The Blythe Sappers
57th Management Meeting
1100hrs Tuesday
3 March 2010
The Army & Navy Club,
Those Present:
Sapper
Sapper
Sapper
Sapper
Roy Wilsher Honorary
Treasurer
Sapper
John Wilks Honorary
Auditor
Sapper
Sapper
John McLennan Honorary
Secretary
1. Item
1 Introduction. The Chairman
welcomed all those in attendance for the first outing of the year. He particularly
welcomed Sapper
2. Item
2 Apologies for Absence. Apologies
had been received from Colonel Sean Harris,
3. Item
3 Minutes of the Previous Meeting.
The Minutes of the 56th Meeting of the Blythe Sappers Management
Committee had been published on the BS website for a month. Sapper Sinclair noted
an error on the budget date mentioned in the previous minutes and this was
adjusted. There had been no further comments and the Chairman duly signed the
previous minutes.
4. Item
4. Matters Arising. The
Chairman noted the price of the lunch for 2010 is to be £49.95 with the
expectation of an increase above £50 for next year --
this would be dealt with later in this year.
5. Item
5. Finance. Sapper Roy Wilsher referred
to the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) for 2009 --
these accounts are attached at Annex
A.
1.
The accounts 2009 have been audited and signed by Sapper
John Wilks.
2.
The auditor noted a difference in the amount paid for the
December lunch and this was explained as an incorrect entry based on the desire
to clear the invoice before the end of the calendar year 2009. The correct
invoice will be posted when received from the Army & Navy Club.
3.
The Hon Treasurer is in contact with HMRC about
corporation tax and there is nothing further to report at this meeting.
4.
The Hon Tres will change the charitable donations to
£2,000.
The SOFA Accounts 2009 were signed off by
the Chairman and Hon Auditor.
The Honorary Treasurer then outlined & proposed
the BS Budget for 2010 which was unanimously agreed -- the
BS Budget is attached at Annex B.
Proposal:
That the BS Budget 2010 is agreed
Carried
There is no need to
increase the Membership fee but that small donations from the Members will
gratefully received and will be put to good use to our favourite charities.
The Chairman thanked the Honorary
Auditor and the Honorary Treasurer for the presentation of these accounts.
6. Item
6.
The
The Chairman congratulated the Regt
Col on his excellent and full report. The
Chairman asked that ten extra copies of the Corps Report be made available at future lunches. Action
Secretary
7
Item
7. Casualties Since Last Meeting
Deceased. Sapper Peter Martin (past Chairman & Hon Tres), Sapper Bill Nimmo
Resigned: Nil
8 Item
8. Nominations for New Members
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Nomination |
Sponsor |
Seconder |
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Major
General Mungo Melvin OBE |
Sapper |
Sapper
John McLennan |
Approved
9. Item 9 Attendance
& Arrangements for Today’s Luncheon
Principle Guest: General
the Lord
“The Price of Imprisonment”
Total number Attending 81
Number of Guests 12
Those to Rise Nil
The response will be
given by Sapper Willie Shackell, Vice Chairman SSAFA Forces Help.
10. Any Other Business
a.
Blythe Sappers Historical Note. There is a need to
reproduce this and the Hon Sec was asked to circulate the draft.
b.
The Hon Tres was asked to put £250 into the budget for
the reproduction of the Historical note.
c.
The Hon Tres was asked to put £400 into the budget for
travel costs for the Sec & Tres.
d.
Sapper Idris Pearce expressed his concern about the time
taken to carry out the Derby Day Draw
-- Hon Sec to speed up the
process.
e. Dates for 2010 as follows.
Tue 1 Jun 10
Sat 7 Aug
10 BS Guest Night RE HQ Mess
Tue 28 Sep 10 Lunch
& AGM Very Rev N Frayling
Thu 9 Dec 10 Christmas
Lunch
Robert Rogers Esq.
11. Date of Next Meeting 1030hrs on Tuesday 1st
June 2010 under the Chairmanship of Sapper John Moore-Bick. This meeting will
be followed by the Blythe Sappers Council meeting at 1130hrs.
