford and Wolverhampton Branches provided help, support and muscle to the operation.
with a jiffy bag parcel. When 3 MERCIAN returned, Mrs Wright thought her work was complete, however, the good people at
Wolverhampton College said that they still wanted to donate and so now the goodies are collected for the soldiers of 2 MERCIAN.
Bilston Campus. Uniformed Public Services Students with members of the 3 MERCIAN Rear Operations Group and Regimental Association members.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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