R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7
R8	R9	R10	R11	R13	R14	R15
R16	R17	R18	R19	R20	R21	R22
R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29
R30	R31	R32	R33	R34	R35	R36
R37	R38	R39	R40	R41	R42	R43
R45	R46	R47	R48	R49	R50	R51
R52	R53	R54	R55	R56	R57	R58
R59	R60	R61	R62	R63	R64	R65
R66	R67	R68	R69	R70	R71	R72
R73	R74	R75	R75	R77	R78	R79
R80	R81	R82	R83	R84	R85	R86
R87	R88	R89	R90	R91	R92	R93
R94	R95	R96	R97	R98	R99	R100
R101	R102	R103	R104	R105	R106	R107
R108	R109	R110	R111	R112	R113	R114
R115	R116	R117	R118	R119	R120	R121
R122	R123	R124	R125	R126	R127	R128
R131	R132	R133	R134	R135	R136	R137
R138	R139	R140	R141	R142	R143	R144
R145	R146	R147	R148	R149	R150	R151
R152	R153	R154	R155	R156	R157	R158
R159	R160	R161	R162	R163	R164	R165
R166	R167	R168	R169	R170	R171	R172
R173	R174	R175	R176	R177	R178	R179
R180	R181	R182	R183	R184	R185	R186
R187	R188	R189	R190	R191	R192	R193
R194	R195	R196	R197	R198	R199	R200
R202	R203	R204	R205	R206	R207	R208
R209	R210	R211	R212	R213	R214	R216
R217	R218	R219	R220	R221	R220	R221
R222	R223	R224	R225	R226	R227	R228
R229	R230	R231	R232	R233	R234	R235
R235	R236
			LEWES 2009
L1	L2	L3	L4	L5	L6	L7
L8	L9	L10	L11	L12	L13	L14
L15	L16	L17	L18	L19	L20	L21
L22	L23	L24	L25	L26	L27	L29
L29	L30	L31	L32	L33	L34	L35
L36	L37	L38	L39	L40	L41	L42
L43	L44	L45	L46	L47	L48	L49
L50	L51	L52	L53	L54	L55	L56
L57	L58	L59	L60	L61	L62	L63
L64	L65	L66	L67	L68	L69	L70
L71	L72	L73	L74	L75	L76	L77
L78	L79	L80	L81	L82	L83	L84
L85	L86	L87	L88	L89	L90	L91
L92	L93	L94	L95	L96	L97	L98
L99	L100	L101	L102	L103	L104	L105
L106	L107	L108	L109	L110	L111	L112
L113	L114	L115	L116	L117	L118	L119
L120	L121	L122	L123	L124	L125	L126
L127	L128	L129	L130	L131	L132	L133
L134	L135	L136	L137	L138	L139	L140
L141	L142	L143	L144	L145	L146	L147
L148	L149	L150	L151	L152	L153	L154
L152	L153	L154	L154	L155	L156	L157
L158	L159	L160	L161	L162	L163	L164
L165	L166	L167	L168	L169	L170	L171
L172	L173	L174	L175	L176	L177	L178
L179	L180	L181	L182	L183	L184	L185
L186	L187	L188	L189	L190	L191	L192
L193	L194	L195	L196	L197	L198	L199
L200	L201	L202	L203	L204	L205	L206
L207	L208	L209	L210	L211	L212	L213
L214	L215	L216	L217	L218	L219	L220
L221	L222	L223	L224	L225	L226	L227
L228	L229	L230	L231	L232	L233	L234
L235	L236	L237	L238	L239	L240	L241
L241	L243	L244	L245	L246	L247	L248
L249	L250	L251	L252	L253	L245	L256
L257	L258	L259	L260	L261	L262	L263
L264	L265	L266	L267	L268	L269	L270
L271	L272	L273	L274	L275	L276	L277
L278	L279	L280	L281	L282	L283	L284
L285	L286	L287	L288	L289	L290	L291
L292	L293	L294	L295	L296	L297	L298
L299	L300	L301	L302	L303	L304	L305
L306	L307	L308
			LEWES 2011
L339	L340	L341	L342	L343	L344	L345
L346	L347	L348	L349	L350	L351	L352
L353	L356	L357	L358	L359	L360	L361
L362	L363	L364	L365	L366	L367	L368
L369	L370	L371	L372	L373	L374	L375
L376	L377	L378	L379	L380	L380	L381
L382	L383	L384	L385	L386	L387	L388
L389	L390	L391	L392	L393	L394	L395
L396	L397	L398	L399	L400	L401	L402
L403	L404	L405	L406	L407	L408	L409
L410	L411	L412	L413	L414	L415	L416
L417	L418	L419	L420	L421	L423	L424
L425	L426

 

 

ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION

Annual Re-union Dinner – Lewes - 10th September 2011

President’s Address

 

 

Mr Mayor, Councillor Mathews, other guests and gentlemen of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

It is a great delight to welcome all of you to this year’s annual reunion dinner and to see so many old friends and comrades here tonight, and enjoying ourselves in the traditional Royal Sussex fashion.