Sapper
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Sapper John R
McLennan Honorary Secretary The Blythe Sappers |
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June 2010 |
9 March
2010 |
Blythe
Sappers March 2010 Minutes Annex A
Statement
of Financial Activities 2009
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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES |
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Year ended 31 December 2009 |
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INCOME & EXPENDITURE |
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INCOMING RESOURCES |
Notes |
2009 |
2008 |
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Lunches
Fees |
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16,089.00 |
14,861.25 |
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Dinner
Fees |
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3,240.00 |
4,683.36 |
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Subscriptions |
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3,150.00 |
3,040.00 |
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Overpaid
Subscriptions |
1 |
25.00 |
70.00 |
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Joining
Fees |
2 |
150.00 |
120.00 |
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Sweepstake
Ticket Sales |
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891.00 |
614.95 |
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Donations
to AT & CP Fund |
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- |
- |
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Bank
Interest |
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- |
147.14 |
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Combat
Stress & Veteran’s Aid |
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- |
- |
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Donations
& Honorariums |
3 |
47.50 |
102.65 |
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TOTAL |
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23,592.50 |
23,639.35 |
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RESOURCES EXPENDED |
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Lunches |
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15,599.10 |
14,738.15 |
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Lunch
Refunds |
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148.50 |
234.00 |
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Guest
Night Dinner Costs |
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3,047.68 |
4,381.06 |
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Guests
Lunches/Dinner |
4 |
643.50 |
508.50 |
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Dinner
Refunds |
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- |
136.24 |
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Refund
Subscriptions |
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- |
- |
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Sweepstake
Prizes |
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300.00 |
300.00 |
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Grant to Adv & Challenging Pursuits Fund |
5 |
1,000.00 |
2,000.00 |
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Sundries |
6 |
78.91 |
100.47 |
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R
& C |
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- |
12.00 |
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Donations/
Honorarium: Cbt Str, Vet Aid, A&N
Club |
7 |
1,100.00 |
1,200.00 |
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Committee
Exp/Room Hire |
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397.70 |
467.19 |
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Treasurer
Expenditure |
8 |
360.39 |
165.15 |
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Secretary
Expenditure |
8 |
213.54 |
383.14 |
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TOTAL |
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22,889.32 |
24,626.80 |
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Net Incoming/ (Outgoing)
Resources for the Year |
703.18 |
-987 |
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Net
movement in funds |
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703.18 |
-987 |
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Balance
as at 01 January |
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2,597.59 |
3,585.04 |
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Balance as at 31 December |
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3,300.77 |
2,597.59 |
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All
income and expenditure arises from the continuing activities of The Blythe
Sappers. There |
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are no recognised gains or losses in the
current or preceding year other than shown above. |
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THE BLYTHE SAPPERS |
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BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2009 |
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CURRENT ASSETS |
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2009 |
2008 |
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DEBTORS |
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Cash
at Clydesdale Bank |
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3,300.77 |
2,597.59 |
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Total |
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2,597.59 |
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NET CURRENT ASSETS |
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3,300.77 |
2,597.59 |
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NET ASSETS |
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3,300.77 |
2,597.59 |
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Bank Reconcilation |
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Statement
as at 31 December 2009 |
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3,300.77 |
2,597.59 |
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Cheques
not presented NIL |
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As shown in account |
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3,300.77 |
2,597.59 |
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Approved
by The Blythe Sappers Management Committee |
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at
the Management Committee Meeting on 2 March 2010 |
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and
signed on the behalf of the Committee by: |
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SAPPER JOHN MOORE-BICK |
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Chairman |
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SAPPER ROY WILSHER |
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Honorary
Treasurer |
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Originals
signed: |
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DATED 2 March 2010 |
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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS |
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Year ended 31 December 2009 |
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ACCOUNTING POLICIES |
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Accounting Convention |
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The
accounts are prepared under the historical cost convention. Income and |
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expenditure has been accounted for on an
accruals basis. |
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Fund accounting |
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The Blythe Sappers Association’s funds comprise
general unrestricted funds that are dispensable |
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at
the discretion of the Council in furtherance of the objectives of The Blythe
Sappers. |
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Such
funds may be held in order to finance both working capital and capital
investments. |
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INFORMATION REGARDING THE COUNCIL AND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE |
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No
Council or Committee Members, nor connected person or party, received any
remuneration |
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from
The Blythe Sappers during the current or preceding year. |
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NUMBERED NOTES |
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1. Overpaid Subscriptions. Sprs McMillan, Aylwin-Foster, Hughes B |
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2. Joining Fees. 15 New members |
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3. Donations.
From various Blythe Sappers.
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5. Adv and CP Fund Grant. |
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a.
The 2009 allocation of £1,000 to the Blythe Sapper’s Adventurous and |
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Challenging Pursuits Fund was paid
on 9 Dec 09 |
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b.
The total donated to the Fund to date is £31,950 (2008 £30950). |
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c.
Six A & CP applications were approved in 2009 and grants totalling
£1650 were made. |
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d.
