royal british legion portugal...
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Royal British Legion Portugal Branch
Spring Newsletter
Welcome to the Spring Newsletter from the Royal British Legion (Portugal) Branch.
We hope that you are enjoying the Spring and send our apologies if you feel that we
have not communicated regularly enough with you - we will try and do better in the
future....
Our lunches offer friendship and fellowship
We are pleased to report that the RBL lunches on the third Wednesday of the month in the
Central area and the first Sunday of the month lunch in the East continue to give members a
great opportunity to enjoy fellowship with other members as well as not having to cook or do
the washing up!
Each member is encouraged to remember that we should invite prospective members to come
to our events. The Royal British Legion needs new members and those moving to Portugal
will surely find good contacts and friendship when they join us.
Porto
The RBL Porto Group helps people throughout the year but its fund raising activity is
focussed around the six weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday.
If you know someone living in the Porto area who would like to make contact with the group,
the local representative for Porto is Adrian Bridge, who will be pleased to supply more
information.
Madeira
The Madeira Group is a vibrant group enjoying some of the best that life offers on the lovely
island of Madeira.
Sadly, Nick Martin, who has been the representative for Madeira has resigned and the new
representative is Susan Marloye-James. Susan will be pleased to supply more information for
anyone in the Madeira area that would like to make contact with the group.
Susan’s first official function was to lay a wreath at the 81st Anniversario da Fundacao do
Nucleo do Funchal na Regiao Autonoma da Madeira on 2nd
of March. Our new standard
bearer, Jean Blair performed her duties for the first time.
Our second function was held on March 11th
. This was our Spring Dinner. There were 79
people in attendance. The dinner raised 600 Euros plus 15 Euros from the ‘shrapnel’from last
year’s collection which Sue managed to get for the local coin man!
A special guest was in attendance- Ian Lisle, the Cambridgeshire Representative for the
Riders Branch 3542 happened to be on holiday on the island, and was accompanied to the
dinner by Jo.
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After dinner, Nick was thanked for his contribution over the ten years in office and was given
a certificate of appreciation. His long suffering wife, Agueda, was presented with a small
bouquet.
The next official function will be a Summer BBQ to be held at the Casa do Combatente on
28th
June. Please feel free to attend.
Algarve East
Thanks to Phil and Vi Ladbrook, the Algarve East Group is a dynamic group that have made
themselves available to assist any and all looking to learn more about the Royal British
Legion. They have organised two lunches this quarter. The February luncheon had 26
people attending raising 139 Euros for the Poppy Appeal. The March luncheon had 23
people attending raising 133 Euros for the Poppy Appeal.
Lunches are held at Gunther’s Restaurant, Pechao on the 1st Sunday of each month.
A community Fayre was held at the Vila Sol Hotel in Almancil on the 31st. Of January with
the RBL invited to be present. Vi and Phil Ladbrook manned a stall raising 133 Euros in
donations for the Poppy Appeal.
Keep up the good work.
Algarve Central
Alun & Pat Roberts are the hard working representatives for the Algarve Central. They have
made themselves available to assist any new comers and people looking to become a part of
the Algarve Central. They have organized lunches that are current being held at the Holiday
Inn in Armacao Pera in the 3rd
Wednesday of each month. The January luncheon had 29
attendees, raising 120 Euros for the Poppy Appeal. The February luncheon had 19, raising
106 Euros for the Poppy Appeal while the March luncheon had 36 people attending, raising
195 Euros for the Poppy Appeal
Let’s give a big cheer for Alun and Pat!!!!!
Poppy Appeal
The Portugal Branch is proud to announce that an amazing 41,850 Euros was raised in 2015 -
up 8% on 2014!!! This is an outstanding amount and our thanks go to all the organisers,
distributors and individual collectors for their unselfish commitment to the Appeal.
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Celebrations
The Portugal branch of the Royal British Legion would like to celebrate the birthdays of our
members for this quarter:
Helga Etlis, Patricia Boling, Jill Wyndham, John Woodcock, WilliamWilson, Barry Wills,
Latif Vajzovic, John Symington, Simon Stilwell, Anthony Stilwell, Maxine Srivastava, John
Shubrook, Baden Roberts, Rosemary Reynolds, Catheringe Rainey, James Rapp, Alan
Powell, Russell Price, Anthony Peters, Pamela Patten, Ian Ord, William Offen, Barry Minter,
Peter Nugent, Martin Mears, Margaret McAlister, Jacques Marloye, Myfanwy Manning,
Matthew Krystman, Patricia Lavery, Violet Ladbrook, Linda Hyde, Jeffrey Huster, David
Houghton, Susan Holloway, Douglas Holden, Richard Hill, Janet Greenwood, John Grant,
Tony Gazzard, Grahame Jaulkner, Frankie Dunn, Eddy De Bie, Albert Croft, Kenneth
Cragg, Carole Cracknell, Johathan Calvert, Peter Cobb, William Couper, Paul Burns, Jeremy
Bull, Barbara Briggs, Adrian Bridge, Colin Bates, Richard Birkhead, Carole Beranek,
Michael Barnes, Martin Baker, Nick Bach-Price, Royston Atkin, Gillian Atkin, John
Allington and Edgar Adamson.
Centenary Anniversary of Events of The Great War- Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland took place between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas
Fleet on the 31st May 1916 in the North Sea, off the mainland of Denmark. Although it was
the only major naval battle of World War I, it became the largest sea battle in naval warfare
history in terms of the numbers of battleships and battle cruisers engaged. It brought together
the two most powerful naval forces in existence at that time.
MY BOY JACK by Rudyard Kipling
“Have you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing and this tide.
“Has anyone else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide, Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind-
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.
Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide, And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!
