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MAY –JULY EDITION 2010 the watermark

THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

SCUNTHORPE BRANCH

Warwick Poppy Appeal Conference.

From the Chairman
Robert Bassindale

I attended the conference on the 15th to 17th of April and the message from the National President is well done to all of you who
helped in the Poppy Appeal as the National Total now stands at £32,770,285 which is a fantastic amount and testament to the
hard work of our Poppy Appeal Organisers and Collectors.

One message that came across loud and clear is the need to involve the younger generation in all that we do, so in light of that
we could each give ourselves a mission to enrol somebody aged between 18 and 40 for either the Poppy Appeal or as a branch
member. If we can manage that you will have succeeded in your mission, it is apparent now and will become more so in the
coming years that the hard work achieved by the present generation and those who have gone before will be wasted if we do not
invest in the future through recruitment.

The conference was well organised, the presentations were informative and answered many queries that myself as a new Poppy
Appeal Organiser had.

If any member would like to volunteer to help with the Poppy Appeal please contact me, we have a team of dedicated collectors
and it would be so much easier with more volunteers to spread the load. Just as little as a two hour shift collecting would help a
great deal.

So don’t delay, help us to help our injured troops and their family’s just pick up the phone. Next year we have a target to collect
£36,000 and we can only do it with your help.

Poppy Appeal
A donation from three Scunthorpe Nurses who held a 1940’s themed party during remembrance tide has taken the total amount
raised in the appeal to £33,285.

The organisers Julia Hinton, Polly Corpse and Debbie Johnsen raised £930 for the Poppy Appeal with a similar amount going to
Help For Heroes. It was obvious from the attention to detail that a lot of hard work went in to organising the event. It was a
pleasure to attend and the ration cards for the pie and peas supper were a nice touch.

Polly is a member of the Royal British Legion Riders Branch and has taken part in many of their fundraising activities whilst
Julia is a volunteer with the Poppy Appeal in Scunthorpe and was a great help to me last year. They should all be congratulated
in their efforts so on behalf of all our members Thank You.
 Children In War Time Talk to
Primary School Children About
Life During The Second World
War.
At the invitation of Sarah Gilchrist, a teacher at
Westcliff Primary School Betty Baker and I John Odlin
attended the school last November to give a talk about
life and conditions during the Second World War.

The audience consisted of children aged 9 to 10

years old, and after a brief talk the children were given a
free rein to ask questions. The format then proceeded
akin to the BBC programme the Big Question, but rather
more informally. Both Betty and I were extremely
impressed by the questions, and the obvious interest and
knowledge shown by the children.

We were shown an Anderson Air Raid Shelter

which the children had constructed in the school
grounds, and it reminded me of the many nights I spent
sleeping in such a shelter during the air raids of 1940- WOMEN’S SECTION R.B.L
1944.

Betty remembers her war time school memories of

children that were evacuated to her village in
Leicestershire. She talked about having to carry around
the gas masks as well as her school books, all had to be
crammed into a small classroom with the evacuee’s.
The children held a collection and I was
subsequently invited to the school Remembrance
assembly and was presented a cheque for £76.00 for the
Poppy Appeal.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile
occasion. Much has been said, mainly derogatory, of
today's youth, but these young people showing maturity
beyond their years were a credit both to the school and
their parents.
Written by John Odlin
We continue to have successful and enjoyable meetings,
although we a few in numbers our members work
together to raise money with raffles and bring and buy, to
enable us to donate to our purse presentation.
At our last meeting we has as our guest Betty Jenkins,
who talked to us about massage and reflexology. I
volunteered to have my feet massaged and had
reflexology. So I spent the rest of the meeting relaxing
on the bed, which was very soothing.
Also we welcomed for the first time Janet Varley and
Adelle Wilson two of our newest members.
Margaret Bassindale, Ann Gledhill and Irene Francis
attended a 1940’s party at Tattershall, which I believe
was very enjoyable.

We are now planning our Summer Fayre held in

Messingham at the village hall in July.

Written by
Betty Baker
President.

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Crosby Angel Re-Dedication

On Friday 7th May I attended the re-dedication of the Crosby Angel War Memorial. The service
was conducted by the Bishop of Grimsby The Right Revd David Rossdale ,and was well attended
by over 150 people. The event comprised of a short ceremony at the school with children from
Crosby Primary School reading the names on the memorial followed by the laying of wreaths and
the act of remembrance carried out by John Odlin.

After the service at the memorial a procession marched to St George’s Church for a service of
rededication. During the service the Bishop spoke some very poignant words about how many
times we die as humans, the first death being the end of our biological existence, the second
death when we are laid to rest as our loved ones say their final goodbyes and the third death
when everybody we have known in our lives also dies and nobody is left who knew of us.
Those young men named on the memorial died too soon and too young. They won’t die a third
time as long as there are people who keep their names alive by caring for those memorials and
paying homage to them.