The balance of the Fund granted to RECCT as at 31 Dec 09 stood at
£5289.00. |
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6. Sundries. Renewal of website Domain and Hosting
plus engraving of salvers. |
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7. Donation/Honorarium. Help for Heroes, Veterans’ Aid, A &
N Club |
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8. Hon Sec’s and Hon Treasurer’s
expenditure |
Travel,
postage, copying and stationery |
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT |
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I
have examined the accounts for the year 2009 together with supporting papers. |
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I
am satisfied that the accounts have been properly maintained and that the
foregoing |
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statement
of income and expenditure gives a true and fair view of the transactions
during |
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the
year and of the financial state of affairs of The Blythe Sappers as at 31
December 2009 |
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Original
signed by: |
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SAPPER JOHN B WILKS |
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Hon Independent Examiner |
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Annex B
The
Blythe Sappers Proposed Budget 2010
Annex C
Corps
Report
BS
Management Minutes Mar 10
RE CORPS REPORT
BLYTHE SAPPERS’ LUNCHEON 2 MAR 10
INTRODUCTION
This year, the
Tempo in the
OPERATIONS
The tempo of
operations in
TA. Individual TA mobilisations have remained at
a steady state, with approximately 70 RE TA personnel currently mobilised and a
further 55 on Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) engagements.
CORPS STRUCTURES –
REGULAR
Long term structures – FAS(NS).
Driven by a revision in Defence Strategic Guidance, FAS(NS) seeks to
deliver an Army better focused on the “most likely” scenario and in particular
on brigade-level stabilisation operations of the type being experienced in
Afghanistan.
Short term structures – Increased EOD, Infrastructure
& Civil Effect capabilities. To sustain the increased level of capability required on operations,
the
CAPABILITY – SUSTAINABILITY AND EQUIPMENT
Deployable Engineer Workshop
(DEW). The
Future Rapid Effects System
(FRES). FRES is the Army’s key armoured vehicle
replacement programme for obsolescent AFV 430 and CVR(T) vehicles over the next
15 years. The
TROJAN AND TITAN (T2).
T2 represent a step-change in our speed of manoeuvre and our obstacle
breaching and gap-crossing capability over the old Chieftain AVREs and
AVLBs. Batch testing of production
vehicles continues with Batch 5 in late 2009 or early 2010 followed by all 66
vehicles reaching their final acceptance in late 2011. TROJAN was used for the
first time in anger last month breeching 3 lanes through an IED field in
AFG. Likewise, PYTHON (son of VIPER) was
used in route clearance.
TERRIER. The
REGIMENTAL
AFFAIRS
Overview. This year has sadly seen a number of funerals
including those of Sapper Mark Quincey and Sapper Patrick Azimkar who died as a
result of a terrorist attack in
RE Museum Library and Archive (REMLA).
·
Events. The REMLA
has maintained a busy programme of special events and seen nearly a 150% growth
in visits by school children. Overall visitor numbers, researchers,
website users and income for its various facilities remained as buoyant as in
2008 which was itself a record year. Potential research projects have
also begun to emerge with the War Studies department of the local university
and other scientific faculties interested in exploring the riches of our
Library and Archive for the first time.
ROYAL ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION (REA)
The REA continues
to be the focus for those former Sappers and their families who are in need of
benevolence help and we have assisted over 1,000 applicants at a cost of more
than £0.5 million. In addition, over 900
Special Christmas Grants have been issued for those being treated for Combat
Stress, in Nursing Homes, Hospitals, Residential Homes and widows living
alone. Major grants have been authorised
by the Trustees to the ABF, SSAFA Forces Help, Combat Stress and Veterans Aid
for the work they do for the wider services community for which many Sappers
benefit and for which we are very grateful.
INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS
Professional
Registration is taking off and last year (our first full year with a license)
we recorded the second highest registration in the country by any Institution,
of Engineering Technicians. It is a fantastic achievement which underpins and
highlights not only the talent we have available in the
RE BAND
The Band has had another extremely busy
and varied schedule this year including a 2 month detachment to RMAS, support
to British Forces on Ascension Island, a brief visit to
RE HEADQUARTER OFFICERS MESS
The RE HQ Officers’ Mess has continued to
lay on a number of quality events for the
SPORT
The
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Rugby
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Canoeing. In the
Devizes to Westminster Race the
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Hockey. The
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Windsurfing. Maj Baker
became the Forces and Army Individual Champion and Slalom Champion whilst Maj
Jones became the Forces Wave Champion.
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Boxing.
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Parachuting. Cpl D Smith represented GB at the World Canopy
championship in
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Swimming and Water-Polo. The sport has slumbered for many years
but is now showing itself again. In
December it won the Inter-
·
Fencing. A
“Cinderella” sport compared with some and seldom mentioned, but this has been
the best year for some time. LCpl Parks
of 28 Engineer Regiment became Army Champion at Arms, effectively making him
the best overall swordsman in the British Army.
The
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Golf. The Sapper
team of Churchill, Over, Nicholson, Cowley and
CONCLUSION
The