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This poem was written by Rudyard Kipling after his son John, an 18 year old Lieutenant in
the Irish Guards went missing in September 1915 during the Battle of Loos.
VICTORIA CROSSES
4 Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions at Jutland:
Boy Seaman John Travers-Cornwell VC- Royal Navy (Posthumously)
Major Francis John William Harvey- VC Royal Marines (Posthumously)
Commander Loftus W. Jones- VC Royal Navy (Posthumously)
Commander Edward Barry Stewart Bingham- VC Royal Navy
Good-Bye, Farewell, Adieu.......
We would like to say a big thank you and farewell to our Bugler of many years, Neville
Woodcock (background). Sadly, he cannot play the bugle any more but hopefully will
continue to collect for the Poppy Appeal.
We would also like to acknowledge the wonderful job Nick Martin has done in Madeira. He
has tirelessly (?) worked for ten years to make the Madeira Group of the Royal British Legion
one of the most vibrant and productive groups of the Portuguese branch of the Royal British
Legion. He will be missed very much!
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Honorary Vice Presidents
We are pleased to have two new honorary Vice-Presidents. They are Deputy Commander
Rear Admiral P.A. Mc Alpine, CBE Royal Navy and Father Mark Wilson. Our best wishes
go to our new honorary Vice- Presidents!
Rear Admiral P.A.McAlpine, CBE Royal Navy
Rear Admiral McAlpine was born in Northern Ireland and joined the Royal
Navy in 1982. He has enjoyed sea command twice, the T23 Frigate HMS
SOMERSET (00-01 and the Type 45 Destroyer HMS DARING (09-11)
taking the latter through the First of Class sea training and on the first
overseas deployment. Selected for promotion to Captain in 2005, he joined
the UK Maritime Battle Staff as CTG 58.1 and deployed to the Gulf as the
Maritime Security Operations Commander.
His time within the Naval Training Command culminated with his
appointment as Deputy Flag Officer Sea Training from Feb-Nov. 11.
Promoted to Commodore in 2011, he flew his pennant from the Fleet
Flagship, HMS BULWARK as Commander United Kingdom Task Group
during both the 2012 (Mediterranean ) and 2013 (Gulf) COUGAR
deployments and was then appointed in Command of the Portsmouth Flotilla in 2014. He was appointed as
Deputy Commander Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO in 2015. A Younger Brother of Trinity House,
he was mentioned in dispatches during the 1991 Gulf War, appointed OBE in 2006 and elevated to CBE in
2014. Paddy is married to Janette, who has remained in the UK with their 2 children, Harry and Emily. A
sports enthusiast, he is a qualified rugby coach and a keen golfer and fly fisherman.
Father Mark Wilson
After nearly a year without a chaplain, Saint Vincent’s Church of
England in the Algarve is finally welcoming Father Mark Wilson who
acted as a locum in the region last year. Father Wilson was officially
licensed on Tuesday, February 16 at 11 a.m.at St. Luke’s Church in
Monte da Palhagueira. It was a service attended by the UK Consul and
representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. Said the new chaplain in
a statement: “I am looking forward to renewing old acquaintances in the
Algarve and making new friends. I would ask that you all pray for me
as I begin this new phase of my Christian pilgrimage.
Father Mark was born in 1956 in County Kilkenny in Ireland and
became a deacon in 1980. He was ordained a priest a year later and
served “in a variety of settings”, including spells with Her Majesty’s Forces both in Germany and Northern
Ireland. More recently he was the full-time chaplain to a large teaching hospital in Northern Ireland.
Getting to know you!
Susan Marloye- James, Representative for Madeira
Susan was born in Bulwayo (Southern Rhodesia) now Zimbabwe.
She joined the WRNS and served 4 years. After leaving she joined
SHAPE HQ (the military side of NATO) where she met the love of
her life, Jacques.
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Later she became Secretary to the Royal Naval Association for many years in Brussels. She
retired to France, and after running a music festival for 5 years decided to downsize and
move to Madeira-“It was just one of those places we always returned to.”She was drawn
towards the military and got involved with the RBL. She was the Poppy Coordinator and has
now become the Madeira Representative/
Patricia Boling, Information Liaison
Patti was born in Cincinnati, Ohio (yes, that’s right, the U.S.A.)
too many years ago to record. She has a degree in Political
Science as well as a Masters in Education. After 31 years of
teaching adolescents, she and her husband decided to retire to
the quiet village of Figueira. After meeting several members of
the RBL, she decided to become a member and has become the
Information Liaison person. She has been married for 20 years
has 3 wonderful children and an absolutely perfect
granddaughter. She also resides with her two rescue dogs Fish and Chips
Best of luck to these new members of the team!
Upcoming Events
The next monthly lunch will be on Sunday April 3rd
at 12:45 for 13:15 at Gunther’s. If
interested in attending, contact Vi and Phil at 912392618.
Algarve Central
The next monthly lunch will be held on Wednesday April 20th
at 1:00 at the Navigador in
Alvor. For further information contact Alun and Pat Roberts at [email protected].
Algarve West
The next RBL dinner will be held at Borsalino & Amici Italian Restaurant on Saturday April
16th
at 7:00 p.m. for 7:30 start. For more information contact James or Sue on 969324117 or
by email on [email protected].
Pub Night with live music at Brodies in Almadena starting the beginning of June. More
information come soon.
Some Useful Contacts:
Chairman: Jacquie Collins Secretary: Stewart Austin
282 698 614 219 855 440 [email protected] [email protected]
Treasurer: Dennis Boling Information Liaison: Patti Boling
925 097 403 925 097 403
[email protected] [email protected]
Poppy Appeal: Sandra Wilkinson Membership: Captain Tony Peters 289 791 699 910 983 158