WRAC Association South & South West Area

Chairman:  Major (Retired) Mack Maskens-McIntyre

Secretary:  Mrs J Ford

Plymouth Branch

Chairman: Mrs Jane Evans

Secretary: Miss Nicola Rochelle

Meetings: Abbey Hall, Catherine Street (behind St Sndrew's Church, Royal Parade), Plymouth PL1 2AD on the 4th Tuesday of each month (except December) at 2.00 pm

We haven’t got a great deal to report for the back end of 2011 because our Area Reunion was featured in the 2011 No 2 issue of the Lioness. There were some questions asked later, “How did you do that, it was way past the deadline for copy?” Well, it really is “Who you know and who pulls the strings”, sometimes. It caused a few good laughs, which was a bonus.

Just the week before our hosting of the Reunion, we had been very busy with taking part again in the Armed Forces Week – 22 - 26 June, which was held on the Hoe this year on Saturday as well as on Sunday. We took our display of ATS/WRAC memorabilia and talked to folk whilst trying to entice new recruits. Our volunteers are getting thin on the ground now and we only rustled up 5 of us to be there from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Still there was enough of us at crucial times to be able to take breaks for food and with luck a quick look around at what everyone else was doing, not only in the marquee but out in the open there were a lot of military displays and banks plus many stalls vying to tempt you to eat this or that. We settled for a pork batch, yummy!

At 11am a very moving open air service of thanksgiving and wreath laying at the RAF and Allied Air Forces Monument, on the Hoe, for their 21st anniversary with many standards from local associations. This year, the Plymouth City Council’s ‘Plymouth in Bloom’ display on the Hoe was very appropriate celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion, and Plymouth won gold in the competition, I think for the third time.

We had fun at the WRAC Dinner in Solihull again in October and Jane and I enjoyed the Leisure suite each afternoon by having a swim and visiting the Jacuzzi, the steam room and the sauna. We then ruined the possible benefits by having supper at O’Neils one night and an Asian buffet on another evening, not to mention our dinner and dance on Saturday night.

The following week Jane and I attended the South and South West Area AGM in Salisbury, Sid once more being our chauffeur. Nikki Rochelle, our Secretary elect, came too to be introduced, officially and I thankfully and gratefully stepped down, just half a step for a while, to be Assistant Secretary so as to help Nikki into the job for the next 12 months.

In addition to our new WRAC ladies earlier this year we have welcomed Samantha Raynor in Wadebridge; Susan Ward in Camborne and Carole McNaughton in Exmouth, all ex WRAC, we are hoping to see them sometime soon either at our monthly meetings or in Truro for our mini- reunion in May.

Our Christmas lunch will be at the Masonic Hall in Stoke as usual and we hope to have a good attendance, hopefully more of our new, more distant members will drive up to join us for a few hours. We also hope the WRENS will join us again this year.

Our Committee will have a meeting in January to plan 2012 and we are looking forward to the AGM and Grand Reunion in Bristol in March.