Reunion 2017

[Ken Hannah]

Hi everyone,

Hopefully all got home safely as did I but slept ++ the following day…...it’s an age thing!

My chilling is at Endex on Sunday night when it is all over - so thanks to those who helped me chill especial Charlene (Don Thake’s Granddaughter) lovely girl and great fun and of course Ron and Gordon who provided the happy juice.

I have received many, many messages re the reunion weekend, all positive which is nice. All our civilian and military guests enjoyed the weekend (be it one, two or three days) which is nice to hear and all have said that although not OTT/ODPs they were made to feel very welcome by members which made for a relaxing and convivial weekend for them.

I have contacted the coach company and the casino hire company to offer our thanks to Elton the driver and Della and Richard the croupiers [who enjoyed the evening as much as we did]. Pete will be writing to the hotel and will mention the names of staff members who took one for their team especially Dillon who spent the weekend moving ‘stuff’…….my OCD didn’t help but he did it with good grace.

All agreed that the venue and location was excellent as was the food and the staff – there were glitches as there always are but minor ones which were soon sorted. The hotel hasn’t hosted an event like ours before so they learnt a lot. It was agreed at the meeting that we would return there for the 2019 (Brexit) reunion.

On a personal level, I would like to thank the guys who assisted me and made my job easier - Jake, Ron, Skippy, Steve T and Steve B, Sarah, Louise, Mark, Les T, Black Mac, Lin, Hilary, Janet and the other ladies setting up and of course Dave - he started of at Fire NCO level and was quickly promoted to Adjt and eventually Chief of Staff!

Mustn’t forget our GoH Brig Kim Stephens - I have lined up a gig for him at ‘Live at the Apollo’ …etched in my mind forever is him hurtling to the ground on a night jump hearing a whimpering noise and realising it was him…priceless.

It was great to see Les Viner there who with his current medical issues made a great effort to be there and also Gen Norman Kirby who just ‘popped’ over for a cuppa and chat.

Finally, I would like to thank those that made financial contributions to our fund (whether attending or not) which keeps us solvent and able to assist other members where we can and of course to all those attending the gala dinner and supporting Scotty’s Little Soldiers. I phoned them today and they are over the moon with our donation.

I will circulate actual numbers via OTT Reunited later with the General meeting minutes once received from Steve tinker suffice to say that we did well once again - thanks to Sarah Rees and raffle team and personal donations of course.

The next gig will be in the Autumn in Leeds - lead on that one will be Derek Henderson, he says he knows a good pie shop!!

Photos will be put on the website by Ian once I have figured out how to get them off Ron’s memory stick - above my pay grade at the moment!

On that note, I will say bye and thanks again to all who made the weekend special.

Regards
Ken