Page 112 - Mercian Eagle 2016

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Mercian Volunteers Regimental Association
The MVRA continues to look after its membership of around 500 former members of the First and Second battalions of the Mercian Volunteers. I would also like publicly to thank the Mercian Regiment Headquarters for their support of the
MVRA and for their willingness talk and to guide. Of course, we are an independent Association devoted to those who served in the First and Second battalions of
the Mercian Volunteers and that will not change, at least for the next few years.
But our Association Rules are expressly framed to allow anyone from other Army units, both TA and Regular, to join a Branch and participate fully in their activities. In consequence, we welcome and support the initiative to re-launch the Mercian Regiment Association We are actively working on how we can be represented at their formal meetings and how they can be represented in ours – in both cases as observers, as either members or friends; MRA members are always welcome in our Branches.
This especially applies to TA members
of 4 MERCIAN, a unit which is certainly
a cousin of MVRA, albeit once or twice removed and might loosely even merit the title of grandchild!
Given below are the highlights of our Branch activities but I would like to mention three Association-wide events. The first is already past and is our biennial combined picnic and Act of Remembrance held in
the grounds of the ever-helpful NMA and specifically in the Mercian Volunteer’s Memorial Grove. This year we remembered our remote TA predecessors who fell a
hundred years ago in the Battle of the Somme. Another highlight was the march- past to the Regimental March (Under the Two-headed Eagle), played by the excellent Tenbury Town Band, who entertained us throughout the event. It’s amazing how aches and pains vanish when you are marching!
The second highlight will be our celebration of our fiftieth Birthday (we were embodied on 30 Apr 1967) when, thanks to the generosity of the Kidderminster Branch, we will join with their local celebrations of that event plus enjoy a variety of get- togethers, notably the Eagle Club Annual Dinner – all of which are on 22nd April 2017. on Saturday 22nd April, 2017 followed by our annual Eagle Dining Club dinner in the evening Although we were rebadged into the county regiments in 1988 and subsequently 4 MERCIAN, the fact
that the Mercian Volunteers Regimental Association is so active and well supported throughout the Midlands is testament to the enthusiasm all our members have for the Mercian family and its strong links with the constituent regiments. Finally, there will be a further picnic, similar to the one already mentioned above, in September 2017, commemorating the Battle of Cambrai and again remembering our own fiftieth Birthday. MRA members are welcome to come along and join in (but we all bring our own picnics!) so keep this weekend free!
The last year has been a busy time for the Mercian Volunteers Regimental Association (MVRA). Our branches, seven altogether,
at Burton on Trent, Kidderminster,
On Sunday 13 September 2015 at the National Memorial Arboretum, Members of A Company
1 MERCIAN V laid a Wreath on behalf of 24537860 L/Cpl Trevor Ring. Trevor joined A Company
1 MERCIAN V at December 1979. He later joined the 1st Battalion Royal Hampshire Regiment
and was tragically killed in an accident while
on exercise in Kenya on 20 October 1991
Members of the Mercian Volunteers Regimental Association together with the Staffordshire Regiment, Cheshire, and Worcestershire Foresters Associations witnessed John
Kirk, Chairman of the MVRA, Walsall Branch receive a Cheque from the Secretary of the Amery Club, New Invention Willenhall to be donated to the Charity ‘Combat Stress’
Nottingham, Rugeley, Stockport, Walsall and Wolverhampton have been providing an interesting range of social and welfare activities for our members. These have included golf matches, clay pigeon pigeon shooting, a curry night, a visit to Ypres, fund raising for Combat Stress, an invitation to dine with the WOs and Sgts Mess and a boxing night at 2 MERCIAN, attendance
at various remembrance parades with our standards and Christmas parties. As a result the Association remains strong and well supported. There is a steady trickle
of new members including soldiers from
4 MERCIAN, who are especially welcome to join our branches.
The highlight of 2016 for us will be our Battle of the Somme 1916 Commemoration Service and March Past held at the National Memorial Arboretum, at Alrewas on 11the September 2016 from 11.00am. We will have remembered all those regiments, especially those from the Midlands, as our predecessors, who were involved in that momentous battle. Our Mercian Volunteers
Members of the Stockport Branches of the Mercian Volunteers Regimental and Cheshire Regiment Associations together with the Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport
THE MERCIAN EAGLE