Page 40 - KRH Year of 2021 CREST

38 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars
Welfare and The Partners’ Club
The last 12 months has been a testing time for the Regiment and its families, in traditional KRH fashion everyone has risen to the challenge and adapted to a new way of working and living. Naturally this had an effect on the social calendar and the activities that we would normally pursue.
February saw Capt Chris Pople bid a tearful farewell and move back to a Sabre Sqn, shortly after Sgt Andy Hannon left the department and again moved back to a Sabre Sqn. The outgoing team handed over the baton to Capt Damion Baines and Sgt Allan Clegg. The new team, full of enthusiasm hit the ground running and started to find ways of returning to a degree of normality.
The first thing that made a return to the calendar was the good old coffee morning. We started to host the gathering in the local community centre to make it more accessible. Conveniently the doors open at 0900hrs and the community centre is opposite Clarendon school, meaning more people are starting to drop in. The team are very fond of coffee mornings, especially Cpl Eddie Payne as he often eats all the left-over cakes, the Welfare Officer rarely gets a look-in.
The summer was an exciting time not because leave was on the horizon but because of the World Cup. Typically the Regiment found itself on a series of large and important exercises whilst the tournament was taking place. In collaboration with the Regimental Sergeant Major the welfare team were able to pur- chase and make available some outdoor projection equipment. Though not a perfect solution it did provide a welcome break
and allowed the Battle Group to enjoy the football, even though a home nation team didn’t win.
As restrictions were completely lifted the team were rapidly seek- ing opportunity and booked a children’s Halloween party. We struck gold and were able to host the party on the 31st October in the Royal British Legion. There were some truly horrifying costumes, the prize for best dressed definitely went to the Lewis family and the worst dressed was undoubtably Sgt Clegg. The presence of SSgt Field couldn’t have been timed better, a member of staff at the RBL could be heard to say, “why is there an extra from The Lord of The Rings here?”.
As time ticked along so did the social calendar, the partners of the Regiment were kindly invited into the WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess for a cocktail making master class. It’s fair to say that Aimee Thorpe had made the most of the evening, she was seen on multiple occa- sions helping others finish their drinks - Shelly Buckley’s barely had a sip. Pte Stubbs produced some delicious food that was enjoyed by all, especially Eddie Payne who took 3 tubs home. The evening was a huge success, and the party was didn’t end in the Mess, I have it on good authority that Racheal Allison kept the vibe going back at her house.
On the whole a very turbulent but enjoyable year. The welfare department is looking forward to 2022 and the exciting opportu-
nities that await us.
DMB