Page 110 - Mercian Eagle 2016

108
Members of Hednesford Branch, with Lee Davies (left kneeling) Richard Swinscoe (centre kneeling) and Brian Edmonds (right kneeling)
The members arranged a 40s night, a Black Country Night and one of the ladies even did a sponsored parachute jump.
When it came to the bike ride itself, this was completed on 27th August 2016, in
1 day, covering a total of 144 miles, which double the distance Lee had ever achieved in one day previously. Lee, as promised was accompanied on the ride by brother- in-law Richard and also Brian Edmonds,
a member of Hednesford branch and his
brother in law. The cycle team completed the ride in just one day, as they promised they would.
On its own, this is an astonishing achievement for someone battling daily with the difficulties imposed by PTSD,
but the real surprise is the £10,000 Lee and his team of support cyclists and the Members of the Hednesford Branch of the Staffordshire Regiment Association have
raised so far and there is still more to come in from sponsorship.
Lee says that he received some amazing help from the staff at Audley Court, and that he just wanted to help other in the same situation as more and more veterans come forward and are diagnosed with PTSD. It would appear that Lee with help of Hednesford SRA Branch, well and truly smashed it!
helps attract the younger generation,
once formalities are out of the way we enjoy a good old fashion bit of banter.
The Lichfield Branch SRA realised that for a lot of veterans it is not feasible to join a local association branch because there
is no branch near their location and that means they miss out on a lot of information and events.
The Lichfield Branch have many distant members that can never make our meetings and we keep them all in the loop by forwarding electronically monthly bulletins and meeting minutes etc, being a member of our branch entitles you to many perks
for example our trips are heavily subsidised
Lichfield Branch SRA Mercian Eagle report 2016
We are a very active forward thinking branch with a good variety of members, I think because we are so active is why we attract new younger members who in turn are the life line to the association. From year to year our calendar gets busier and busier as our road show and airsoft shooting range is in high demand at charity events, the road show not only helps with charity fund raising but it is also a good source of income for the branch and helps to keeps the Staffords name alive.
Our first main event of 2016 was our AGM, again as with all our meetings this was well attended, the 2015 committee all stood down and all was duly re-elected. We
From year to year our calendar gets busier and busier...
have no rank structure within our branch apart from the “Boss” Major Glynn Ireland or as we call him El President-e who still keeps us all in line. Our general meetings now have a relaxed dress code and we save our regimental dress for parades and official gatherings, again we find this
THE MERCIAN EAGLE