The Friends of the Crosby Angel are a group of people who through hard work and dedication
managed to raise the £4000 needed to renovate and repair the memorial. They deserve our most
sincere thanks for what they have achieved.

The book they wrote is very interesting and I urge all of you who have not read it to buy a copy as
all the proceeds left after the cost of the renovation will go to service charities. If you wish to
obtain a copy of the book you can purchase this from the Scunthorpe Library and the Scunthorpe
Museum. It is a big part of our towns history and is well worth the read.

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WELFARE WORK
I’ve have been a caseworker for RBL over 20 years. I cover Scunthorpe, Brigg, Barton, Barrow and Messingham. Plus
parts of the Isle of Axholme. As well as the bits in between.

It involves being contacted by somebody who has served in the Services or a family member. I then contact them to
arrange a visit and inform them of the type of information I will want to see, (any documents I see is covered through
the Data Protection Act.). I then arrange time/date. I always show my identity card.

It may feel that the information I require is very personal not everyone wants to admit they are coming to us for help,
The only other people to see the document I have to fill in is the county welfare officer, he/she is the one who gets the
funding for the claimant. I do not promise that we can help but hopefully we will.

Claims can be varied, i.e Holidays for people who have been in hospital, bereaved, not just singles but husbands/wife's
& families, electric powered vehicles, stair lifts, white goods, plus many more.

We also help ex-service personal who wish to start a business, a loan is given interest free plus other assistance is
available for this.

The Women's Section also covers for widow’s in which there’s an allowance can be paid quarterly for those on low
incomes, income support.
Any information please contact
01724 350424
Or Lincoln 01522 811634

Royal Engineers Association 25th Anniversary

It was a pleasure to attend the above event alongside our Vice Chairman Mick Campbell at the RAOB
club. It was very well organised and we were made very welcome by our hosts. Mr Ralph Cooling received
a well deserved award for Twenty Five years service for which he was presented with a Badge of Merit,
congratulations Ralph. At the function one of the first people I met was a man I served with at 22 Field
Hospital in 1999, we shall be meeting again in the near future to refresh our memories once more with
some cold beverages Royal Engineers style.

This is an excellent example of why we should work closely with the local associations, they all support
us during the Poppy Appeal and we should return the favour by supporting their events. So if any member
hears of any events with the local ex-service organisations please let us know, we shall be only too happy to
attend.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Sunday 6th June Messingham Show

Armed Forces Day 26th June Quibel Park

Members meetings
Berkley Street Ex-Services Club

June 8th
July 13th
Hope you see you there show your support.

4
From The Editor

I would like thank those who have sent me articles and stories to go into the newsletter, all your stories
experiences are a good read. I would like to hear from any of you that has been in conflict, has a
member of family lost in battle, the land army anyone who has a story to tell, Young or old, there are
young soldiers out in Afghanistan now with their comrades and i know they put on concert parties as its
a big moral boost to the situation they are in. So please don't be shy pick up that pen and paper and
start writing. Can you remember being evacuated? Or even building a bomb shelter, where you in the
land army what did your parents do, who did you all keep going during the raids. These are all very
interesting stories. Fundraising would you like to help us raise funds for the Poppy Appeal. A fun run
even a bowling tournament, we will provide you with a sponsorship form. You know we are in easy
reach pick up the phone, email or write to one of us.

Please send your letters and articles to:

The Editor
The Royal British Legion Scunthorpe Branch
12 Healey Road
Scunthorpe
North Lincs
Dn16 1HW

If at any time you wish to contact us here our the relevant contact details.

.
Branch Chairman .. Mr Robert Bassindale. Tel : 01724 276857 26 Bellingham Road
Scunthorpe DN16 1RZ Email : robertbassindale@hotmail.co.uk

Branch Vice Chairman ..Mr Mike Cambell . Tel : 07851648881

Email : mikecambell514@hotmail.co.uk

Branch Secretary.... Mrs Pat Day Tel : 07954785845

Email: patricia.day87@ntlworld.com

Branch Treasurer.. Mrs Ann Shambrook. Mobile: 07920003984

Email : a_shambrook@hotmail.com 12 Healey Road Scunthorpe DN16 1HW

Branch Membership Officer... Mrs Ann Shambrook. Mobile: 07920003984

Email : a_shambrook@hotmail.com 12 Healey Road Scunthorpe North Lincs DN16 1HW

Welfare Officer.. Mrs Irene Francis Tel : 01724 350424

If sending donations could you please make cheques payable to The Royal British Legion
All donations please could you send to the Treasurers address above.

THANK YOU