Emsworth, West Sussex was sealed off by the military today, Wednesday 17 October 2012 for approximately 2 hours. The streets leading to Emsworth Square were blocked by Army Landrovers while Starstreak equipped Alvis Stormers prowled with the tacit approval of the constabulary. Civilians were kept behind barriers. Continue reading »
As the club members are scattered around the Solent area can I urge you all to approach your local Royal British Legion Branch and volunteer the services of yourself and your vehicle for the Saturdays leading up to November 11th? I have done it and will be on Hayling from 27th October, other areas are, as yet, unclaimed. The presence of a military vehicle makes the collectors stand out from the crowd and gives a physical reminder of who is collecting and why. All that is required is that you turn up and look pretty, something I am exceedingly good at.
I am not doing this entirely altruistically, although I wholeheartedly support the RBL and all they have done for the last 90 years, I will be getting something back – more tales from ex-service people about what they did and what my type of vehicle did, what it means to them. So, if sitting in the autumn sunshine, sipping a brew from your thermos and chatting to some very interesting people appeals – get in touch with your local RBL and help their appeal
Ok, listen up people! We need a willling volunteer workforce for – you guessed it – a bit of compound rearranging. Sat afternoon and Sunday 13 and 14 October. We have a couple of containers arriving.
The Vault is a downloadable magazine, a facebook page and a social medium uniting re-enactors and historians with interests in all eras including our own narrow specialisation.
To download it click here – it’s the first edition, contains some useful German phrases, some great photos of WW1 replica aircraft and a whole host of information and pictures of the wider and fascinating world of living history. Be patient – it is 4.5 Megabytes but well worth the wait.
To see the facebook page and keep in touch between quarterly issues click here
And if you feel you could contribute to their publication (or to this one!) click here
The compound is looking good. But due to an unfortunate intrusion (more unfortunate if we catch the intruders) we need to raise the level of security around the perimeter. Guard towers, attack dogs, razor wire, electric fence, mined area sort of thing. One of these is a probable, the others possibly a flight of fancy – any guesses? So my plans for Sunday 23rd have changed. Thick gloves, pliers, wire cutters and sundry hand tools seem to be the order of the day.
If the DDR could build the Berlin Wall overnight in 1961 I’m sure we can do much the same around our wee compound on Sunday. All welcome!
We have the October meeting partly set aside for the club AGM.
It won’t be a dry as dust affair. Promise.
But it will be important for you to come along and help decide your club’s future. That is if you are a paid up member – Mr. Edgeley will relieve you of your £10 annual dues if you haven’t already paid.
Constitutional reform is in the air – to reduce expense by cutting committee posts for general running of the club. The proposal is to have 5 people looking after finance and general admin and, when show planning begins, to use the talents displayed during the two previous shows to good purpose by forming a show- specific group to get things underway.
That is a biggish change and needs agreement of the club members. So come along and vote. Or propose an alternative
And once we have got that out of the way there will be short reports on what each committee member has been up to over the year, an election to form the new committee and once that lot is over we can get down to the serious business of socialising!
Two events for us with the one theme. Both celebrate the work of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties who, amongst other things, tested the D-Day beaches for suitability for vehicles some six months before D-Day. 90 medals and citations were won by the 200 men of COPP in just three years. Their base was the Hayling Island Sailing Club
To commemorate their achievements and sacrifices a granite memorial stone has been placed on Hayling seafront and will be dedicated by Countess Mountbatten on Thursday 27th September at 11:30.
Prior to that, on Saturday 22nd the World War 2 trail which takes in some of Hayling’s wartime heritage will be opened. World War 2 vehicles are requested to form a static display at the Station Theatre in West Town, Hayling.
So if you have a WW2 vehicle – or something oldish and military like a Ferret, Austin K9, Hotchkiss … come along for the do. There is a meeting of the great and the good inside the theatre – 144 of them – (a gross load of people?) prior to the ceremony itself so we need to be there by 10:30.
See you at either or both!
On Friday, September 7th 2012 Nikki Cook and Matt Kill were married at Fort Nelson. Congratulations and best wishes for a long and happy life together to them both!
Saturday September 8th – Fort Nelson. Weather fine, previous day’s wedding had gone really well; Nelson’s organisation was excellent. This was slightly different. Continue reading »
The SOE version of where’s Wally – can you see Captain Evans in the picture above?
The compound got a severe trim over the bank holiday weekend – many thanks to those who gave up their time to brave the sun, heat, midges, mozzies, antses, wapses and hornets!
The compound is now some 10 feet bigger in diameter, undergrowth (overgrowth?) has been taken back to the original boundary fence, weeds have been cleared from the cracks in the concrete and now chemical warfare is being waged on them – sodium chlorate is being sprayed on the growth sites. To Rob’s great disappointment sodium chlorate is now mixed with an inhibitor so no sugar related fun ensued.
Visitors to the compound are always welcome, the no. 12 stove is working well and we have enough diesel to run it for a year, biscuits available from the on-camp store so don’t be shy, give Rob or Myrddin a call and pop down to Thorney for a coffee, chat and a chance to play with some gardening tools.
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