March 2018
HALE BRANCH
ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
NEWSLETTER Issue 19
Welcome to the March edition in which we report on recent events
and provide notice of some
proposed events and trips during this coming year.
Summary of Recent Events
Our Annual General Meeting was held on 1st November 2017
whereupon the following Committee Members were confirmed as:-
Major (Retd) Eric Goldrein, Honorary President
Bill Sergeant, Chairman
Marie Fisher, Secretary
Paul Bostock, Treasurer
Lesley Jackson, Membership Secretary
Joe McGorry, Vice-Chairman, Welfare Officer & Standard
Bearer
Committee members are:-Keith Banks, Sheila Deakin, Steve Hall
(also Poppy Appeal Organiser), David Hudson, Evelyn Hudson, Terry
Melia, Tommy Savage and Alan Sergeant.
The Chairman extends his gratitude to David Hudson and Sheila
Deakin for their sterling work and support to him and the Branch
over the years. Plus special thanks to Joyce Hughes, one of the
longest serving committee members and almost as good a recruiting
officer as Lord Kitchener!
New Years Honours Bill Sergeant MBE
"This award was totally unexpected. I have never considered that
what I do deserves any other reward than my own satisfaction at
having done it! Now I'm over the shock I feel honoured and grateful
that others have considered my efforts to be worthy of recognition.
However anything I
have achieved has been with the help of many others especially
members of this branch. If I could share my award with you I would
willingly do so but inany case I want to say a big thank you to you
all".
Congratulations Bill
On Friday 19th January branch members enjoyed a very pleasant
evening sharing a superb meal at the Childe of Hale. The evenings
entertainment was provided by Neildsy singing along to his
guitar.
At the County Conference held at RBL Netherley on Saturday 20th
January, Hale received the award of The Chairmans Cup for Poppy
Appeal 2016/2017. We now have a certificate and cup to display.
Poppy Appeal 2017/2018
Hale
The Hale Branch poppy appeal had a great 2 weeks on the New
Mersey Retail Park. This year we had fairly decent weather, mainly
dry but cold, unlike the previous year when the wind and rain
forced us off for about 3 days.
Overall with lots of help from friends and the security staff
helping set up the gazebo in the morning, we took over 10,000 in
the two weeks.
Putting that with the tins that were put out around the village
and Hale Bank, the total stands at 12,866 and with wreath money
still to come in and various collections throughout the coming
year. I am confident that for the 3rd year running we will beat the
previous years total.
Thank you to all who have helped and donated, and here is to
another great year for the Poppy Appeal!
Steve Hall, PAO
Woolton & Halewood
To date, I am delighted to say, we are on target to pass our
2016 total! During November 2017 we collected just over 42,000 and
small donations are still coming in. As the Poppy Appeal now
continues until October this year, we are likely to surpass the
43,000 we raised last year. This is a fantastic achievement which
is the result of the admirable efforts of members of the Branch who
volunteered to help at our five supermarkets and whose only reward
to date has been a thank you from me at our recent evening meal.
Believe me, your help was invaluable and much appreciated not only
by me but also by Alison Mowlem our area fundraising officer. I
would particularly like to thank my brother, Alan, who distributed
and collected the boxes, driving many miles in the process, and
then spent two weeks manning one or other of the stores before
finally helping count the proceeds. Marie, Pam Langley, Ben, Mike
Parker, Tim, Sheila, Keith and Anna Banks, Joe, Ernie Dunbavin and
Lesley all gave up days on end to help with collecting and counting
and I want to let you know that you were magnificent!
Anna is not a member of the Branch and this brings me to one or
two others whom I would especially like to thank. Many of you know
Richie Hull from our trips. I have known Richie for at least 55
years as we served together in Liverpool City Police, but over the
years we lost touch.
However some 10 years ago Richie came along Church Street where
we were selling poppies, stopped to talk and
finished up manning our stall! He has done this every year since
and for the past four years, with Dave and Evelyn Hudson and Ted
Smith he has turned up each year at Costco to man our poppy table.
Over those 4 years, they have collected at least 20,000 at Costco!
Last year Richie actually collapsed in Costco he is now 86 years
old and fortunately I was there at the time and able to look after
him. He insisted that he was well enough to help again in November
2017 but I dont think he expected to find himself almost alone in
Costco! Dave and Evelyn were unavailable because of Daves health
problems and then Ted Smith had to cry off as well.
