Royal Naval Association - Bexhill Branch - August 15

Forty-two shipmates attended and in the absence of our chairman, the branch business was conducted by the vice-chairman shipmate Derrick Trew. He welcomed shipmate Phil Humphries who, after a lengthy spell in hospital, has had to retire from the post of branch secretary. He expressed the thanks of the shipmates to Phil for all the time he had devoted to the branch and the efficient manner in which he had carried out the duties of secretary of the branch over the past 14 years.

Shipmate Fred Cayton (tel: 219035) has agreed to accept the vacant post of branch secretary and shipmate Rodney Reeve (tel: 845578) has volunteered to fill the vacant post of membership secretary. Please make a note in your RNA diaries of these changes.

The secretary read a letter from the charity 'Help for Heroes' thanking the branch for their donation of 1,000. In his report the treasurer shipmate Lemuel Murphy gave details of how this donation was made up. Shipmate Derrick Trew, wearing his hat, as social committee chairman gave details of the arrangements for the Trafalgar Dinner on Friday, October 24, this celebrates the 203rd anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Our guests this year will be the chairman of Rother District Council, Cllr Joanne Gadd, Cllr Brian Gadd and our chaplain Father Robert Coates. After the branch business was completed and glasses had been refilled shipmate Ron Barton continued the account of his experiences flying in Grumman Avengers on bombing sorties against the Japanese on Formosa, Sumatra and Okinawa in Operation Iceberg. While serving on H.M.S Indomitable with the British Pacific Fleet he took part in 32 bombing sorties and made 109 deck landings. He recalled many interesting memories using his log book for reference and included other amusing anecdotes of his time in Sydney and during the signing of the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay. The ship identification quiz set each month by shipmate Don Newnham was won by shipmate Harry Waddingham who correctly named H.M.S Dorsetshire as the mystery ship. The evening concluded with the monthly raffle organised by shipmate Rita Murphy.

Due to the August Bank Holiday our August meeting will be held on Monday, August 18, 7.30pm for 8pm.

If you have had any Naval connections, Royal or Merchant, why not consider joining the Bexhill branch of the Royal Naval Association for the camaraderie and fellowship that it provides.