The President of the Peterborough Branch of the Royal Signals Association, and all members of the Branch committee wish our Members, Honorary members, Associate members and friends a very Happy, Prosperous and Healthy 2019.

Standard Bearer Michael Court at a recent event in Peterborough

Funeral of William “Bill” Thomas

The funeral of Bill Thomas took place on 14th January 2019 at Bourne in Lincolnshire.  Although Bill was not a member of the Peterborough branch, the funeral was attended by the branch standard bearer, the president, the chairman and other members of the branch.  Bill was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1921 and in 1940 was called up to serve in the Royal Signals for War Service.  He was an accomplished morse operato who was involved in the invasion of France on D-Day and saw service in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.  After the was he was demobbed but missed service life so much that he re-enlisted into the Corps and served until 1970’s.  He then worked for the GPO until he retired.  A fine obituary gave an insight into his life in the Corps.  Several other ex-servicemen attended the funeral and The first meeting of 2019 will take place at the Botolph Arms Peterborough at 1930 on Thursday January 17th. All members and associate members are invited to attend. it could have described as “a good send off”.  RIP Bill.

ARTHUR HORN

The funeral took place in Boston Lincolnshire of Arthur Horn. Arthur was possibly the last Signalman to leave the beaches of Dunkirk during the evacuation. He died aged 98. The Peterborough Branch standard was carried at the funeral by the branch Standard Bearer Michael Court

Review of events which took place in 2018

We may be a very small group, but this is made up of enthusiasm from our Members and Associates.  We wrote at the beginning of the year :

On a date to be decided we expect to run a BBQ in Geoff’s garden to view the Flying Scotsman as it passes the bottom of his garden. (and we did. About 15 of us assembled in Geoff and Margaret’s riverside summer house and had a fantastic barbeque. The Flying Scotsman did not let us down and made a number of appearances within 20 feet of the bottom of the garden)

We are going to run a Flying Day from a local airport for members and their families to enjoy a flight across the Wash or around Peterborough. The plane can take 3 passengers at a time so let Margaret know if you are interested. (This is still open to members and associate members, and their families and friends)

Fantastic entertainment….On November 29th at the Cresset theatre there is a show called “That’ll be the day”. Some of us have seen this group on a number of occasions and they visit the Cresset twice every year and every show is different. They are quite brilliant and we hope to get a group of us together to attend this year’s show. We need to book early as it is always a full house. (It was a wonderful evening with terrific entertainment. The show was full of great humour and Christmas cheer. They are going to visit Peterborough with their new show in March 2019. Well worth a visit)

Nina and Fiona enjoying the occasion

Sqn. Ldr. Clive Wood and Clare posing for the camera

The highlight of the year is our early Christmas Dinner on Friday November 23rd. Once again we have secured the presence of “Juke Box legends” to entertain us. Pete and Fiona ( Juke Box legends) were the entertainment last year and those who attended gave them ten out of ten, so we have invited them back. It truly is a spectacular evening and will he held once again at the Holiday Inn. last year the room, the food, the service and the ambience was superb so here’s hoping for a similar occasion. Bring your family and friends and make it a memorable evening. For those wishing to stay the night, the hotel have offered special room rates which are very inexpensive. ( a great evening with over 50 members and guests present.

The President, John Hill made a call for more of our guests to join the association on an Associate Member status.

ANNUAL DINNER 2019

The Branch Annual Dinner and Entertainment evening will take place on November 29th 2019. It will take place at the same venue as last year The Holiday Inn, Peterborough.

This year the format will change slightly. At the request of members and associate members, the main course will commence at 1930 and after a short break the dessert will be served immediately afterwards followed by coffee and the loyal toasts. Once again we will have our own bar.

The group picture quiz will be run during the two courses giving about an hour and a half to complete the quiz.

Because they were so successful last year, we have engaged, once again, the services of Juke Box Legends to entertain us for an hour and a half after dinner giving us the opportunity to dance and “Sing along” to songs and music for all ages..

This will then be followed by the raffle and the opportunity to carry on dancing to music provided by ourselves.

Members, Associate members, Honorary members, families friends and guests are invited.   Put it in your diaries. November 29th

Earlier photos

Michael Court representing the Branch on Armed Forces Day