This left Richie, supported by Alan and myself whenever we
could, to do the Costco collection virtually single-handedly! He
raised more than 5500! Busy as he was, he still managed to find
time to pose for this photograph!
Many, many thanks Richie!
Another non-member who helps us every year is Janet Wilson
another regular supporter who attends our trips to Pickering and
the Arboretum. For many years before I took over as PAO for Woolton
and Halewood, Janet had taken responsibility for selling poppies
out in the open air outside Hunts Cross shops. Since I took over,
she has branched out and takes poppies and collecting boxes not
only to many of the shops in Hunts Cross but as far afield as
Garston, Everton and has even been known to take them with her when
she has travelled even further afield. Rumour has it that her
fellow supporters of Portsmouth FC have found Janets collecting box
offered to them! Each year, Janet raises in excess of 1000 which
comes to Woolton and Halewood!
A couple of others deserve a mention Mike Brown met some of us
collecting in Tesco, Woolton and then volunteered to help for
several days this year in Sainsburys.
He enjoyed the experience and has offered to help again next
year. Finally I would like to say a big thank you to Rose Forsyth.
Before Woolton Branch virtually ceased to exist, Rose was the PAO
for their area. Because of lack of support from her own Branch and
also because of her husband Tonys ill health, Rose had to stand
down as their PAO which is where we stepped in. Since then, she and
Tony, who sadly passed away in 2017, had looked after Sainsburys,
Woolton. This year, despite her loss, Rose turned out to support us
for two weeks, on most days
travelling by bus backwards and forwards from her home in Hunts
Cross. This year Sainsburys increased their collection by almost
1000 thanks to Rose, Ben, Mike, Tim and others who helped out
there.
So, well done to all of you and anybody else who helped but I
have not mentioned. Without you we would be lost, so please make
sure you are available this year! Well as we do, I know that there
are other opportunities within our area which we dont have enough
volunteers to help with so anybody else who would like to help will
be most welcome!
Bill Sergeant
As Bill says, If you would like to volunteer at this years Poppy
Appeal in October/November and help our current jolly band of
volunteers, please contact him. You will be made most welcome and
you do not have to be a member of the RBL to volunteer for this
tremendously worthwhile cause.
Many thanks to ARMADILLO Self Storage!
This year, as last year, we are indebted to Dawn and the staff
of Armadillo Self Storage (the big yellow building on Speke Hall
Road!) for their kindness in allowing us to store our Poppy Appeal
paraphernalia free of charge. Without their help we would be
struggling its amazing how much we have to store in the lead-up to
the annual Poppy Appeal and even after the initial two busy weeks
we still have boxes of poppies, cartons of collecting boxes, dozens
of wreaths and so on to be stored for the following year. Not many
of us have the space to do this so in stepped Armadillo! In
addition to storage, Dawn also displays our poppies with a
collecting box for her customers!
Many thanks, Dawn and colleagues, for your invaluable help and
support! We know where we will be coming if we ever need storage
ourselves!
Bill Sergeant and the members of Hale Royal British Legion.
Book Review
All Quiet on the Western Front
By Erich Maria Remarque
I first read this book some 62 years ago while doing my bit for
Queen and Country. In some now forgotten spot in Central Iraq, I
enjoyed it then, but reading it a second time around had far more
of an impact. No doubt due to an interest in the Great War quietly
ingrained in me, during my visits to Flanders. One looks at the war
memorials, large and small: the regulation headstones and reflects
on the massive loss of life, friend and foe alike, but it is to me
the lie of the land that more than anything gives one a mental
description of the hopelessness of it all and in many ways that is
the essence of the book. Its German title Im Westen nichts
Neuesliterally translates as nothing new on the western front, so
very true.
The story, 1914: a group of idealistic German schoolboys
(students) encouraged and geed up by their schoolmaster to do their
patriotic bit sign up for the glorious war. Thinking of it, are
they any different from our own Pals? The hero Paul Bumer could
simply be Tommy Smith or Pierre Blanc. Their war was essentially
the same, not heroism but more about terror, waiting for the
inevitable death, doing ones best to avoid it, even if it means
killing a complete stranger to do so, losing ones comrades and
wondering why it wasnt you. Maybe next time?
The word enemy is rare, the opposition rarely seen, is referred
to as the others or those over there, the real enemy is death in
its many forms. All soldiers, Paul, Tommy or Pierre simply want a
good meal, a kip and an even chance to stay alive.
