The Blythe Sappers

59th Management Meeting

1100hrs Tuesday 28th September 2010

The Army & Navy Club, London

 

Those Present:

          Sapper John Moore-Bick        Chairman

          Sapper Brian Pearce               Vice Chairman

          Sapper Idris Pearce                Chairman Designate 2011

          Sapper Roy Wilsher                Honorary Treasurer

          Sapper John Wilks                  Honorary Auditor

          Sapper Stuart Sinclair             Link Member

Sapper Charles Holman                  Membership Secretary

Sapper John McLennan                   Honorary Secretary

 

 

1.       Item 1         Introduction. The Chairman welcomed all those in attendance.

                           

2.       Item 2         Apologies for Absence. Apologies had been received from Colonel Sean Harris, Regt Colonel

 

3.       Item 3         Minutes of the Previous Meeting. The Minutes of the 58th Meeting of the Blythe Sappers Management Committee had been published on the BS website for a month. The Minutes of the previous meeting were signed.

 

4.       Item 4.        Matters Arising.   The Chairman raised the following points:

·        Historical Notes  --  The Secretary was asked again to press on with the production of the 10th edition  --  he agreed to with the aim to have them completed by the next meeting.

 

5.       Item 5.        Finance.     Sapper Roy Wilsher referred to the Blythe Sappers Budget sheet and the BS Trial balance -- these are attached at Annex A.

1.      The Committee noted that there was a surplus of funds in the Adventurous & Challenging Pursuits Fund and decided that there was little point at this stage to contribute more.

2.      The Committee decided to authorise a grant of £100 towards the chosen charity, Restoration Ministries, of the Very Reverend Frayling who is our Principal Guest and the Chairman informed the meeting that he would also personally contribute the same amount.

3.      The Committee then decided to make a grant of £900 to the Not Forgotten Association.

 

6.       Item 6.        Corps & TA Report

                  

          The Corps Report and update is attached at Annex B.

         

7        Item 7.        Casualties since Last Meeting

                             Deceased.  Nil

                             Resigned:   Sappers      MacAlpine, Marques, Townsley, Fidler, Irving

                                                         

8        Item 8.        Nominations for New Members

 

Nomination

Sponsor

Seconder

Col (Retd) Peter Sheridan

Sapper John McLennan

Sapper Alan Holman

Lt Col Mathew Jackson

Sapper John White

Sapper Robert Reid

Brig (Retd) Steve Sherry

Sapper Max Heron

Sapper John McLennan

Brig (Retd) John McKeown

Sapper Robert Reid

Sapper John McLennan

Lt Col Tony Hitman

Sapper Alan Gillett

Sapper Idris Pearce

Wng Comd Shaun Murphy

Sapper John McLennan

Sapper Ron Watt

All Approved

 

9.       Item 9         Attendance & Arrangements for Today’s Luncheon

 

                   Principle Guest:               The Very Reverend Nicholas Frayling. Reconciliation in NI

                   Total number Attending  65

                   Number of Guests           17

                   Those to Rise                  2 (Sappers David Wright, Jeremy Blades)

         

10.     Any Other Business

 

Tue 28 Sep 10   Lunch & AGM          Very Rev N Frayling. Dean of Chichester, Reconciliation in Northern Island

 

Thu 9 Dec 10                  Christmas Lunch Robert Rogers Esq. Clerk of Legislation, Houses of Parliament

Wed 2 Mar 11                 The Lord Walker

Wed 1 Jun 11                  Brigadier Professor Richard Holmes

Sat 6 Aug 11                   The Blythe Sappers Guest Night

Wed 28 Sep 11                General Sir Richard Dannatt

??? Dec 11                      ??????          

 

11.     Date of Next Meeting   1100hrs on Thursday 9th December 2010 under the Chairmanship of Sapper John Moore-Bick.

                   

 

 

 

 



 

Sapper John Moore-Bick

Chairman

The Blythe Sappers

Sapper John R McLennan

Honorary Secretary

The Blythe Sappers

 

                Dec 2010

      

9th November 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annex A

 

 

 

TRIAL BALANCE BLYTHE SAPPERS ACCOUNT AS AT 31 AUGUST 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREPARED FOR MANAGEMENT MEETING  ON 28 SEPTEMBER 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serial

Item

   Debit  

   Credit  

 

 

 

 

Cash at Bank 1 Jan 10

                 -  

                 3,300.77

 

 

Notes referring to the Debit

 and Credit items

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

Lunches

       7,991.60

                 9,194.74

1

Fee for today's lunch banked but not yet on Statement

 

2

Lunch refunds

          289.30

                     50.05

2

Refund to Spr Burford

 

 

 

3

Dinner Night

       2,594.12

                 3,027.24

3

Some surplus from allowance made for Pres and PMC

 

4

Dinner refunds

          114.00

 

4

Spr I Charlesworth

 

 

 

 

5

Guest Lunches

          317.85

                          -  

5

Speakers + Hon Sec and Hon Treasurer

 

 

6

Subscriptions

                 -  

                 3,125.00

6

Six new members in 2010

 

 

 

7

Overpaid subs

                 -  

                     10.00

7

           Overpaid subs by Spr Sandburg  (RIP)

 

 

 

 

8

Joining fees

                 -  

                     60.00

8

 Greene, Fossey, Wright, Blades, Deverill, Macgregor

 

9

Sweepstake

          310.00

                   750.00

9

Profit £440.00.  One £10 refund.

