Jan/Feb - The Royal British Legion

“SANDBAG”
WINCANTON AND DISTRICT
ROYAL BRITISH LEGION NEWSLETTER
Editor Tony Goddard 01963-824193
NEWS FROM THE BRANCH
Branch secretary Arthur Pickup 01963-32952
Volume 12 Issue 1
Next branch meeting 11th January 2016 - 7 p.m. at Memorial Hall
Poppy Appeal 2015/16
For many reasons the number of volunteers to do
Poppy Appeal collections was less this year than
other years.
However we did manage to cover everything. We
had an astounding response from our affiliated
cadet units and the ATC and Sea Cadets who sent
a large group to Wincanton Racecourse on 7th
November and raised an excellent £1491, in spite
of the appalling rain and wind that day. The Cubs
and Brownies did a session at Lidl and between
them raised nearly £150 too ! Morrison’s advised
us that a company decision was made that they
must count all the collections made there and bank
them direct. An arrangement was made at our local
store and they did count individual tins so we will
be able to let everyone know what they collected.
In total we collected £6512.58 at Morrison’s. Our
total raised so far from collections amounted to
£15720.70 and we are still awaiting gift aid
credits. We have so far also raised £794.00
(making £16500.70 in total) and money from the
books is still coming. There will be a major effort
to sell more books during the coming months. Last
year we had a very successful Armed Forces Day
in June and we will be having another event this
year. So we are confident we will do well again
when the fundraising year finishes at end of July.
It would not be fair to single out individual people
but there were some massively full collecting tins
counted and we are most grateful to everyone for
enthusiastically selling poppies this year. If you
have not been told your individual total yet please
bear with us.
We would also like to thank the working group
who stepped in when we needed them and are
grateful for their wonderful efforts and special
thanks to Sandra Hansford for deputising for
Sandra whilst we were away.
January/
February
2016
Extraordinary Branch Meeting
11th January at the Memorial Hall 7 p.m.
I mentioned in the last Sandbag (October) that as we
were unable to form a quorum when several key
committee members were not present at the AGM 19th
October it is necessary to formally elect committee
members for the present year. The year will be up to the
next AGM date which will be on 20th June to conform
with the new RBL accounting year.
The duration of the elected officers will run from 11th
January until the AGM on 20th June 2016. I have already
decided to retire in June and announce it now to allow for
a smooth handover and I will not seek re-election at the
June AGM.
Peter Cox our treasurer has also decided not to seek
re-election as treasurer and of course Sandra’s year as
Poppy Appeal Organiser terminates in August. With this
we will definitely require to seek three new persons in
June to fill these positions. Arthur is not certain if he
wishes continue as secretary after June, so it is possible
he may not wish to continue as secretary too. Positions
are chairman, treasurer and Poppy Appeal Organiser and
possibly secretary awaiting Arthur’s decision.
June Cother & Karen Dunford
I am very sorry to have to report that two of our great
Poppy Appeal helpers June Cother and Karen Dunford
passed away in November.
For a long time Karen held her bingos and fundraising
events which raised very large amounts for Poppy
Appeal, Karen was also an energetic fundraiser for many
other charities.
Even this year June Cother approached Sandra and said
she wanted to help with the collections at Morrison’s but
was unable to do so when her health deteriorated.
Our thoughts are with their families in their sad loss.
We will miss them very much.
Safeguarding the welfare, interests and memory of those who have served in the Armed Forces.
