Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District RAFA Newsletter

‘The Lightning Strike’ November 2019

Lest We Forget

CLUB OPENING TIMES

Monday 1900-2300 (subject to the Quiz League playing)

Tuesday 1900-2300 (subject to the Quiz League playing)

Wednesday Closed

Thursday 1900-2300

Friday 1900 – 2300

Saturday 1200-1500 and 1900 – 0000

Sunday 1200 – 1400 (1800 - 2100 Bingo nights)

Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District Branch

Registered Charity No 501145 5 Alexandra Road

Cleethorpes North East Lincs

DN35 8LQ

Hi All, November is the most poignant time of the year when we remember our fallen and I’m always delighted and somewhat overwhelmed to see tremendous turnouts and due respect shown at the multitude of events throughout the country. In our case I must thank the AFMET team for arranging the ceremonies at Grimsby and Cleethorpes and to Gavin for managing the schools’ ceremony at the Strike Wing Memorial on Armistice Day, which was very well attended once again despite the weather. I should also mention Grimsby University and Garrett Busby in particular for arranging a free 3 course veterans meal on Monday, a marvellous gesture and I thank them for it. Thank you to everyone who supported the events on Sunday and Monday and to the lovely Gemma, our British Legion friend, for sorting the supply of the wreaths. It was lovely to hear our very own 96 year old hero Cyril Monks on Lincs FM over the weekend with excerpts from his interview, well done Sir, you nev-er cease to surprise me! As you should be aware by now the Royal Air Forces Association is consider-ing a major change to the structure of the organisation called ‘One Charity’ whereby individual Branches, such as ours, will give up their individual charity status and be absorbed into the single RAFA charity number. The main driver behind this is that Branch Committee members are individually responsible for the management and governance of their charity in law and this is seen as a significant factor in prevent-ing volunteers in joining Branch committees. Have you considered joining our com-mittee and if so did this put you off? If adopted trusteeship will thereby transfer to the RAFA Central Council, thus removing this burden from individual Branch volunteers. So far so good, however there are many issues to do with governance, finance, fundraising, etc. There is too much to go into detail here but please have a look at https://www.rafa.org.uk/one-charity-fact-pack/ . As a members association we are really keen to hear your views and everyone will receive survey in due course; I am al-ways up for a chat so get in touch if you want to discuss this matter further. There will be various One Charity roadshow presentations in the next 3 months with one in Cleethorpes on December 17th in the club. As for the club, I can only apologise for the disruption outside the building with the road and pavement works, which has made getting in a bit of an obstacle course and I thank you for your perseverance. Hopefully all will be completed soon and at least we shall have a nice wide pavement outside! Please continue to support all the events in the club most of which are free entry, so what’s to lose? Performers have to be paid and for free events this has to come from the bar takings, so if there are not enough members and guests in then we run the risk of losing money. This has not happened yet but a couple of times recently it’s been a close call. Don’t forget the purpose of the Club is to raise money for the Charity. Finally, we have had a few problems distributing the newsletter recently (apparently it’s getting too big!) so apologies if you didn’t get yours, The e-mail version will have less pictures than the printed version or the one that’s available on the website or on Facebook. Finally, apologies but we have had to postpone our trip to Lincoln on 16th No-vember, we’ll do it in the new year when there is less on.

GM

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WHAT’S ON! Events are staged to benefit members, although guests and visitors are always wel-

come. All members can attend all events, like birthday parties for instance. Club events usually start at about 8:00pm. If there is something that you would like to see

on at the Club, please contact anyone on the Committee with your ideas. Make a note of these events in your diary or calendar, you would be amazed at the number

of people who miss these things because they didn’t know it was on!

November 2019

Games Night Saturday 23rd November – Not only the official unveiling of our new Uckers Board beautifully made by tame matelot Pete Scott but loads of other stuff as well including Subbuteo and some special stuff that we have never done before, be there to find out what but I can guarantee it will be amusing.

Hudson Lewis - Live Music Saturday 30th November - Hudson was so good last time he was on, from swing to modern a fabulous per-former.

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December 2019

Xmas Draw Night Saturday 7th December - One of our most popular nights mainly because people go home with lots of lovely prizes. Draw tickets are available on the night or beforehand from the bar.

Ian Latimer + Guests - Live Music Saturday 21st December - A very special night, it’s our Xmas Party with the wonderful Ian Latimer plus special guests.

