NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2019

Newsletter for Branch meeting on 20^th November 2019 - Please note any information for the newsletter to be passed on to Jan Bridle by the last Saturday before the next meeting; also if anyone has changed their email address or set up a new one could they please let Jan know.

Branch subs   remain at £15 and are due to be paid to the treasurer now if not already paid. Please send any cheques, made out to REA Bournemouth, to the above address for John Cusack.

Next meeting on 18^th December  will be xmas skittles

Vacancies    A new Social Secretary is still required. Any ideas for evening meetings welcomed.

Monthly Informal Lunches  As usual held on the first Tuesday, menu lists on the table at the evening meeting. Contact John Cusack for any information or to book/choose from menu if not at meeting.  Don’t forget there is also an extra Xmas Lunch on Saturday 21^st December and it is hoped that many of you will attend especially the ‘younger’ members still at work who are unable to attend the usual weekday lunches. Contact Maurice Pearson or John Cusack for details.

Remembrance Day Nov 10^th 2019
Bob Perry and John McDermott took Bob Hucklesby to place the REA Wreath in Poole Park. Hazel Aldridge laid the REA Wreath in Bournemouth, and Maurice Pearson presented the Standard at the Ferndown British Legion parade from KGV playing fields to the church and he also presented it at the memorial garden on the 11th. Thanks to them all.

Westminster Poppy Cross Display

John and Gwen Griffiths were in front of Westminster where a group of people were laying out, in sections, crosses for different organisations and armed forces.  Gwen asked one of them where the RE’s were and he said that they do their own next Wednesday so at the moment there wasn't much in there.  So they carried on looking around that area, waiting for the coach, and after about 3/4 hour the same chap came up to John and said that he’d been back to the office and found last year’s photo of what was on display and John took a photo of it.  How about that for someone he didn't know running about and then finding them.

Royal Engineers on St Helena

In October, Maurice and Gill Pearson rediscovered the island gem of St Helena in the South Atlantic. So, in the footsteps of the Royal Engineers they were revisiting an amazing and extremely remote island that was once governed by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British.  Today it remains a British Overseas territory with a population of 700, a mixture of soldiers, Huguenot refugees, descendants of victims of the Fire of London.
In the main town of Jamestown, with its cafés and shops selling Tesco label jams and tea, a Post Office with special English stamps of endemic birds and of course Jonathan, the world’s oldest reptile at 187 years old.  He is now the biggest celebrity living on St Helena apart from the governor. In 1798 the railway company built a ladder reaching the top of the hill overlooking Jamestown, where the old fort and battery command impressive views over the Atlantic. The ladder comprises 699 steps that rise above Jamestown almost vertically to Ladder Hill fort. It was used to move munitions and horse manure to the upper levels of the island where the governor’s residence was situated. At the top of the ladder the badge of the Royal Engineers can still be seen over the doorway of the now disused barracks and a plaque commemorates the Sappers involvement in the rebuild in 1871. (See photos)
The island's most famous resident, Napoleon, lived out his exile and died here He enjoyed relative freedom at Longwood house with officers and servants, although he was officially a prisoner.