Page 102 - Mercian Eagle 2016

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Lyceum Band, the parade was followed by the service in Christ Church. In spite of the weather, the public turned out at all three locations in larger numbers than ever.
Our Branch year was rounded off on 6th December by our Christmas Lunch, once again at the Bridge Inn. Our Treasurer’s insistence on a simplified menu meant that
Chester Branch John Fairbanks A busy year which saw the Branch
represented at the Mons Reunion, the East Cheshire Reunion and Chester’s Remembrance Sunday service and parade ended in festive style with our Branch Christmas Lunch in early December followed by the highlight of the year, the Christmas Draw which, following a starter of mince pies and mulled wine, saw some lucky people taking home one or more of the 60 prizes on offer. The high spot of the evening was the number of times John Murphy’s tickets came out of the drum. At one time it seemed that no one else had bought any tickets. But as the saying goes
our meal was briskly served as most of us were able to recall what we’d ordered.
Our first meeting of the year, the 2016 Branch AGM was a solemn occasion as our Vice Chairman Tom Radford had died on 17th December after a prolonged stay in hospital. During Tom’s illness Ray Brennan had volunteered to chair our monthly
‘you get what you pay for’ so John, having purchased a large amount of tickets, won a fifth of the prizes. Then he generously donated everything that he won to the Branch on the understanding that it be raffled to raise money for a Charity of our choice.
The New Year came in with, not a
bang, but with a soggy squelch. The awful weather seemed to affect attendances
and it was the end of January before
Friday night started to show an improved attendance. Talking of which I would like someone, somewhere, who reads to answer this question. At Chester Castle, we
meetings. Members unanimously expressed their thanks to Ray and he was duly elected as our Chairman, the other Committee members being elected unopposed. Our efforts in recruiting members from the former Tranmere Branch have not been
in vain and we have been delighted to welcome them at our monthly meetings.
have at our disposal facilities that clubs and other organization would give their eye teeth for. Why then is the sight of men or women who served in the Regiment visiting the Club such a rarity?
At our AGM, it was no surprise when
the time came to elect a new committee, heads starting sinking down into chairs only to reappear when the words “the present committee have agreed to remain in post”. The new (old) committee have plans for a good year including a Branch Dinner and an outing to The Royal Armouries in Leeds.
stand down for personal family reasons. Frank Grieves has been elected to as the new Chairman, all other committee members have been elected to serve for another year.
Ellesmere Port Branch Gordon Kipps
We approached 2016 with 5 new members and the Branch is going from strength to strength with about 25 members regularly attending meetings. A busy social autumn was enjoyed by us all and of course we were proud to parade on Remembrance Sunday at both ceremonies held locally.
Halton Branch John Donaldson
This Branch enjoys a close friendly relationship with the Royal British Legion Club in Halton and take part in many of their events and since October, we have been able to parade and show off our brand new Branch Standard. It was given pride of place at the RBL annual veterans’ rally night, which some of our members helped organise. At the end of the night, we presented them with a regimental plaque crafted by one of our members, Tony Butterworth.
Remembrance Sunday saw us on parade with our Standard at both Halton Village’s War Memorial and at the main Runcorn
War Memorial. Following this service, we
he Runner-up, Halton Branch v South Wirral Branch Games Night
In mid December we held our traditional Christmas lunch and gathering when twenty four members, families, friends and loyal supporters enjoyed a fun-filled evening at a local club.
At our AGM, it was announced that our Chairman, John “Tiny” Davies has had to
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Members of the Cheshire Regiment Association, The Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire and The High Sherrif at the unveiling of the VC Memorial Paving Stone in Runcorn
crossed over to the statue of Todger Jones VC DCM to pay our respects.
In April, we hosted a Games Night with our friends from South Wirral Branch, it was an enjoyable evening, but sad to say that
we did not win. The return match came in October when we travelled over to their home in Great Sutton. Despite a summer of intensive training however, we came