A Registered Charity. Charity No. 219279
www.britishlegion.org.uk
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Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall
7th November 2016
I know most of us watched the last Festival of Remembrance from the Albert Hall on TV. I do believe it ranked
with some of the best I have seen lately. One very special
aspect of it was the “Wincanton effect” when we saw our
own former vice president Ron Peet and our very special
member Maddie (Pat) Bowler. To commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory over Japan the RBL introduced a line
up of people who not only remembered it but of whom the
event had a profound effect on them. Ron Peet was serving
in the Royal Navy in Landing Craft Gunships and having
been present at the Normandy Landings could have been
forgiven if he had thought he had “done his bit !” Ron’s
Landing Craft Gunship was in action firstly at Sword Beach
and then when the Americans needed help at Omaha was
transferred there to shell the beaches. It was an awful experience for a young lad to have seen the horrors that
day, Ron was naturally pleased when it was all over and returning the Portsmouth was granted two weeks
leave. To his amazement Ron was told “after your leave return to collect your tropical kit your are off to the
Far East !” Ron’s landing craft was towed by a merchant ship, through the Suez Canal ultimately joining the
Far East Fleet. The Burma campaign was under way and Ron’s craft was going to be used to shell Japanese
emplacements along the Irrawaddy River. Ron being a signaller was told he was going to be “lookout” and
told to watch out for Japanese troops on the banks of the river - he was given a personal weapon, a revolver
and five rounds of ammunition !! Ron was on his ship when the Japanese surrender was announced.
Maddie had a totally different experience, she was a captive of the Japanese in China. Maddie’s father was an
officer in the British Merchant Navy and was at sea when the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1942.
Immediately after VJ Day and the Japanese surrender Maddie was liberated when an American detachment
parachuted in to the prison compound - I covered Maddie’s story in
full recently.
Both Ron & Maddie had been interviewed by representatives from
the RBL who informed them that a special tribute was being paid to
those who served against Japan and both their stories were so unique
it was decided to invite them to the Albert Hall for special
recognition.
Ron & Maddie said they had an “experience of a lifetime” as they
were treated to many exciting things behind the scenes and met such
fascinating people. They also had “escorts” and in the picture (left)
we can see Maddie with hers.
Wincanton was very well represented at the Albert Hall this year as
branch members Richard, Georgina and Dawn Old along with Les
and Judith Crompton were in the audience.
Wincanton branch had a visit to the afternoon performance of the
Festival of Remembrance several years and this has prompted people
to ask me if I am willing try to get tickets to attend the next on 12th
November 2016. It is only viable to attend the afternoon performance as tickets to the evening performance are strictly limited. Not
only that but the next day is Remembrance Sunday and it would not
be good getting home around 2 a.m. that day. If you are interested in
going to the afternoon performance let me know as soon as possible
(no financial commitment) so that I can judge if it is viable.
Safeguarding the welfare, interests and memory of those who have served in the Armed Forces.
A Registered Charity. Charity No. 219279
www.britishlegion.org.uk
Page 2
Remembrance events 2015
Remembrance Sunday this year fell before the 11th November at the earlier date of 8th November, it is
always the nearest Sunday to 11th November (which was a Wednesday). In order to have new wreaths on the
War Memorial at the Memorial Hall our cadets placed wreaths from each of our affiliated units on
Remembrance Sunday and the main wreaths at the memorial, which by tradition are placed on the 11th
November were placed that day. As always the youngsters from our Brownies and Cubs placed a cross for
each person named on the Roll of Honour for both world wars around the war memorial.
We were very fortunate to have our Member of Parliament, David Warburton MP, with us on Remembrance
Sunday and David not only marched with us in the parade but also read the lesson in church. Senior military
officers also took, Lt. Col. Colin Thomas for the Army and Lt. Tom Burrows RN for the Royal Navy . They
both took the salute at the final parade. David Hill our Parade Marshal and Martin Holmes our Standard
Bearer both were recovering from operations and could not join us in the parade, but did attend the church
service. We were very pleased to see both of them looking good and recovering well. Luckily I was able to get
qualified people to stand in and I am indebted to Brian Mitchell - County Ceremonial Officer for RBL
Wiltshire County for standing in for David Hill. Brian did a splendid job and it is of note that he too was
recovering from a recent operation but was able to help us and was absolutely fantastic. Terry Williams
formerly a regular soldier in the Light Infantry recently transferred his membership to Wincanton. Fortunately
Terry is currently a Standard Bearer with the Rifles Regimental Association and he volunteered to stand in for
Martin Holmes and continue this year on other events for us.
Again our Remembrance Sunday parade was large and led as always by Wincanton Silver Band. We had a
good size contingent of cadets on parade from both T.S. Mantle VC and Castle Cary & Wincanton Platoon
Army Cadet Force. Town Councillors and the Mayor of Wincanton joined us as did Somerset and Devon Fire
and Rescue Service, the Police, Brownies, Cubs and Red Cross.
