Page 57 - QARANC Vol 14 No 10 2015

Newcastle Branch
Chairman: Col (Retd) A Dolphin Secretary: Lyndsay Staerck
Our summer outings closed with a superb day trip in beautiful Northumberland. Glorious walks, chats and plenty of good food and liquid refreshments to keep up the momentum.
In September our meeting ended with an enthralling speaker called Malcolm Byrne who enlightened us all on World War 2 in Europe, we look forward to inviting him back.
Our September Heritage visit took us to Beamish Museum in County Durham. A day spent looking at years long gone, going down the mines,
visiting ‘olde worlde’ sweet shops and sampling home made scones. We all enjoyed being a ‘Victorian’ for the day.
November brought us to Remembrance Day and whilst most of us remained up North our Chairman Anne Dolphin and her husband attended the service at the Arboretum and were privileged to lay a Wreath.
Combined with the RAMC Association our Christmas dinner in early December was immense fun with the usual wonderful food and entertainment. Thankfully we had no injuries on the dance floor this time!
2014 has been a fruitful year for the our Branch with eight new members and warm, welcome wishes are
extended to; K. Bushnell, Clark, Foster, J. Hall, Lawson, J McMillan, G Maltby and J. Parkin.
Our AGM will be held in March 2015 where we plan to finalise our calendar of events which will be the usual mixture of meetings, heritage Visits and socialising with our local RAMC Association.
Lyndsey Staerck Branch Secretary
THE GAZETTE QARANC 55
Jurassic Coast Branch Report
Chairman: Lt Col (Retd) M Bandy RRC Secretary: Maj (Retd) P McKay ARRC
On 6th September 2014, 8 QA’s including the Col Commandant Sue Bush spent a lovely day at ‘Sculpture by the Lakes’ in Dorset. It is a large park filled with various sculptures around lakes which is tranquil and serene. We were lucky to have a beautiful day and enjoyed a fabulous picnic lunch in the grounds.
On 25th October 2014 we held our AGM in Salisbury at The White Hart Hotel. 21 people attended the meeting after which we had a lovely lunch at the hotel. I baked a cake which I iced, and my niece made the QA Corps Badge to sit on top. Members paid to guess the weight of the cake which was correctly guessed by Katherine Varden. Following our AGM we watched an old ‘This is Your Life’ the subject of which was Dame Margot Turner. A few tears were shed.
On 15th January 2015, 27 members including two husbands spent a lovely afternoon at The Royal Hospital Chelsea. We were split into two groups and each shown around the hospital by one of the Chelsea residents who are tour guides. The group I was in was guided by an 81 year old, called Paddy Fox who had been at The Royal
Hospital for 13 years. Paddy was entertaining with many a tale to tell. Although a cold day it was dry and a joy to look around the grounds. Col Laura Bale the Matron of the Hospital allowed us into the New Infirmary where she gave us a very informative talk. We walked around the museum; we had refreshments in the café and bought items from the gift shop.
Major (Retd) Patsy May
Forthcoming events
Corps Day on 22nd March will be held at St Osmund’s Church in Osmington followed by lunch at Moreton Old School House.
Jurassic Coast Boat Trip 27 June 2015. The boat will be leaving Exmouth at 1215 hrs. The cost is £15 including a light lunch.
Branch AGM 31 October 2015. Venue to be confirmed.
If any QA’s of any branch would like to attend any of the above events please contact the Branch Secretary Major (Retd) Pat McKay on 01305 774560 or email: the.pat.mckay@gmail.com
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