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SSgt (SSI) Mickey Vaggs RAPTC
Colin Dorning

removal which included replacing all the original earth and planting. amazing achievement for him which as you can see raised a
The Garden is due to be reopened in September 2013.
massive smile which lasted for quite a while’.

Welfare. The RAPTC Benevolent Fund continues to assist Mickey has written to the Association to say there are not enough
members with welfare support but we are endeavouring to become words to express his heartfelt gratitude and he is overwhelmed
less reactive and more proactive in identifying welfare cases and by all the help, support and assistance he and his children have
as a result the amount of inancial assistance we provide may rise received from members of the Association.
in the future.

Visitors. We have had a number of recent visitors to the
The Association continues to support SSgt (SSI) Mickey Vaggs Association Ofice; surprisingly their irst visit back to the School in
RAPTC who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and a number of years. .
has sole custody of his two children. We have visited Mickey

on a number of occasions and he remains upbeat despite his RAPTC Association Branches. The RAPTC Association
circumstances. We recently assisted with the purchase of a Branches provide a regional focus and are established for the good
scooter for Mickey which has helped him regain some mobility
and beneit of the serving and retired members of the RAPTC. The
Branches are managed by retired RAPTC members on a voluntary

Mickey recently visited Tedworth House for some respite care and basis and the success of the Branches is very much down to
we received the following report from Dean Williams at Tedworth their hard work and commitment. Without these committed
House:
individuals the Branches would not exist. They are always looking
for members to help with the Branch and we are investigating the

‘The National Rile Association (NRA) Adaptive Shooting use of serving members to ease the administration burden but a
Championships took place on Wed 3 Jul at Bisley and our very plea from the Regimental Secretary: it is your Association so if you
own SSgt Mickey Vaggs won 2nd place in the AR 15, 5.56 Rile have some spare time and would like to help please get in touch
shoot (I know the picture shows him shooting a shot gun). An
with your local Association Branch or the Regimental Secretary.

Association Website. We now have the ability to amend and
update the Website from the Association ofice in real time which
means any changes we make are immediate and it is now a lot easier
to develop the Association Website with an aspiration to make it the

‘go to point’ in the future for news and events across the Association.

Diary Dates for 2014:
Association Branch Dinners are:

31 Jan 14 – North West Branch – Blackpool
1 Mar 14 – South West Branch – Loxton, Somerset
15 Mar 14 – North East Branch – Scarborough
11 Apr 14 – Eastern Branch – Bury St Edmunds

10 May 14 – South East Branch – Eastbourne
6–7 Jun 14
– Scottish Branch – Kinross

RAPTC Annual Reunion Weekend:
Left to right Gary Jones, Dave Smith and Dave Warburton
12/13/14 Sep 14 – Aldershot Garrison WOs’ & Sgts’ Mess