Chris & Steve - Live Music Christmas Eve - Chris & Steve will be in with guitar and voice so we can all have a good old sing song, we’ve done this before and it was great, Glen Campbell, Johny Cash, Neil Diamond classics to sing along to, maybe even one or two carols. Club open from 6 till 10pm.

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Soul Provider - Live Music Saturday 28th December – Now we will all have eaten and drunk far too much by now so come and shake it all down to the fabulous Soul Provider. It also happens to be my Birth-day so come along and help me celebrate, come along and feel the love.

Steve Warvill - Live Music New Years Eve - More classic fare from our mate Steve, a great night with a guest appearance from a truly special performer! £5 tickets are available from the bar includes food.

January 2020 Greg Webb - Live Music Saturday 11th January – It’s taken ages to arrange but here we have a fabulous performer from the ‘Illegal Ea-gles” - he sings, plays a mean guitar and he’s from round here! I saw the band at the Auditorium in Grimsby recent-ly and they were amazing.

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Cardee - Live Music

Saturday 18th January – Di-ane and Nick are back and will put on another unforget-table show.

Burns Night- Live Music & Food Saturday 25th January – Our night for all things Scottish including Hag-gis, neeps & tatties, there will be a charge for food but I don’t know how much yet.

Wainwright & Williams - Live Music Friday 31st January - An incredible coup for the club, Sloan, from the famous Wainwright dynasty is touring from the USA with the fabulous Brooks Williams, if you enjoyed Chris Difford & Boo Hewer-dine you will love this show. £10 mem-bers, £15 guests. Tickets are selling very well (50% sold already) so get yours re-served asap in the book at the bar.

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Regular Events

Quiz Nights Thursdays November 28th, December 12th, January 9th & 23rd and so on.

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EVERY OTHER SUNDAY STARTING AT 7pm until 9pm

BuffetBINGO Great fun bingo with line prizes and cash full-house,

bring food. Bingo Sundays November 17th, December 1st,

15th and so on. 7

Thursday Night Food Club open to all members of course. Once a month is food night with food provided by local restaurants - we are never sure what we are going to get but it is usually themed; Indian, Mexican, Italian, Cajun, that sort of thing. Next one is 21st November, Mexican, then every 4th Thursday . Put your name on the list

on the noticeboard from the week before.

Parachute Regiment Association meets every Friday night in the Pegasus Bar to discuss the insane practice of jumping out of perfectly serviceable aeroplanes, en-trusting your life to a sheet of silk and also generally have a good time. I can per-sonally vouch for their generous hospitality - if I could only remember much about it!

Welfare Services

Do you need help? The RAFA is there to help serving and ex-serving RAF personnel and their dependents, providing friendship, advice and support, respite care, general welfare and signposting. Tracey Owens is our HWO and her contact details are at the end of this newsletter. We always need volunteers to help, befrienders, case workers, etc. Please let Tracey know if you can help and stamp out loneliness in our Armed Forces Community.

RAFA Membership Our Branch membership is currently 878

There are many benefits to belonging to the RAF Association which includes entry to our local Club here in Cleethorpes. Please contact the Secretary, Anne Prowse or see her at the Club for more details (or any committee member). Membership forms are available behind the bar, so come in and sign up.

You can also become a member or renew your membership by ringing HQ at Leicester on 0800 0182 361 and pay by credit or debit card, or do it online through the RAFA website. Don't forget to say you want to join the Grimsby, Cleethorpes & District Branch.

RAF Association scheme rewards members

The RAF Association has just launched a new scheme to give members discounts on a wide range of products and services. Whether it’s a meal out with friends, your weekly grocery shop or renewing your car insurance, RAFA Rewards could save you money. If you're a member, you can start using your RAFA Rewards straight away, click here. If you've not yet renewed your membership for next year, make sure you re-new now to continue enjoying your benefits in 2019.

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Do you have your membership card? We have a number of members who have renewed but not received their

membership cards. If you have not received yours then ring the membership office at HQ on

0116 268 8783 or if any issues let me know and I’ll chase it up.

WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS: BAR STAFF

FUNDRAISING TEAM BEFRIENDERS

Can you help, come and talk, you can do as much or as little as you want.

RAFA Cleethorpes on Facebook

check it out for up to the minute information

Club Information

All guests should pay a £1.00 entrance fee when being signed into the club, please pay this at the bar. On top of this, if we have entertainment on there may be a further charge of up to £4.00. All members can sign in a guest and if you do please read the instructions on the ticket which states that you are responsible for and must accompany your guests at all times when in the club and they must leave the premises when you

do.

