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Portsmouth still has about 58 members and, although not all are able to
attend our meetings, we still do our best to keep going.
Our first outing was in April to the Area
Reunion in Salisbury. We all really enjoyed it and send our thanks to
Salisbury members for all their hard work.
The D-Day Parade in June was held on a very
cold day and only two members went along. Edna escorted Mary as she was
still getting over her hip operation.
We went to the Falkland Islands Service but
did not parade. Veterans came from all over and it was a male only parade.
Veterans Day at the end of June was held in the Naval Museum in the
Dockyard. Some veterans were interviewed and the refreshments were all made
from a war time cookery book. Most were nice but some were not so very good!
Nine members attended our AGM in July and we
planned our programme for the next twelve months – starting with a tea party
in August in Joy Elmer’s garden. Very nice day but very hot.
In September we had a pub lunch in Fareham
which was well attended and in October we had a coffee morning at Jasmine
McCree’s in Gosport. The few of us who managed to attend had a lovely time.
Our November coffee morning was hosted by Gillian Utting in the community
room of the sheltered flats where one of our members, Grace, lives. Our Area
Chairman, Major Maskens-McIntyre, was able to join us and it was interesting
to hear about her Alpacas.
We managed a small presence at the
Remembrance Parade at the Guildhall. Sally Watson carried our Standard and
Phyllis and Andrea paraded. Andrea laid the wreath and four other members
were seated in the veterans’ area.
We still have some coffee mornings to come
after Christmas: one in Portsmouth, one in Porchester and one in
Waterlooville. We still meet on the second Tuesday in the month at 11a.m. at
the Hampshire Ex-Service Club in Fratton Road. It would be nice if more
members could come along to support us. |