As war progresses and the hardness of it drives home, the loss
of dignity and human values, saving oneself under shellfire, loss
of limbs, blindness and the horrors of hospital visits in which the
young men are only too aware that no part of the body is safe in
warfare. Like all soldiers they discuss the war but there are never
any real answers. They are far too young. Their background and
upbringing could never prepare them or give any sense of
comprehension of the horrors of war. Their very naiveness is a
factor in their inability to articulate an answer to why? One only
has to look at Tyne Cot or Langemark to echo that. I say read this
book, it is always worth seeing another persons point of view as it
is always so different from your own.
Briefly on the author: born in Osnabrck 22nd June 1898, called
up for military service 26th November 1916. Sent to a position
behind the Arras front on 12th June 1917, he was wounded during the
Flanders offensive 31st July 1917
known as Passchendaele, by British shell splinters and
hospitalised in Duisburg, he saw the war out in Caprini Barracks,
Osnabrck.
By Joe McGorry
Future Events 2018
On Saturday 21st April at 7.30pm we will be holding a St.
Georges Day Social Evening at The Wellington. There will be
entertainment, a raffle and hot pot supper. Optional fancy dress on
an English theme or Kings and Queens, as it will the Queens
birthday! Tickets are 10 and available from Marie Fisher, Bill
Sergeant and Lesley Jackson.
Friday 27th April to Tuesday 1st May 2018 trip to Normandy. The
coach is almost full but if anybody else wishes to go along please
contact Bill Sergeant as a matter of urgency.
Coming up in 2018
There will be a further trip to the Arboretum date to be
confirmed plus plans for a possible trip to Eden Camp, Modern
History Theme Museum in Yorkshire.
Also in the Autumn another trip to the Llangollen Railway to see
the progress on the specially commissioned steam railway engine The
Unknown Warrior with a meal on the way home, what more could one
want?
Further details will follow in the June newsletter.
Reflections of Edward Heyes (1922-2016)
Below follows extracts penned by Edward Heyes prior to his death
in 2016 which formed part of his eulogy circulated at his
funeral.
Reflections Part 1
Edward, who lived at 21 Pepper Street, Hale married Freda in
1948.
In January 1937 I started work at Webbs Nursery Market Gardeners
with a pay packet each week at the princely sum of ten shillings.
Work on Sunday and receive an extra five shillings. As with all the
village lads, our spare time was taken up with the Boy Scouts troop
and Church meetings leading up to boys and girls being
confirmed.
Our Sunday school teacher was a Mr. Jim Parkes who must have
found out that I was interested in going to sea. He
spoke to a friend of his by the name of Mr. Tinkler who was a
director of the Moss Hutchison Line. I was sent to Mr. Frank
Whelan, the Catering Superintendent at Huskisson Dock. Everything
must have happened very quickly.
I joined the SS Kavak on 5th June 1937, aged fourteen years and
eight months, having obtained my seamans discharge book, number
R163394 and was signed on as a cabin boy with the rate of pay being
two pounds ten shillings per month working seven days per week.
Overtime payment was unheard of in those days. Fortunately, a
national pay rise was given to the Merchant Navy in 1938 by which
time I had been promoted to an Assistant Stewards at seven pounds
two shillings and six pence per month still without overtime
payment. It was about this time that I decided that I would be
better suited with galley work and transferred to the SS Kantara as
an assistant cook for a short voyage before joining the SS Etrib
and later the SS Hatasu as Assistant Cook.
SS Kantara
By this time I had served for eighteen months and sailed seven
voyages, five of which were to the Mediterranean, one each to the
Black Sea, France and Portugal. Cargoes from the United Kingdom
were always general exports with homeward cargoes of oranges and
grapefruit from Palestine. Cotton from Egypt, currants and sultanas
from Greece, carob beans and grapefruit from Cyprus, wine from
Portugal and Brandy from France.
The crews came from Merseyside and were generally a close-knit
bunch. They worked hard and played at every opportunity. In those
days a ships crew signed on articles for two years or first return
to the United Kingdom. The routine was to sign on ships articles at
which time each rating was given a mattress.
This was literally a sack filled with straw; an advance note for
an advance from their wages exchanged for about three quarters of
the face value of the note; an allotment note for the wife.
Collection day was known as white stocking day. Catering department
crews had an allocated berth in a cabin with a flock mattress. All
crew excepting catering, worked four hours on duty with eight hours
off, in watches through the voyage but could and would be called
out for additional duties as required. Unfortunately, it was
Company policy that when a vessel was in port overnight the ships
dynamo would be switched off and lighting was by an oil lamp fitted
to the bulkhead in each cabin that had no air conditioning which
made life just a little difficult.