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South East and Eastern Area News The South East and Eastern Area newsletter can be downloaded from www.rafa.org.uk/areas-southeast.asp or there are some copies in the Club for you to look at.

The association has published its code of conduct policy and it can be found here: https://www.rafa.org.uk/conduct/ or a copy is on the Branch notice board.  

RAF ASSOCIATION WEBSITE MEMBERS AREA

The member’s only section of the website is now open! We’ve integrat-ed your RAF Comrade Contact website tools into the main www.rafa.org.uk site giving you a unique level of access to both the tools that you used to have but also to bring you nearer to the RAF As-sociation Liaison Officers (RAFALOs) Due to the higher security on our new site, you must set a new user-name and password. All you need to do is visit www.rafa.org.uk/register and register with the website. Once registered you will be able to login and access member and branch fundraising tools and resources, branch contacts, an online gallery and forum where you can share imagery and mingle with other members plus a unique notice board to advertise for assistance or offer help. If you are unable to fill in any of the details requested by the site, then please get in touch with RAFA HQ on 0116 268 8752 and they can update your details accordingly.

Check out Grimsby Futsal – it’s the future for you sporting types. Speak to Kev Bryant for more information on 07980 286663.

Members of the RAF Association can be assured that we treat their personal information with care and confidentiality. We will keep it safe and always take every effort to protect their privacy, we will never share it and only contact you with relevant RAFA infor-

mation.

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Want to do something wonderful - Join the Welfare Team

Want to earn pots of money by doing very little? No, I knew you would be above all that sort of thing and would much rather volunteer to work behind our bar. You won't earn any money apart from tips, but you will earn the respect and ado-ration of your fellow members. It really is a rather good thing to do, there's no pressure and it will boost your confidence no end and we'll train you. Come and have a chat if you are up for it. We are also looking for people to join our Welfare Team, both welfare officers and befrienders, speak to myself or Tracey if you would like to help out with this wonderful work.

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Discounts and great local services for our RAFA members

The Jedburgh Guest House is owned and run by Graham Malster and his lovely partner, Cheryl. Situ-ated at 26 Albert Road, this great 10 bedroomed B&B is only a 3 minute walk from the RAFA Club and an ideal place to stay if visiting the local area or coming to a Club event. Many rooms are en suite and ground floor rooms are available. Graham and Cheryl can be contacted via their website, which is www.jed-burghguesthouse.co.uk, or via bookings@jed-

burghguesthouse.co.uk or by phone on 01472 508092. More information can be found on their website or see Graham and Cheryl at the Club. There are special re-duced rates for RAF Association members; please mention at the time of booking.

Members of the RAF Association can be assured that we treat their personal information with care and confidentiality. We will keep it safe and always take every effort to protect their privacy, we will never share it and only contact you

with relevant RAFA information.

We have received information that certain people are masquerading as members of other services to curry naut-ical favour and view the golden rivet of HMS Grimsby. Here is an example of one of these people, do you recog-nise him? He was last seen doing the hornpipe around the back of the Navy Club. He has apparently been seen at RAF Coningsby so if you are serving there could you please copy and distribute this picture around the station to warn others.

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Contacts

You can contact any committee member below for information or agenda items. If you would like anything included in the next newsletter or would like it emailed, please contact Graham Malster on 07703067733 or by email graham.malster@ntl-world.com If you would like it posted out to you, please send an A5 SAE (or several to cover several months) to the Club, marked for the attention of Graham. The print-ed newsletter can be collected from the Club each month.

Branch Committee

Chairman - Gavin (Harry) Marshall option911@hotmail.co.uk Vice Chairman - Graham Malster 07703067733 graham.malster@ntlworld.com Secretary/Membership/Treasurer - Anne Prowse 07796688248 or anne.prowse60@gmail.com Welfare/Funeral enquiries - Tracey Owens 07568338552 or trace.is@virginmedia.com Fundraising - Linda Hamill Committee members; Mark Jones mjones7969@yahoo.co.uk Phil Massen Steve Flint Anne Watson

Club Committee

Chairman - Graham Malster Vice Chairman - Gavin (Harry) Marshall Secretary - Anne Prowse Treasurer - Mark Jones Health & Safety - Steve Barley

Committee members; Steve Flint Don McKay (Paras rep) Tracey Owens

Next Branch/ Club meeting - Wednesday November 27th at 20:00

All members are encouraged and welcome to attend – the bar is open! Please do not reproduce any of the content of this newsletter without the permission of the author and/or buying a round of drinks at the bar.

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