 

 

 

10

Adv Trg Fund

                 -  

                          -  

10

To be decided at December meeting

 

 

11

Sundries

            70.75

                          -  

11

Maintenance of web site.

 

 

 

12

Hire of Mtg Room

          213.50

                          -  

12

Two Management Committee and one Council meeting

 

13

Bank Interest

                 -  

                       6.00

13

!

 

 

 

 

 

14

Donations

            50.00

                     45.70

14

Spr Martin ex Chairman.  Wildlife and Alzheimers

 

15

Treasurer Expenditure

                 -  

                          -  

15

 

 

 

 

 

 

16

Secretary Expenditure

          261.41

                          -  

16

Postage and Sundries

 

 

 

17

Cash at Bank 31 August 2010

       7,356.97

                          -  

17

September statement not yet seen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17

TOTAL & BALANCE

     19,569.50

               19,569.50

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R F WILSHER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hon Treasurer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annex B

BS Mins Sept 10

 

CORPS UPDATE AS AT 31st AUGUST 2010

Headline Issues

•         The MOD is working through the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and reports on the future shape of the Army in October.

•         Headline figures suggest 5,000 reduction to Army in 2011 with further 10% to follow over period 2011-2016

•         .Defeating the Device through enhanced training and equipment and Military Working Dogs.

Operations and Deployment

•         Campaign Footing - The Corps continues to employ 5 squadrons out-of-role in order to meet the increased C-IED demands.

•         EOD Sp - the creation of 101 Engr Regt as a hybrid EOD unit has allowed an increase in EOD capability.  LF EOD & Search Branch now fully established at HQ EInC(A).

•         Search – 36 Engr Regt to be re-roled in the Search role.

•         RE TA - 88 TA personnel are currently mobilized on FTRS contracts.

Urgent Operational Development (Equipment)

•         Route Clearance - Project TALISMAN has been successfully delivered by 15 Fd Sp Sqn in theatre.

•         IED Detect - VALLON, GOLDIE, HORN, SPARKWELL and PANAMA are all proving effective within limits.  Detecting as opposed to Defeating the Device is the main effort as many casualties are being incurred without the device having been located.

•         Gap Crossing - A user employed short gap crossing (SGC) for quad bikes and trailers has been delivered (400 sets). Work continues to look at developing solutions for wider gap crossing.

•         Protected Plant – All plant types in theatre now have the protected cab.

Training

•         The reintroduction of PYTHON for Ex PRARIE THUNDER in 2011 is now provisionally endorsed.  The case for one additional (inert) set for ARMCEN Bovington has been submitted.

•         Choker (rollers) training will be delivered to TITAN/TROJAN crews at Defence School of Transport.  Unit instructors will then cascade the training to unit level.

 

Manning

•         Climate - Regular soldier recruiting is at 99.4%. A revised manning level of 7756 means that we will be fully manned by 1 May 11. Officer strength is at 105% but this masks shortages in captain and majors. The Queen's Gurkha Engineers surplus will continue until 2020.

•         Recruiting - Funding and driving down manning surpluses will make future recruiting challenging.  ERLS likely to remain post-SDSR.

•         Financial Incentives - FIs now apply to pinch point trades: Geo, Fitter, C3S, Clk Wks, EOD, Log Spec.  It is important to note that the Search teams do not attract a financial incentive or trade pay.

Casualties

•         LCpl Buxton

•         Spr Smith

•         Cpl Kirkpatrick

•         Spr Foster

•         Spr Ishwor Gurung (QGE)

•         19 other RE personnel - WIA

Sports (Remains extant from Mar 10 update)

•    Champions

o   Hockey - Inter-Corps, major and minor units.

o   Rugby Union

o   Rugby League

o   Swimming

o   Nordic Skiing

o   Biathlon

•         Devizes Westminster Canoe race - 3rd place overall.

•         2 triathletes to World Championships

•         3 members of the Army Judo team

•         6 members of the Combined Services Tae Kwon Do team

•         3 gold medals at the 27th World TKD Games (Southampton).

•         Combined Services Golf Champion.

 

RHQ RE Business

 

  • Reconfiguring to meet SDSR outcomes.
  • Preparing for the Corps Memorial Weekend.
  • Better managing the post-trauma support to families of the fallen.
  • Re-applying for Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) – business case begun.
  • Front Entrance construct complete – Corps Today gallery work begun.
  • RHQ RE IT upgrade and,
  • RHQ RE moving to electronic banking by mid-Oct 10.

Future

 

•         Inst RE Launch at the Tower of London to launch the Corps’ authority to issue Eng Tech, IEng and CEng to members.

•         Improve understanding of military engineering through sponsoring the JPM events in London as well as reinforcing links with the worshipful companies and academic bodies.

•         Making available to the soldiers of the Corps, Eng tech, lEng and CEng accreditation as part of their Continuous Personal Development.

•         Configuring the Corps to meet the post-SDSR construct:

•         Reduction in regiments and manpower.

•         Additional roles (inc CBRN and MACE).

•         Move of RHQ RE towards sustaining the Corps’ Golden Thread’ – more involved role for RHQ RE and Regt Col.

 

S P F HARRIS

Col

Regt Col