Page 5 - QARANC Vol 16 No 2 2018
P. 5
I expect you may be surprised to see that I’m writing this report! Colonel Carol Kefford has had a greatly increased work commitment in her ‘day job’ – her organisation is undergoing reorganisation. To ensure Colonel Carol can give maximum effort to this I’m standing in as Chair until the New Year. Colonel Carol remains as Colonel Commandant and will continue her duties in that role during this time. As I step up from the Vice President post this will be temporally filled by Colonel (Retd) Jane Carey-Harris.
Anthropologists inform us that in their studies a ‘generation’ is twenty years; given this, our Association covers four generations! This essential fact is not lost on some of the workstrands the Association sub-committees are engaged in. We are looking at what sort of activities fulfil and cross generations and, certainly, how we present ourselves and communicate to the generations. The seeds of development have been sown... as we move to next year, our 70th anniversary, the functions being organised have a multi-generational
approach. Please read further in the Gazette for information. The reunion lunch will also be held next May, and I do hope to see a good cross section attending.
It is entirely appropriate that I mention the work being done with the Association chattels. The Association owns quite a large amount. As the years have passed, moves, closures of units and lack of time has meant various catalogues needed to be updated, checked, cross referenced and chattels examined. It has taken over a year’s work by the Heritage and Chattels Sub-committee, led most assiduously by Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Keiron Spires (who, obviously, is led by his wife, Alison!) to update and rewrite a database, let alone search and audit that which is held in Robertson House. By the time you read this, outside specialists will have assessed and valued these chattels. What will be left is to track/trace chattels we know are in units but which units and where?
The RHQ team, Sue McAteer and Alison Roberts, have now been equipped with new computers. The
Colonel (Retd) JDF Quinn, Acting Chair of the Association
central team are effective and their work catching up and sorting administrative matters is showing results.
All in all, the Association is listening; we are making changes and YOU are what matters; If you have ideas... grab a Trustee and inform them. Or better still – become one!
Enjoy this edition; despite the difficult times in which we live, we do make ourselves known.
Colonel (Retd) John DF Quinn
THE GAZETTE QARANC 3
Editorial
I would like to thank everyone who
has contributed articles, photographs
and information for this edition of the
QARANC Association Gazette and I
acknowledge gratefully the help and
hard work of the General Secretary, Sue
McAteer and Administrative Assistant,
Alison Roberts, at RHQ. Writing for the
Gazette is not an easy task, and for
many of us it is a reminder of churning
out those seemingly endless essays
and projects for our nursing degrees
and diplomas. However, I hope that
those of you who write for the Gazette
will see it as less of an academic
exercise and more of an opportunity to
tell an interesting story. The suggested
word limit of 600 words is no more than a guideline, and please get in touch with me via the Gazette email if you would like to write a longer article.
I know you will be inspired by some of the writing in this Gazette – Fiona Mitford’s prizewinning poem, articles about trips to Normandy, and the prowess of our members who participate in an ever-growing variety of sport ranging from the tennis that we have always played, to polo and women’s rugby, (deemed most ‘unladylike’ when I was at school!).
As I write this, the hottest summer since 1976 is a distant memory, but at least we were able to enjoy superb weather for outdoor events. As usual, some of our members enjoyed attending the Not Forgotten Association Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, and I was fortunate to be invited, together with the Chief Nursing Officer (Army), Colonel Alison McCourt, Colonel Commandant, Colonel Carol Kefford, and General Secretary, Sue McAteer, to Founders Day at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Sadly, we were unable to meet our QA Pensioner, but we very much enjoyed meeting with other Pensioners and had plenty of time to talk with them after the
parade, which, this year, was taken by the HRH Prince Michael of Kent.
Next year marks the 70th Anniversary of the formation of the QARANC. Please sign up your interest in next year’s events, and I look forward to receiving your personal accounts and photographs to publish in the QARANC Association Gazette.
Alison Spires Editor
Chairman’s Report