Page 147 - Mercian Eagle 2013

Lichfield Branch
Dave Gouldingay
Assistant Branch Secretary
The Lichfield Branch has yet again had a very active and eventful year. The Branch has gone from strength to strength, seeing good growth in membership and I think
the key to our success is down to our strong infrastructure along with our very loyal and active members. The Branch
has a wide and varied age range with our oldest member now into his 90th year and our youngest member being just 21 years of age. Sadly the year has not been all roses as we have lost two larger than life members, both in the same month. Firstly Jim Smith our Branch Bugler passed away after a long illness, only to be followed shortly after with the loss of our founder and long standing President Major Jim Elson, know to us as ‘Big Jim’. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the two Jims for all their hard work and loyalty to the Lichfield Branch.
Our year yet again started with a very well attended AGM with all standing branch officers being re elected. Every year the Branch nominates a chosen charity to help financially. We chose two worthy causes Scotty’s Little Soldiers, who offer support and help to the children of our fallen and
to Christians around Britain’s support
fund. Christian (Knocker) is an ex Stafford walking the coastline of Britain in aid of Help For Heroes, the fund raising started with many street collections and a special mention must go to those dedicated members who stood for hours on very cold winter days, as we do every year when
we set our selves a main event challenge. This year we chose to climb three of the Lake District’s largest mountains, to be completed over three consecutive days.
We named the event ‘The Big 3’. In total our climbing team scaled 8,960 feet in
three days and was supported by a very dedicated team back in base camp situated on the banks of Lake Windermere. The fruits of our efforts all came together with
a presentation night held at the Lichfield Social Club. We had arranged a special guest for the night, namely Christian
Knock (Christian Around Britain). Our Branch Chairman had arranged to travel
up to Newcastle and kidnap him from his challenge for the night. In total we donated £6,000 to Scotty’s Little Soldiers and gifted Christian Around Britain £1,500, to be
used as when he requires new boots and essential supplies. Our annual pilgrimage to Woodhall Spa to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem was sadly cancelled this year, due to lack of local support. They stated that they made a loss of £250 last year
so our Branch has donated this amount
to help get them back on track for next year’s parade. Forthcoming events for 2014 include our annual charity challenge event, we have decided that our 2014 main
Branch ladies, Viv Gouldingay, Jackie Stobbs, Margaret Nock, Barbra Smart and Louisa Parris manning the stall at Lichfield Morrison’s
Charity cheque presentation night with Christian Around Britain
Representing the Branch in a Staffordshire extreme 10k event: Adam Wright, Brian McMulkin and Branch Chairman Dave Bradshaw
benefactor should be our own Branch.
We will be raising funds to purchase a minibus. This will enable us to be more cost effective for future events and trips for our senior veterans. We also plan to loan out the vehicle when not in use to other local branches or members. In return we will just ask for a donation towards the running costs. To conclude we look forward
Para 10 event at Catterick Garrison running for the Branch: Dave Bradshaw, Adam Wright and supported by Lichfield lad, Cpl Rupert Reynolds of 3 Para, who plays an active role within the Branch supporting many of our events
to welcoming 3 Mercian back home and welcome any serving member or ex Mercian to join our events or just pop into our branch meetings held on every first Sunday of the month. Further details on the Lichfield Branch and events can be found on our website. www.LichfieldStaffords.co.uk
“Ich Dien”
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
145