MV Kheti
The ships articles are an agreement between the Master and each
member of the crew. It was not uncommon for crew members to stay on
the same ship for years. It was under such conditions that I joined
the MV Kheti on 15th February 1939 when on my third trip to the Med
that we found ourselves off the port of Silifka in southern Turkey
on 3rd September 1939, a day that comedians jokes often began by
saying the day war broke out!
We were loading carobs destined for Cadburys chocolate factory.
I often wondered afterwards just how the Chief Officer produced
sufficient grey paint top paint the whole of the ship a warship
grey in a day.
Our voyage continued but completely blacked out when sailing at
night, the next port was Famagusta in Cyprus to complete the
loading before sailing on to Gibraltar where wartime convoys were
being assembled.
Our speed was a maximum eleven knots, so this restricted us to a
slow convoy which took 37 days to assemble some twenty ships. We
sailed off into the Straits of Gibraltar and straight out towards
the Atlantic before turning north on course for Britain. After
about three days sailing and in a position south west of Portugal,
the convoy was attacked. The first ship to be torpedoed was the
Bibby Line MV Yorkshire which was in a position immediately abreast
of the MV Kheti.
Convoy drill was that survivors would be picked up by a ship
which was always part of the convoys escort; hence all other ships
would sail on to re-join the convoy when it reassembled.
Sometimes after an attack it may not have been possible to
reassemble the ships; each Ships Master would then make his own
course and trust that the submarines were looking for us elsewhere.
Such was the case following the sinking of the MV Yorkshire. There
were other ships from the convoy that were not so lucky and were
caught by the submarines and sunk. We eventually arrived in
Liverpool and our cargo of carob beans were safely delivered to
Cadburys.
(To be continued in the next edition of the Newsletter, July
2018.)
Welfare
A special mention goes out to Dave Hudson and Terry Melia, both
now on the road to recovery.
Good wishes are conveyed to Ernie Dunbavin for his forthcoming
operation and hoping that you will be back on your feet before too
long.
As several of our older members find it too difficult to attend
branch meetings and find themselves somewhat cut off from the
outside world, it would be nice if other members could call in on
them from time to time just for a chat and to see if RBL can help
them in any way. If you know of someone that would appreciate this,
then please contact Bill, Joe or Lesley who can provide further
details.
If you know of any ex-service personnel that would like to come
along to our meetings again, please do let one of us know.
Anniversaries
January 1918 John McRae
The author of the poem, In Flanders Fields Where Poppies Grow
Captain John McRae a doctor with the Canadian Expeditionary Force
died of pneumonia. The death was only one amongst hundreds of
thousands in the Great War, but his poem may be regarded as the
inspiration for the emblem of the British Legion, as it was then
named, the red poppy.
March 1918 Kaiserschlacht
After the Bolshevik government of the new Soviet Russia made
peace with the Germans and Austro-Hungarian governments, this
released hundreds of thousands of troops for action elsewhere.
Attention then naturally turned to the Western Front which had not
moved decisively for the preceding three and half years. The Kaiser
and his staff drew up a plan to deliver what was hoped to be a
knockout blow firstly to British and then French forces. The aim
was to drive a corridor to the Channel ports between the two
countries armies which it was hoped would force the Allies to sue
for peace. German high command realised that American forces were
finally poised in huge numbers on the other side of the Atlantic
awaiting transport to Europe. Once they arrived, the conflict would
be very different.
British High Command realised the danger of what was
about to befall them, but were not aware of where or when the
blow would strike. Starved of reinforcements by the Prime Minister,
David Lloyd George, General Haig could but draw up contingency
plans and wait.
In great secrecy, the Germans moved troops and artillery to the
Western Front resulting in the British army being outnumbered by 3
to1 in. Operation Michael commenced on 21.3.1918 on a foggy morning
along a fifty mile front from Cambrai to the old Somme battlefield
with a massive artillery attack during which some 3.2 million
shells were fired, a lethal combination of high explosive and
shrapnel together with a cocktail of chlorine, phosgene, mustard
and tear gas shells.
New tactics were used where specially trained storm troopers
would lead the attacks and keep moving forward, by-passing pockets
of resistance for them to be eliminated by follow up troops.
