The Royal Air Forces Association Minutes of The
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE ROYAL AIR FORCES ASSOCIATION MINUTES OF THE EUROPEAN AREA AUTUMN CONFERENCE HELD ON SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER 2013 IN THE PENINSULA HOTEL,GUERNSEY AT 1000 HOURS _________________________________________________________________________ Present: RAFA/MM2/6 & RAFA/MM3/4 Area Council His Excellency Air Marshal P Walker President Air Marshal Sir Christopher Coville Life Vice-President Doctor B Pattison Life Vice-President Mr B Flowers Vice-President Mr M O’Connell Vice-President Mr R Hunt Chairman Mr M Mason Vice-Chairman Mr P Clarke Elected Member Dr L Salvoni Elected Member Mr B Darke Central Council Representative Guest Speaker Major General J Moore-Bick General Secretary, The Forces Pension Society Delegates Miss E van Gilst Amsterdam Delegate - 1077 Group Captain R Whittingham Belgian Delegate - 0645 Doctor L Salvoni Costa del Sol Delegate - 1342 Mr J Francis Germany Delegate - 1285 Mr M Le Cocq Guernsey Delegate - 0597 Mr M Watts Jersey Delegate - 0487 Mr C Eliot Luxembourg Delegate - 1303 Mr S Brady Lyon Delegate - 1279 Mr C Pilling Malta GC Delegate - 0293 Mr S Lemon North Costa Blanca Delegate - 1360 Mr J Connolly Republic of Ireland Delegate - 0823 Mrs B Dennett Stannard Sud-Ouest Delegate - 1108 Mr A Dardelin Swiss Delegate - 1024 Mr P Snelgrove The Hague Delegate - 1078 Mr S V Martin Secretary Branches not represented: Athens, Aphrodite, Apollo, Costa Blanca, French Riviera, Ile-de-France, Norwegian In attendance: 40 members and visitors 1 1 The official dedication of the Royal Air Forces Association was read by Doctor Lawrence Salvoni, Elected Member. We also remembered those of the nations of our members and visitors here today who had died in the service of their countries. Silent tribute was also paid to those members and friends who had passed away since the last Area Conference on 10 May 2013 in Eastbourne, remembering especially, very fondly, Mr Robert Gauci of the Malta GC Branch – an RAF Association man, through and through. He did much for the European Area over many years serving as Area Chairman for several stints as well as Vice-Chairman and Vice- President on numerous occasions. He was sadly missed.. ITEM 1 - CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS 2 The Chairman welcomed everybody to the European Area’s Autumn Conference and in particular His Excellency Air Marshal Peter Walker our European Area President. The Chairman also warmly welcomed Lynda Walker. The Chairman continued by welcoming Major General John Moore-Bick, General Secretary of The Forces Pension Society who would be telling us about the work of the Society later in the agenda. Air Marshal Philip Sturley, past National President, was also welcomed as was his wife, Micheline. Air Marshal Sir Christopher Coville and Doctor Bryan Pattison, both Area Life Vice-Presidents, were warmly welcomed as were all Area Councillors, especially Mr Mick O’Connell and Doctor Lawrence Salvoni who were sitting on Area Council for the first time. Finally, the 14 delegates to the Area Conference were made most welcome as were all the wonderful visitors. It was disappointing that 7 of the Area’s Branches had not found it possible to be with us today. 3 The Chairman reminded Conference that there were 20 items on the agenda, which would provide opportunities to discuss some important issues, and that only delegates could vote using the green cards provided by the Secretary. 4 Finally, the Chairman gave many thanks to the Guernsey Branch for arranging the Conference weekend. It took months of hard work to make all the arrangements, so, well done, particularly to Mick O’Connell and his small, dedicated team of helpers. Many thanks were also given to His Excellency who most kindly hosted last night’s excellent Reception and supper in Government House. They were all applauded. 2 ITEM 2 – AREA PRESIDENT’ S ADDRESS 5 His Excellency Air Marshal Peter Walker gave a warm welcome to everyone and trusted that the weather would be kind to us – whilst he, as Lieutenant-Governor, was responsible for most things on the Island, it was the Bailiff who was responsible for the weather! 