Post by aghart on Feb 8, 2013 22:02:24 GMT
Thirteen members were present for the first meeting of the new year. A few were missing due to illness, this is not unusual, February tends to have the lowest attendance figure of any of our meetings.
A recap of the Cambrai trip in November and the Ladies Lunch in January was followed by the minutes of the November meeting. The signal to the regiment from HM the Queen on the anniversary of Cambrai was available to view, as were the minutes of the RTRA AGM held in Cambrai. Details of the RTR sponsored Church Service and Curry lunch were made available as were the dates of the Nottingham branch remembrance parade at the National Memorial Arboretum. 12th June 2013 in case you were wondering?
It was agreed to donate £25 to the Royal British Legion in respect to our guest speaker. More on that in a second. Finally I informed the branch that I had written to A Sqn 1 RTR in regards to a possible branch visit to Warminster in the summer. This is an ongoing "in hand" item.
The Chairman then closed the meeting and introduced the guest speaker. Ian Jarvis is the Dorset fundraiser for the Royal British Legion, he is ex, 5 Innis DG/RDG.
Ian confirmed that this was the first occasion that he had addressed a military association branch and hoped it would be a success? it was.
The RBL was formed in 1921( it got it's royal status in the early 1970's) and is the only military charity that looks after families and dependants as well as serving/former servicemen. You have to have received at least "7 days pay" from the crown to qualify for help from the Legion. The Legion is the main campaigner to encourage the government to honour the military covenant. Welfare remains the heart of the Legion and continues to be the main point of focus. It is recognized as the most effective campaigning military charity.
Another area of focus is to try and modernize it's fund-raising so that it can carry on into the 21st Century, Sporting events and using young people appear to be the main axis of attack. Ian admitted that the success of Help for Heroes has had the effect of transforming the Legion's focus in regards to fund raising. It's a difficult area to balance, the Legion is very grateful to the huge number of elderly volunteers who rattle their tins for the cause, but the traditional routes of fund raising are thought to be less effective than they used to be.
The annual poppy appeal is of course still the "big event" of the year and is a 2 week window where the legion aims to raise £40 million.
As far as Dorset is concerned? the county's best ever poppy appeal effort brought in £650,000. Not bad for a small county.
We asked Ian about RBL branches and clubs? he explained that they exist together but are separate. There is conflict in many area's as individuals with no military background dominate the clubs, they join simply for the cheap drink and many have no interest in the Legion itself. This problem is "ongoing" but is being looked at.
This is the third military charity to address our branch (SSAFA & the Not Forgotten Association being the other two) and it's amazing how different they are. Hopefully this presentation will result in our members doing a bit more in November. It was a very interesting and enlightening presentation.
A recap of the Cambrai trip in November and the Ladies Lunch in January was followed by the minutes of the November meeting. The signal to the regiment from HM the Queen on the anniversary of Cambrai was available to view, as were the minutes of the RTRA AGM held in Cambrai. Details of the RTR sponsored Church Service and Curry lunch were made available as were the dates of the Nottingham branch remembrance parade at the National Memorial Arboretum. 12th June 2013 in case you were wondering?
It was agreed to donate £25 to the Royal British Legion in respect to our guest speaker. More on that in a second. Finally I informed the branch that I had written to A Sqn 1 RTR in regards to a possible branch visit to Warminster in the summer. This is an ongoing "in hand" item.
The Chairman then closed the meeting and introduced the guest speaker. Ian Jarvis is the Dorset fundraiser for the Royal British Legion, he is ex, 5 Innis DG/RDG.
Ian confirmed that this was the first occasion that he had addressed a military association branch and hoped it would be a success? it was.
The RBL was formed in 1921( it got it's royal status in the early 1970's) and is the only military charity that looks after families and dependants as well as serving/former servicemen. You have to have received at least "7 days pay" from the crown to qualify for help from the Legion. The Legion is the main campaigner to encourage the government to honour the military covenant. Welfare remains the heart of the Legion and continues to be the main point of focus. It is recognized as the most effective campaigning military charity.
Another area of focus is to try and modernize it's fund-raising so that it can carry on into the 21st Century, Sporting events and using young people appear to be the main axis of attack. Ian admitted that the success of Help for Heroes has had the effect of transforming the Legion's focus in regards to fund raising. It's a difficult area to balance, the Legion is very grateful to the huge number of elderly volunteers who rattle their tins for the cause, but the traditional routes of fund raising are thought to be less effective than they used to be.
The annual poppy appeal is of course still the "big event" of the year and is a 2 week window where the legion aims to raise £40 million.
As far as Dorset is concerned? the county's best ever poppy appeal effort brought in £650,000. Not bad for a small county.
We asked Ian about RBL branches and clubs? he explained that they exist together but are separate. There is conflict in many area's as individuals with no military background dominate the clubs, they join simply for the cheap drink and many have no interest in the Legion itself. This problem is "ongoing" but is being looked at.
This is the third military charity to address our branch (SSAFA & the Not Forgotten Association being the other two) and it's amazing how different they are. Hopefully this presentation will result in our members doing a bit more in November. It was a very interesting and enlightening presentation.