But first let us remember we’ve lost some old friends this year and their obituaries are well set out in the latest Roussillon Gazette. In particular, we’ve lost two well-known characters recently – Sam Weekes and Mick Gill. Sam was our oldest serving In-Pensioner, and served in both the 5th Battalion and then the 4th/5th Battalion. He was three weeks short of his ninety-third birthday when he died in January this year. He went to France with the 5th Battalion and, following the disasters, was evacuated from Dunkirk with the remnants of the Battalion in June 1940. Following re-training and reorganisation, the 5th Battalion, together with the 2nd and 4th Battalions went to North Africa in 1942, in the celebrated Royal Sussex Brigade. He fought at both Alam el Halfa and El Alamein, where he was badly wounded and lost an eye. A man with a great sense of humour and always guaranteed to raise a smile. Not long ago, in typical Sam Weekes’ fashion, he was summoned to a hospital to have his eye looked at – as Matt Quick said at the time: “Is that your bad eye they want to look at?” to which Sam replied, “If it was my bad eye, I could have saved their time by posting it to them in an envelope!” Sam was always a great attraction to everyone, particularly the ladies – he always took part in the Whitehall Parade on Remembrance Sunday and walking back to the London Branch Headquarters at the Rose & Crown in his scarlet coat, would often be stopped by people, particularly tourists, to have his photograph taken. One young French lady once asked him why his tunic had nine buttons – an interesting question - Sam’s immediate response was that it was because the tunic had nine button-holes!

Mick Gill – Herman the German – died of a heart attack, a week ago last Sunday. He was another of the Regiment’s great personalities – a fluent German speaker with a fascination for the German Army – the Wehrmacht. He took part in many re-enactments, as he was doing when he died – the local hospital was somewhat surprised though when he was delivered to them wearing the uniform of a German officer! His funeral is on Tuesday 13th September (Quebec Day!) at 1.30 pm at the Chichester Crematorium.

It is always a great delight to welcome the Mayor of Lewes and tonight, the Deputy Chairman of the Lewes District Council as well. It is great privilege for us to be able to hold our annual dinner in these magnificent surroundings and we are extremely grateful for it.

We were hoping that Fran Stovold would join us tonight but, sadly, she had to cancel at the very last minute - the curator of the museums at the Eastbourne Redoubt. Fran does so much to ensure that our museum and all its artefacts are well set out and displayed for the benefit of the public in general and we are extremely grateful to her for all her devoted work and commitments. I would also like to thank those members of the Regiment, particularly the Eastbourne Branch, who give up so much of their time to help make sure our Museum is in good regimental order.

Tonight we also welcome Major Tony Martin, who has spent the last ten years as Deputy Regimental Secretary of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment at Canterbury, and who has done so much over the years to help our Association in so many ways. He was originally a South Wales Borderer, who many of you will remember took over from us at Lydd in 1966 – we thought six months was bad enough but they were there for two years!

If he goes to Worthing again for another Freedom March, he will now find somewhere to sit. We’ve spent ages trying to find out what happened to the seat that used to be outside the Town Hall, commemorating the Regiment’s Honorary Freedom of the town in 1959. Well, look no more – the Arundel and District Branch presented a new one in July this year – a marvellous effort all round.

As you all know, we are embarked on a whole series of commemorations to commemorate the 70th Anniversaries of the Second World War and the centenary of the battles in the Great War. As most of you aware, one of our main commemorations is to acknowledge the start of the Great War in France in 1914. We are going to erect a monument at Priez in France to commemorate the place where the Regiment suffered its first casualties, and also as a Memorial to the 7.302 officers and men who subsequently lost their lives in that war. Outside, as many you may have already seen, are some drawings and a description of the Monument we intend to erect. The concept has been developed by Greg Fielder of the Chichester Branch, whose grandfather and father both served in the Regiment, his grandfather being killed on the Somme in 1916. When you look at the pictures of the proposed monument, it would be appreciated if everyone could show whether they approve of the concept – a few seconds of your time please – and no Micky Mouse’s or Donald Ducks!

As part of our commemorations, next year will see the 70th anniversary of the battles in North Africa at Adam el Halfa and El Alamein. At El Alamein, we had four Battalions – the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, with the 2nd, 4th and 5th Battalions fighting together in the 133rd Royal Sussex Brigade, and where the 4th Battalion suffered considerable losses. As a key part of our Regimental history, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Richard Buckham who has the last fifteen years producing two volumes on the Regiments Military Honours and Awards from 1864 to 1966. It’s not just a list of honours and awards but includes the details surrounding each particular action - an excellent piece of work and an essential aid to anyone who has an interest in our history. Richard has now produced the entire content on a CD, and it also now includes details on The Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry from 1939 to 1946.

The re-development of Roussillon Barracks is now going ahead, and very much in our favour – thanks very much to the efforts of Colonel Robin McNish. It has been agreed that the roads in the new development will be named after both our Victoria Cross holders and the Colonels of the Regiment. Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has also graciously agreed that one of the principal roads, or the green, will be named after the late Queen Juliana, our former Colonel-in-Chief.

You will all be aware that one of our major commitments is benevolence - helping out those members of the Regiment and their families who have fallen on hard times or cannot cope with particular disabilities. We rely very much on the Army Benevolent Fund and the Royal British Legion to help us do so, and they’re very generous with their contributions. But they have to collect the money first in order to help, and we have an opportunity to help them do it. Next month, on Friday the 7th of October and Saturday the 8th, Tesco has kindly agreed that the ABF can collect at all their stores throughout the country. It would be a great help if as many of you as possible could help with this collection – of course wearing your regimental tie and blazer badge. Captain Keith Ross is co-ordinating this for East Sussex and will be delighted to answer any questions you might have. Colonel Mark Rayner, whom many of you might remember from 3 QUEENS, is doing the same for West Sussex.

Finally, on your behalf, I would like to thank Major Smith and the concert band of the Royal British Legion for their marvellous and inspiring music this evening, with a promise of much more to come. And, also, to the caterers and their excellent staff, not only for producing such a first-class dinner, but also for serving us so superbly.
Last but not least, I would particularly like to thank the cadets for all their excellent help and assistance.

 

b.joness@hotmail.com