NEWSLETTER MARCH 2022

BRANCH MEETINGS NOW 2^nd SATURDAY MORNINGS 10:30AM AND      MONTHLY LUNCHES 4^th TUESDAY 12.30AM BOTH AT FERDOWN RBL

     

Newsletter for  March 2022   Please note any news or information for the newsletter to be passed on to Jan Bridle anytime; also if anyone has changed their email address or set up any new addresses could they please let Jan know. 

 

Branch subs    Subscriptions for 2022 remain at £17 and are due now. Please support the branch by paying the £17 either by internet banking or cheque made out to REA Bournemouth.  For bank account details please contact John Cusack on 01202 517804 or by email. 

 

Branch meetings and monthly lunches     

The first Saturday morning breakfast meeting was well received with around 16 members attending and enjoying a variety of breakfasts from scrambled eggs on toast, to a full English. The next one will be on Saturday 12th of March but starting at 10.30am as it was felt that a later start and having it as a ‘brunch’ might suit more members. As before please let John Cusack know if you will attend so we can give the RBL an idea of numbers. 

The monthly lunches will continue as usual on the 4^th Tuesday, 22^nd March. This month’s menu is as follows. Please contact John Cusack to book your place and advise him of your menu. 

 

Main Course £7.50   Roast Turkey  -  Beef Curry  -  Scampi  -  Cottage Pie  -  Lasagna -  any Jacket Potato (£5)

 

Puddings £3 Ice-cream Sundae  -  Strawberry Gateau  -  Lemon Meringue -  Apple Pie

   

Canal Zoners

Bert and Dot Martin report that, along with Tony Jennings, Jim Tonks and Joan Herbert, they had a very nice lunch at the RBL in Wool on 8^th February.  This was at a meeting of the Dorset Branch of the Canal Zoners, an organisation to bring together soldiers who had served in the ‘canal zone’ in Egypt during the Suez crisis in 1956.   

 

 

Edie Osborne

Sadly Edie Osborne passed away on Saturday 19^th February after a short illness. She was the widow of Norman and they attended REA functions regularly before Norman died and was good friends with many of you. The funeral is at Bournemouth Crematorium on Thursday 10th March, at 12:45

In accordance with Edie’s wishes, there won't be a gathering after the service. Family flowers only please. Donations can be made through Barrows & Tappers of Ringwood and will go to the British Legion Poppy Appeal.

 

What is a Sapper?

The question is one which would puzzle the initiated to solve, for he is represented, at one and the same time, in a hundred different capacities, and takes as many shapes as Proteus.  He seems in fact to be equally at home afloat or ashore… and, like the Duke’s army, can go anywhere and do anything.

We are never surprised to hear that a Sapper has been entrusted with a duty that no one else could or would undertake, and we never entertain a doubt that he will carry it through. But as to defining his functions– as to saying precisely what a Sapper is – we hardly know how to set about the task; for he appears, like Buckingham, to be ‘not one, but all mankind’s epitome’, condensing the whole system of military engineering, all the arts and sciences, and everything that is useful and practical under one red jacket. He is the man of all work of the Army, the Navy and the public; and the authorities, by a wave of the official wand, may transform him into any of the various characters of – astronomer, geologist, surveyor, engineer, draughtsman, artist, architect, traveller, explorer, commissioner, inspector, artificer, mechanic, diver, soldier, or sailor - in short he is a Sapper. (United Services Magazine)