Page 25 - QARANC Vol 16 No 1 2018

Millbank Branch
Chair: Lindi Kibbey Secretary: Judy Cook
It has been yet another active period for the Millbank Branch with attendance at events such as The Step Short Parade, Millbank Branch Annual General Meeting and a presentation by member Di Robertson Bell on Medecins Sans Frontieres, Remembrance events and the Christmas lunch.
Since the last Gazette we have again had sad news of the deaths of several members: Janet Jennings,
Gillian McDonald, Sally Mears, Audrey Shaw and Doris Stannard will all be missed.
We look forward to events in 2018 including a May visit to battlefields and other points of interest in Malta and a visit to Cutlers’ Hall in September.
Judy Cook
Millbank Branch Christmas Lunch 2017
The Millbank Christmas Lunch is a highlight of the Millbank branch calendar as an occasion for members and their guests to share time together. It is held in the Roben’s Suite at the top of Guy’s Hospital Tower and for 2017 the weather was bright and sunny so that spotting institutions and public buildings was made even more exciting and interesting. London and its landmarks, from Big Ben and the Tower of London to Wembley Stadium look like items in a model village viewed from Guy’s Tower.
There were 57 members at the traditional lunch. It was a great opportunity to raise funds for the branch with members bringing generous gifts for the tombola and raffle.
Our guests of honour were Richard Jennings, whose wife Janet, a branch member, died earlier this year, and Sue McAteer, the QARANC Association’s new General Secretary.
Lindi Kibbey, our Chairman, led a minute’s silence in memory of seven branch members who died this
year. They will be remembered with fondness.
After lunch, our Chairman reviewed the events of the past year and highlighted forthcoming events. She then invited Sue McAteer to say a few words. Sue told us a little about her past career. Coming from a police background rather than from the QARANC meant she was on a steep learning curve when she started her new post, made more challenging by all the national events involved with the 70th Anniversary of the QARANC Association. We hope she will continue to enjoy working with and for the Association for a long time to come and she will always be welcome
at Millbank.
The delicious lunch eaten, the raffles drawn and
the staff thanked, members and their guests left to face the hundreds of young people clad as Father Christmas on London Bridge! A really good start to Christmas.
Chris Eberhardie
THE GAZETTE QARANC
Memorial Service and Book of Remembrance 212 (Yorkshire) Field Hospital
212 (Yorkshire) Field Hospital is holding a memorial service and the commemoration of a Book of Remembrance in The Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul in Sheffield on Friday 15 June 2018 at 15.00 hours. During the service the names of fifteen soldiers who died in service and are therefore recorded in the book, will be read out, together with the names of a further twenty one people who have been nominated by their friends and colleagues to be remembered during the service.
Please come along to celebrate the lives of these past members of 212 (Yorkshire) Field Hospital with their friends and families in what promises to be a moving and well-attended service. There is wheelchair access to the nave and the small coffee shop will be open afterwards. We look forward to meeting you there.
Sgt Jane Thompson RAMC
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BRANCH NEWS