RBL BERLIN NEWSLETTER
R B L B E R L I N N E W S L E T T E R Chairman: Mr. Thomas Smith
| Karolinger Platz 2 14052 Berlin Phone/ AB:030 306 20 15 Fax: 030 364 43 062E-mail:rblberlin@gmx.de |
chairman ´s A d d r e s s
First let me introduce myself. My name is Thomas Charles Smith. Formerly, I was a police officer in the Lancashire Constabulary and have retired and moved to Berlin in August 2002.
After meeting a member at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery on Heerstrasse Berlin in 2008, I became a member of the Royal British Legion and have been a regular attendee at the Wednesday gathering and also on most Friday evenings.
Since I took over from the previous Chairman, Alex Menzals, who is now holding the position of Treasurer, you will see that both myself and Frank Knox, the Vice Chairman, are implementing changes which will ensure transparency with our Legion accounts.
For those members with a computer we now have a web site containing lots of general information that is constantly being updated. If you find the information useful please also pass it on to your friends. There are also links to the British Government that will be particularly helpful for members who are claiming pension and benefits. The first Burn’s night under my chairmanship, which I think was a great success due to variety of entertainment and especially the hard work of the committee members and other members that actively participated in planning and helping before, during and after the party.Please also read my detailed report further in this newsletter. I hope to establish more events during the year and arrangements are being made at this present time for a summer grill party. Further details will be provided when the venue and date are fixed which will hopefully be on a Saturday early June. Royal British Legion, Berlin Branch Burns‘ Night. The Berlin Branch of the Royal British Legion have a tradition of holding a Burns‘ Night celebration each year on the nearest weekend to the birth of the Bard. This year was no exception and it was held on the evening of Saturday 30th January 2010. We were extremely fortunate to be able to hold the occasion at the same venue as last year, the hall of the Gottfried-Kinkel-Oberschule in Spandau. Great thanks must go to our Vice Chairman, Frank Knox for organisational skills and abilty to enroll entertainment for the evening. Without his efforts the evening would not have taken place. Several members of the committee and other members of the Branch helped before during and after the event and their stirling efforts were truly in keeping with the Royal British Legion‘s Motto of Service not self. The entertainment consisted of the Black Kilts Pipes and Drum band, who also entertained us last year and who performed magnificently on the night, much to everyones delight. We had a Duo called the Silver Wings who played both live music and recorded music for our entertainment during the evening. In attendance also was a Scottish Dance Group, who put on an excellent display of Traditional Scottish Dancing and then invited guests up to learn how to dance the Scottish way. The Piper led the Haggis from the Kitchen into the Hall, where the Haggis was addressed by one of our Scottish members, Ray Gullen, and shortly afterwards the Traditional eating of the Haggis meal took place. It is with great thanks to our resident cook, Jim Robertson, for preparing the Traditional Haggis meal, which really lived up to expectations and was so delicious that after second helpings all was eaten and not a crumb was left. During the evening we held a raffle for numerous prizes but the star prize was a 22 inch LED HD TV. Forecast of Events Branch meetings June 11th 18:00 Branch Meeting Karolingerplatz 2. September 10th 18:00 Branch Meeting Karolingerplatz 2 December 10th 18:00 Branch Meeting Karolingerplatz 2 Summer Barbeque A summer BBQ will be held on June 18th at 7 o clock at the Best Western President Hotel at An der Urania 16-18 10787. The hotel has a lovely penthouse terrace that has good facilities that are being offered to us for free. What have we been up to? The Legion has recently been in attendance at the ANZAC day and Sachsenhausen remembrance services. We have now fully settled into our new premises. It’s a big step forward from our last premises and we hope members who have not yet been to see it make the journey down to visit us. During the exceptionally long and cold winter this year in Berlin attendance in the bar was understandably low but now we are being graced with better weather we would very much like to see some faces we haven’t seen for a while again! We have also reintroduced the visitor’s book to the branch so we can keep a record of non members who visit us. Standard bearer We are pleased to inform members of a new standard bearer Mr. Peter Young. Peter served in the Guards and will now take on the duties associated with being the standard bearer. Pipe Band The Legion now has its very own pipe band. “The Black Kilts” will now represent the Legion at events across the district . Those in attendance at Burns Night will have already witnessed the band in action. Poppy Appeal Last years poppy appeal topped 685,26 (Euros). This represents a significant improvement over the last couple of years and we hope we can continue to move it in that direction in the coming years under the supervision of Fred Pallister. Deaths It is with great sadness that we must inform the members of the death of Geoff Harris who was a regular visitor to the bar and a popular member.
