Page 96 - KRH Regimental Journal 2022

94 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
The Regimental Association
As a serving or former member of The King’s Royal Hussars, or any of its antecedent Regiments, you are a Lifetime Member of the Regimental Association. I thought that it might therefore be timely to remind you what the aims of your Association are. They are as follows:
• To maintain contact between past and present members of the Regiment, fostering mutual friendship between them, providing for them, and to keep alive the spirit of com- radeship and pride in the Regiment;
• Support the families of those killed-in-action by promptly responding to problems of bereavement and hardship;
• Support those wounded or injured on operations, particu-
larly those who have had to leave the Army; to assist in finding them new employment, and to help them become active family and community members;
• Support the families of those seriously wounded or injured in prolonged recovery situations;
• Enhance the welfare support provided to soldiers on oper- ations and that of their families at home.
In military parlance, to you who are still serving, the Association has your back. It’s important to understand that fact in order to ensure that we in the Association know what else we can do, and what perhaps we should do better. Crucially, if there are areas that you identify where we are not doing what we’ve said that we’ll do, then please inform your Chain of Command, so that we may rectify the omission. I would ask that you ensure that the Association has your contact details, while you are serving. Please sign-up at www.krh.org.uk/members
The first bullet point is to keep alive the spirit of comradeship in the Regiment. We do that at Cavalry Memorial, and at the various
reunions around the Kingdom. Attendance at Cavalry Memorial in 2022 was as expected with so much of the Regiment away, but I know that we can do better. I don’t expect every old comrade to march each year, but regular attendance along with your peers is a very productive and healthy way of keeping in-touch with the Serving Regiment, and maintaining that spirit of comrade- ship. After the Parade, we lunched at the RAF Club, where we are promised the food will be much improved in 2023!
The highlight of the year was celebrating the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Formation of KRH. The Association was wel- comed so very warmly by the Regiment to their Families’ Day, held on Saturday 2 July. The whole day was brilliantly organized by the Regiment. HRH The Princess Royal attended, and after talking to serving members of The Regiment, and their families, over sixty Association members were presented to HRH, on what was a particularly happy occasion. A number of old comrades made their first visit to KRH. They each expressed to me their joy on being so warmly welcomed, and the pride in what their successor regiment has become.
While not an Association event, at the beginning of October a memorial to commemorate those who had died in 14/20H was dedicated at the National Memorial Arboretum. This was the initiative of LCpl Darren Walker, and his wife Rachel, who mas- terminded the fundraising to raise the required £25,000. The Memorial was constricted using scrap parts salvaged from the tank park bins of KRH in Tidworth; tools, cogs, nuts, bolts have been used, even Darren’s old trumpet mouthpiece appears as an eye socket to represent the Band. The Colonel of The Regiment, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw unveiled the Memorial, and Chaplain Clive Baggalley, a former 14/20H Cpl, conducted the Service.
Preston Reunion