WRAC Association Wales & The West Area

Chairman: Mrs Maggie Purkis

Secretary: Miss Irene Hall

Tamworth Branch

Chairman: Mrs Verona Moore

Secretary: Mrs Belle Kenkionson

Tamworth Branch continues to meet at the Royal British Legion, Aldergate on the last Wednesday of the month and we are continuing to get new members albeit slowly. Three of our new members attend the WRAC Dinner Club weekend in Solihull in October and they had a great time; can't wait for this year. On 9 November our members assembled in the Royal British Legion and filled 74 boxes for the girls in Afghanistan. We had a fun evening doing it and had some letters back thanking us. We arranged a Christmas dinner on 2 December in the Castle Hotel; there weren't many of us there but we had a great time. Our coffee morning on 9 December raised some more funds for the branch.

At our January meeting our Treasurer said that we had enough money to order our new Standard so things got under way to organise a dedication service. We weren't getting the Standard until the middle of April so it was decided to have the dedication at the end of that month. On 23 April we organised an inter association skittles night with the RE, R Signals and RASC/RCT Associations and, of course, our members. We had a great time and they wanted to know when we were doing it again.

Tammy Kirkwood, Standard Bearer with escorts, Belle Jenkinson, left, and Nancy Puckey, right

Then on Sunday, 25 April we had the Dedication Service for our Standard. Beryl Butcher, from Lincoln Branch, took the service and we had 14 Standards; from Birmingham, Hereford, Leicester and Lincoln Branches, Maureen Deeley with the Association Standard and the Standards from the above named associations as well as three Standards from the Royal Naval Association and the Royal Air Force Association and Tamworth Royal British Legion Standard. Our 150 guests including Lt Col Sue Westlake, Maggie Purkis and Irene Hall were entertained afterwards in the Royal British Legion Club by our members who had been responsible for the buffet. Our new Standard Bearer, Tammy Kirkwood, was congratulated by everyone on the day.

Beryl Butcher receives the new Standard

All the Standards on Parade

In May, a number of our members were invited to Leicester Branch for lunch and a quiz; we joined with Birmingham branch members and won the quiz, they may not invite us again. We hope they will as we had such a good time.

Our next skittles will be on 9 July and we will be entertaining Leicester, Birmingham and Stafford branches. It will be good to see everyone again as the skittles days are such fun.