6 There would be many interesting discussions during this Conference and he encouraged everyone to take part. The RAF would be having difficult times ahead and RAFA would have an important part to play in supporting the Service. Finally, His Excellency wished everyone a successful Conference. ITEM 3 - APOLOGIES OF ABSENCE 7 The Chairman had received the following apologies of absence: Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper (SVP) owing to Service commitments. His Deputy, Air Cdre Sean Corbett could also not be with us. Air Marshal Graham Stacey was also away on Service duty. Hopefully, one of them would be able to be with us in Blackpool next May. Air Vice-Marshal Neville Howlett (LVP) Air Vice-Marshal Peter Liddell Past Chairman of Central Council and the Executive Committee owing to a family bereavement. Flight Lieutenant ‘Spike’ Milligan (RAFALO Representative) owing to Service commitments. He hoped to be with us in Blackpool next year. Mr Mike McCourt (Overseas Welfare Officer) owing to ill-health. Mrs P Distin Secretary of the Costa Blanca Branch. Mr Mike Townsend Chairman of the French Riviera Branch. Mr Graham Scott Secretary of the Ile-de-France Branch. Mr Tony Abela Secretary of the Malta GC Branch but would be represented by Mr Colin Pilling. Colonel Knut Fossum Secretary of the Norwegian Branch. 3 Mr Theo Oosterveen Chairman of The Hague Branch but would be represented by Mr Philip Snelgrove. ITEM 4 - MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS CONFERENCE 8 The Minutes of the previous Conference held in Eastbourne on 10 May 2013 were proposed by the Germany Branch delegate, seconded by the Luxembourg Branch delegate and were accepted unanimously as a true record. ITEM 5 - MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 9 There was one matter arising from the previous Minutes at Item 10, paragraph 48 on page 17. The Secretary General had undertaken to task the new Director of Welfare (DW), Mr Rory O’Connor, with investigating the whole subject of welfare training for the Overseas Branches. This had been done and DW’s report on the matter was expected by the end of the year. It was expected to look favourably at recommending that some welfare training would be undertaken outside the UK in Europe. It was hoped that DW would be with us at our Conference in Blackpool. Secretary’s Note. Mr Rory O’Connor (DW) had accepted the Area Council’s invitation to be the guest speaker at the European Area’s Annual Conference in Blackpool on Friday, 16 May 2014. ITEM 6 - REPORT BY AREA COUNCIL GIVEN BY CHAIRMAN 10 The Chairman’s Report was enclosed at Attachment 1. However, membership statistics have been extracted and repeated in the main body of the Minutes below. 11 Membership The European Area’s membership statistics, as at 4 October 2013, were as follows: ‘Total Membership as at 31 Dec 12 2719 Current total Membership as at 4 Oct 13 2559 Comprising: Number of Life/Ordinary Members 1853 Number of Full Associates 706 4 Including: Number of new Ordinary Members joined in 2013, so far 36 Number of Full Associates joined in 2013, so far 56 Number of lapsed Ordinary Members (from 2012) 71 Number of lapsed Full Associates (from 2012) 68 Number of Life/Ordinary Members deceased in 2013, so far 68 Number of Full Associates deceased in 2013, so far 9 The Area still had a fairly large number of lapsed Ordinary members 71, so everyone was urged to try hard to recover as many of these people as possible, as well as our lapsed Associates (68). We were still 160 (5.7%) members behind last year’s final total – so to meet Central Council’s target of no more than a 2% decrease, we needed to find at least another 102 members before the end of the year from recruitment and the recovery of lapsed members. This figure did not take into account the passing on of members between now and 31 December. So, we really had a major task in front of us over the next 12 weeks, but the Chairman was sure that we were up to the challenge – LET’S GO FOR IT!’ ITEM 7 – REPORT BY SERVICE VICE-PRESIDENT 12 The Chairman reminded Conference that our Service Vice-President (SVP), Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper was unable to be with us today. However, Air Marshal Sir Christopher Coville had kindly agreed to say a few words about the current Royal Air Force. 13 There had been a massive impact of technology since the abacus and slide rule! New technology moving forward had had a major impact on information gathering enabling better military operations and decision making. The challenge was to turn the data into useable information. Combat ISTAR was an essential part of all elements of airpower, all to provide information. This was particularly important as the size of the RAF was getting smaller necessitating the need for better information. Such equipment included the RAPTOR pod, Sentinel, AWACS E3D and RIVET JOINT (a bizarre USA name for ELINT) – all of which were providing vital information which could 5 then be matched to our excellent weapons. These being: Stormshadow; Brimstone; Meteor (a long range missile); ASRAAM and Paveway laser-guided bombs. Although the size of the RAF was reducing, modern technology gave us a greater capability. 14 Sir Christopher then went on to discuss the change in support services. For example, the days of a Cranwell cadet being met at Grantham station, being kitted out and fed in an RAF-manned environment were gone with most drivers, clothing store personnel and catering staff now being civilians.