Mr & Mrs R Fletcher

6 Riversdale Drive

Goole

DN14 5LH

Tele:- 01405 763235 

E-mail ronxrh3873@aol.com

                                                  Shiners Newsletter Christmas  2006.

       Once again time for another newsletter before the Christmas rush.

       Only one obituary to report. I had an email in September from Toppy Dwight to say her sister, Sandra Robery, had died of lung cancer on 17^th September, age 65.She was the daughter of SSM Fred Dwight and a friend since teenagers of Diane Kerwin, (Bandmaster Bradbury’s daughter). We sent our condolences to her family.

       Again we had an excellent and successful weekend at Stockport with the same numbers as last year,53 sat down to dinner, bearing in mind there was a good dozen of our regulars unable to attend. Brian Searby is still having trouble with his legs, Jock Rennie is not very well and awaiting investigations, Nigel Clements wife, Chris, has been in and out of hospital, and for Nigel to miss she is obviously not very well as they enjoy their visits to Stockport. We wish them all well and indeed anyone else who is under the weather.

        We had an excellent meal, excellent raffle, we raised £192  showing the generosity of the Shiners who attended and I would like to thank everyone who donated prizes, it was very generous of you all.

         The Acton Court is under new management, a gentleman by the name of Paul is the new manager, and last year and this year he and his staff could not do enough for us, they really went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. Whilst I was setting the table with the raffle prizes Paul asked what I was doing, I told him I was setting the raffle up as a means of  raising revenue for the club and he said would I mind if he contributed something. I replied, “not at all, it is very kind of you”, thinking it would be a bottle of something. To my surprise, when he came back he handed me an envelope and asked me to open it and his “little something” for the raffle was – 2 nights bed, breakfast and dinner to be taken anytime at the winners convenience. When I commenced the raffle after the meal I told the members what the first prize was and who donated it, with that the manager got a thunderous round of applause as everyone thought it very generous and kind. As a rule when people have a winning ticket they pick a prize from the table, there is no such thing as 1^st or 2^nd prize etc.

Lo and behold, the person who won the 1^st prize, and never normally wins a sausage, was Bill Slatter from Pontefract. This 1^st prize was promptly named a “dirty weekend” and Bill, quite rightly, was over the moon with it. Enjoy it Bill, with our blessing.

         When we arrived back home I decided to send Paul a 10^th Hussars wall plaque as a thank you for his kindness and generosity towards us and bearing in mind we have been frequenting the Acton Court for  over 20 years. I enclosed a nice letter thanking himself and his staff on the members behalf. Incidentally he has retained the same price of the dinner for next year, due to the fact we have been going there for so many years and to quote him “it is only right that he looks after his special customers”, which I thought was a nice gesture.

          I received a letter from John Shelton who, with his wife, has left Reading and gone to live in The Gambia. He says he and his wife are very happy, with golf and fishing. He has asked me to pass on his address and if any Shiners go to the Gambia to give him a call and they will be most welcome. They are having a house built which should be finished by Christmas. Their address is-----PO Box 4428,

                                                  Bakau Post Office,

                                                  Bakau,

                                                  The Gambia.

                                                  West Africa.

          We have, in the past few weeks, established our own official web-site for the Shiners Club, it is www.xrhgb.com It was set up by Peter Hill, former A Squadron in Aden and he is a computer guru. You can either click on to that and read the current gossip and if you wish put comments on. We welcome any snippets of news, what I do not know I cannot pass on.

          As you know our plinth at the Arboretum is a subject of discussion due to the construction of a giant National Memorial. All I can do is fetch you up to date on what myself and Capt Cornish know. Enclosed is the relevant information and see photo. In spite of other peoples comments this is up to date and these are the facts as I know them. If and when I get any information from Capt. Cornish I will obviously pass it on. There was something on the Southern Shiners web-site about the cost of moving the plinths being borne by a lottery grant and the application being unsuccessful, but I can assure you I attended the meeting and the lottery was never mentioned, so that information was completely false from wherever it was obtained. If there are any queries on the bumf I have included please give me a ring and I will try and answer them, but all I know at the moment is in the letter. At the risk of repeating myself, Capt. Cornish has put the ball in his boss’ court, ie. the OCA, and there is nothing more we can do, but the OCA are now responsible for the upkeep of our plinth. I cannot tell you any more and it would be wrong to surmise. The Arboretum, at my last visit, resembled a building site, so bear with us.

           As an idea to save on postage, please will those of you will email addresses send them to me so we can upload the newsletter, if you do not mind. If you prefer we can still send by snail mail, if you let me know. The reason we have not done it this time is that there is a lot of bumf and stuff we cannot email. Next newsletter we will start in earnest, emailing as much as possible.

           My apologies for waffling on . All I need to do now is for June and I to wish everyone a happy and healthy Festive Season and try and get to Stockport next year, you are missing a very good weekend. Ask anyone who comes on a regular basis.

                      Regards