During the Remembrance church service, our chaplain Rev. Nigel Feaver laid up our old branch Union Flag
which dated back to 1960 and was replaced a few years ago by our new standard.
Photo kindly supplied by Terry Fisher Photography
Safeguarding the welfare, interests and memory of those who have served in the Armed Forces.
A Registered Charity. Charity No. 219279
www.britishlegion.org.uk
Page 3
War Memorial seats
Monthly trips.
Last year substantial damaged occurred on the seat
dedicated to Ken Sansom, which at that time seemed
so severe that vandalism was suspected. The seat was
repairable but when the second seat, dedicated to
Percy Jee, suffered similar damage in the autumn the
focus seemed to be on vandalism again as the second
seat had totally collapsed. With this suspicion
foremost in peoples minds indignation swept in and
many comments in the local press and in the community people could not accept that damage to a war
memorial could happen. Almost immediately two
local companies came forward – Mintern Fencing and
Sheds Ltd of Templecombe and Bennetts Field
Garage Ltd., Wincanton – with offers of paying for
replacements. A new slant then went into the story as
a group of young people contacted the Memorial
Hall . They confessed that they were on the seat when
it collapsed and assured the Hall that damage was not
intended. They also said they did try to get in touch
with the police when rumors of vandalism circulated
but were unable to make contact. It did seem unlikely
that the seat would just collapse and it may have been
horseplay and a little too much fun making but it then
focused minds on looking again at the remains of the
seat. Inspection revealed a great deal of rot which yew
wood should not have experienced, certainly not in
just 9 years. True to their word Andrew Southern and
Carl Mintern directors of Mintern Fencing and Sheds
and Shane Scammell director of Bennetts Field
Garage coordinated together the purchase of two teak
seats and had them erected in the original places. The
seats were officially unveiled on Saturday 19th
December in the presence of the Mayor of Wincanton,
Cllr Howard Ellard and Deputy Mayor Dawn Old by
Rita Jee, Percy’s widow and Anne Rowlands daughter
of Ken Sansom, Carl, Andrew & Shane were in
attendance at the ceremony and met Rita and Anne.
I can continue our monthly trips and keep them at
£12 per person again this year.
The first trip of the year is to Exeter on Saturday
2nd April and will depart from the Memorial Hall at
9 a.m. It has been quite some time since we last
visited Exeter and Exeter will not be weather
dependant. Please contact me in March if you would
like to go, I will start a list then - please don’t
contact me before.
By popular request the May trip will be to Southsea
& Portsmouth and will be on 14th May departing
at 8.30 a.m. this will allow a full day there. List will
be out on and after the trip to Exeter.
Left to right: Shane, Rita, Anne, Carl & Andrew
A date for your diary !
Armed Forces Day 2016 is 25th June 2016.
The 100th anniversary of the First Day of the Battle
of the Somme is 1st July 2016.
Great War tribute book
There were minor glitches with the publishing of the
book of tribute to Wincanton War Dead of the Great
War due to financing not being ready earlier and it
was published in early November. The book “More
than just names” covers the lives and stories of those
named on the Wincanton Roll of Honour for the
Great War in the parish church. The printing and
quality of the book is excellent and a great credit to
the printers - Wincanton Print Ltd. Copies are
available at Papertrees in Wincanton High Street at
£7.95. The book will be reviewed in the Western
Gazette in early January and a special feature to
coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of the
Somme in July during which seven soldiers from our
town lost their lives. So far around 100 copies have
already been sold and proceeds are ongoing to
Wincanton Poppy Appeal.
Christmas lunches at the Millers Inn
We had excellent pre – Christmas lunches again this
year with 52 attending, the food was exceptional and
everyone raved about it - thanks Dave and all your
staff. Thanks also to Arthur for organising it.
Safeguarding the welfare, interests and memory of those who have served in the Armed Forces.
A Registered Charity. Charity No. 219279
www.britishlegion.org.uk
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