Page 92 - The KRH Year of 2023 (CREST Sharing)

92 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
The Regimental Association
Having taken over as Chairman in May last year, may I first on your behalf thank Colonel Tony Singer OBE for all he did and achieved during his fourteen years as our chairman. This is a long period of service that spanned four Regimental Colonels, six Commanding Officers and eight Regimental Sergeant Majors. He did it all so very well and with great panache. He leaves the Association in a strong position, and I have my work cut out following in his footsteps.
It is a huge privilege to be appointed, I have attended several reunions and events across the country and have a great deal of admiration for those who volunteer their time to organise and support them and other events. They are reasonably well attended and all who do turn up thoroughly enjoy themselves often promising to come the following year. We can always do more to raise attendance by increasing the number of mem- bers of the Regimental Association, introducing new and bet- ter advertising initiatives but generally speaking it is word of mouth and the encouragement of others to attend that is the most effective means. So, could I ask you all to gather a small band and attend your local reunion. A phrase often heard at funerals is “how nice it was to see everyone again”, which of course is the case but there is always one missing!
The Association has had a good year our members stand at 2282. During the year we have had 48 new members join us but sadly we have lost 67 who have died. All members are informed of our social and Regimental events. Reunions and events were held in Telford, Swindon, Blackpool, Preston, Dorchester, Cheltenham, Coventry and London. The list of forthcoming events can be found on the Regimental web- site: KRH.org.uk. New events are being arranged including
a Regimental golf day in Stoke and potentially a fund-raising walk along Hadrian’s Wall in September.
A small but significant ceremony occurred in April arranged by the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Cell (JCCC). As part of ongoing work to identify the remains of those who fell in the Great War, but were not initially identifiable at the time, Corporal Thomas Stannage of the 10th Hussars was identi- fied. He was killed on 9th October 1918 near the village of Honnechy and buried at the Highland Cemetery, Le Chateau. Members of the Regimental Association attended in addition to his great nephew and family who had travelled from New South Wales, Australia.
This year, 2024, marks the 100th anniversary of the Cavalry Memorial parade in Hyde Park, it takes place on Sunday 12th May and will be followed by an excellent and enjoyable subsi- dised lunch in the RAF Club, a five minute walk away. We are of course keen for a very strong Regimental Association attend- ance, please pass the word and make space in your diaries. To assist with travel costs the Association will subsidise coach and bus transport to London, if you would like to organise one, please speak to Home Headquarters (HHQ) for assistance and for further details.
The important role of helping the sick and disabled through the provision of financial and materiel assistance continues. This year the Association’s Welfare Fund has spent £23,000 on 36 cases. We are very grateful to all those serving members of the Regiment who contribute a day’s pay annually to the fund as well as to those who conduct fund raising activities and others who so generously make individual donations. This year we were fortunate enough to receive one such donation from Michael Todhunter who served with the 11th Hussars in Malaya from 1953 to 1955 and “loved it”. Sadly, Michael passed away on 30 January 2024; his obituary will appear in next year’s journal.
In November 2023, one of our four Chelsea Pensioners died. WO1 Lee Osborne-Wakely MBE served in the 10th Hussars and Royal Hussars and entered Chelsea Hospital within a few months of his wife’s death in 2003. I mention this as I had not visited the hospital before but went twice in 2023 and was over- whelmed by how well they are looked after and attended to in sickness and in health. Although we see them at Wimbledon, I am sure many of us are unaware of the greater opportunities and advantages life as a Chelsea Pensioner brings to retired
Salisbury Association walking group – Allan Scott, Andy Bourne,
Gavin Hanratty, Geordie Kennedy, Gary Wills. Taken at Old Sarum Salisbury
2Lt Josh Allen, Nick and Jane Tuck, Thomas Stannage, Lt Col Rupert Hope-Hawkins, Sergeant Samuel Rawlings, Padre Martin Johnson