British defences were virtually destroyed so the front lined was
pushed rapidly back. The initial attacks were very successful, the
British front line being driven back over battlefields where ground
had been won at great cost in previous years. Overall control of
the Western Front was placed under the command of Field Marshall
Foch. The attack started to falter when the front line troops
outran their supplies partly due to having to cross battlefields
devastated in previous battles while the German troops discovered
British supply dumps, including foods and stores they had not seen
many months due to the blockade of Germany by the Royal Navy.
Thanks to the resilience of British and Commonwealth troops and
the assistance of the French army, the initial attack petered out,
the German army temporarily exhausted. Further attacks followed
against British and French fronts but were not as successful. The
line held albeit much further back towards the Channel ports. In
the meantime, American troops started to arrive.
April 1918 RAF
The air arms of the two services, the Army and the Royal Navy,
the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, had been
created prior to the start of the Great War and had grown
substantially during the conflict. Following a report by General
Jan Smuts, the decision was taken to combine the two services to
allow for greater efficiencies so that aerial warfare would be
under one command. So on 1st April 1918, the first independent air
force in the world was created, the Royal Air Force. Upon its
creation, it became the largest such force with an approximate
strength of 300,000 personnel and 20,000 aircraft.
April 1918 Zeebrugge
The battle known as Passchendaele had sadly failed to achieve
one of its main objectives that of driving the front toward the
Belgium coast to cut off the German U-Boat base at the inland city
of Bruges. Allied shipping losses had mounted considerably since
unrestricted U-Boat warfare had started and Britain was close to
starvation. The eventual introduction of the convoy system had
helped to alleviate the problem but the submarine bases in Belgium
were still a threat to merchant shipping.
An assault was devised on the night of 23rd March to try and
seal off the canal leading from Zeebrugge to Bruges to prevent
German submarines from being based so close to the Channel. The aim
of the attack was to scuttle a number of redundant cruisers in the
entrance to the canal to seal it off. The main assault ship was to
be HMS Vindictive, together with a large number of motor launches
while the block ships were to be HMS Iphigenia, Intrepid and
Thetis.
Zeebrugge was protected from the sea by a long mole or harbour
wall while the whole port was very heavily defended. A landing
assault was planned to try and divert attention from the block
ships and to subdue German defences. The Royal Marine Light
Infantry were to lead the attack with Royal Navy personnel. To cut
the mole off from
the mainland, a redundant submarine laden with explosives was
scuttled under a connecting viaduct and detonated to destroy it. To
protect the attack Wing Commander Brock, of the firework company,
devised smoke floats to hide the assault craft from enemy view. As
well as the Vindictive, two Wallasey ferries were used to land
Royal Marines, the Iris II and the Daffodil, later to be granted
the Royal prefix by the King in honour of their part in the attack.
Their manoeuvrability was to prove vital in the attack
The assault was largely successful in blocking the canal
preventing its use for a number of weeks but the block ships were
soon raised and the canal reopened. However, the Marine assault
while doing what it was intended resulted in heavy casualties from
the ferocious German defence. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded
consequent to the attack.
November 1943 North Africa
Shortly after the Axis forces were driven back from the El
Alamein line, Operation Torch was launched, the seaborne invasion
of French colony of Algeria by British and US forces, the first
major battle to which American troops were committed in the west
after their entry into the war. There was initial resistance by
Vichy French troops but they soon surrendered. The Afrika Corps
then transferred forces from east to west and resistance stiffened.
The Germans mounted a counter attack at the Kasserine Pass giving
untried American troops their first major reverse. The British 1st
Army however held and progressively the Afrika Korps was drive back
into Tunisia while the 8th Army advanced westwards from Libya.
Trapped between two fronts, the German and Italian armies
surrendered in May 1943 yielding 275,000 prisoners
1968
A year notable for being unremarkable. The only year in the
twentieth century when British Army did not suffer a single
casualty in action.
By Ben Jackson
The Hale RBL Branch has a website and its address is:-
http://branches.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/hale
If anyone would like to write a short report, an article about
any ex-servicemen/women, book review or promote an event or
activity for inclusion in a future Newsletters, please contact
Lesley. Contact details below.
The RBL Hale Branch meet on the first Wednesday of every month
at 8.00pm at The Childe of Hale public house. Please do come
along.
You dont have to be a member to join us on our organised trips
and if you would like to join us please contact:-
Lesley Jackson on 486 1860 or email [email protected];
Marie Fisher [email protected] or tel 07958 399252; Steve Hall
[email protected] or tel: 07807 736666;
Bill Sergeant [email protected] or telephone 0151 724
3171.
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