Page 42 - QARANC Vol 20 No 1 2022

Thank you for the flowers
A few days ago, I was absolutely delighted to receive the most beautiful flowers from the Association, and I would like to thank everyone involved for their kindness and thoughtfulness in sending them to me.
My circumstances are such that I am unable to join any gatherings of the QARANC Association presently, including the Chester Branch events, which is a great disappointment to me, so I am unable to give a personal thank you for the gift.
These are difficult times for many people at present and I feel very grateful that I should be considered for this surprise delivery. Friendship is a precious commodity and I feel privileged to belong to the QARANC Association.
Colonel (retd) Sylvia Short Lower Heath, Prees
Your letters and postcards
‘Together we make a difference’
Lt Col (Retd) Merrill Bate ARRC, Vice Chair and Chair of Governance, writes about her experience of being a trustee
In response to an advert in The Gazette I applied to become a trustee of the QARANC Association. On attending my first Board meeting it became clear that everyone put the interests and needs of the 3Rs (the Regulars, Reserves and Retired) at the centre of everything they did.
Having left the QAs 16 years earlier I felt welcomed back into the family and knew that working with a group of like-minded people would be enjoyable and satisfying.
Now in my third year of being a trustee I can honestly say that it is a really rewarding role in which I can put my knowledge, skills and experience to good use. All new trustees undertake a skills audit and following a discussion with the Chair are assigned to a sub- committee.
voice and every idea, challenge and suggestion, is listened to. To observe new trustees growing in confidence, getting involved in the charity and working on projects is truly rewarding.
The trustees and the Association office team works in partnership to
It’s in the sub- committees that the groundwork is done with proposals, plan and policies presented to the Board. The Board of Trustees and sub- committees meet four times a year, most meetings are conducted virtually although for the AGM we meet face-to- face (travel expenses are claimed).
Now in my third year of being
a trustee I can honestly say that it is a really rewarding role in which I can put my knowledge, skills and experience to good use
shape the way in which we meet the challenges of today and the future. We are a TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More and the quality of this partnership ensures that we can focus on the essence of the Association: ‘friendship.’
For instance, at the start of the COVID pandemic we knew that we would be required to think and operate differently and that we might be called upon to meet the friendship and
All trustees are encouraged to gain knowledge and experience of all aspects of charity management through attendance at each sub-committee. There is support available and the annual training audit and performance review allows trustees to identify their development needs.
Regardless of background and experience everyone has a
benevolence needs of members of the Association and those who do serve and have served in the QARANC.
As a team we stepped up to the mark and extended a hand of friendship, gave support and were truly well meaning in everything that we did.
42 The Gazette QARANC Association
Greetings from Chester Branch
We have welcomed new members to the branch, so we are still going from strength to strength. Like everyone it had been a difficult year however in the end the branch successfully met up, starting with the AGM in Chester Cathedral, visit to Port Sunlight, Remembrance Service at Chester Cathedral and ending with our Christmas Lunch in December. All of which were well attended.
Our Reunion for this year is still going ahead and many of you have booked, If you never been they do please come and join us. You never know like our previous ones you might just meet up with someone who you have not seen for a while. It happened to me.
Further details will be found elsewhere in the Gazette.
The committee have great plans for 2022, getting back to doing what we are all about friendship, fun and laughter.
Lynn Orfanelli,
Secretary, Chester Branch