The Semaphore Circular No 655 the Beating Heart of the RNA December 2015
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The Semaphore Circular No 655 The Beating Heart of the RNA December 2015 Wishing all our readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Our thanks to the Ships Company of the Type 23 Frigate HMS Lancaster ( photograph shown courtesy of the Royal Navy) RNA members are reminded that hard-copies of the Circular are distributed to each branch via their Secretary, but “silver-surfers” can download their own copy from the RNA website at www.royal-naval-association.co.uk .(See below) 1 Daily Orders 1. Remberance Sunday & Armistice Day 2. Christmas Branch Quiz 3. Battle of Jutland Commemoration 4. Guess Where? 5. RBl Mesothelioma Campaign Update 6. The Religious Parrots Joke 7. Donations received 8. RN VC Series – Lt Basil Place VC 9. Finance Corner 10. Hillbillies Joke 11. S/M William Robinson 12. Branch/Personal Insurance 13. Open Days 2016 14. Riddle for the mature Shipmate 15. Can you assist Please – William Entwhistle 16. Order Forms for Diaries, Crimbo Cards and His & Her Calenders 17. Heads Up – Battle of the Atlantic Book 18. Battle of Coronel &Falklands 19. TV Series 100 Year Old Drivers 20. Recognition Training…. 21. Defence Discount Service Card 22. Shipmates Jokes 23. Maritime Book Reviews 24. Can you assist Please – Jeff Stewart 25. How about this for Retirement Planning 26. Carrier Update Longcast “D’ye hear there” (Branch news) Ship’s Office Swinging the Lamp For the Branch Secretary and notice-board Glossary of terms NCM National Council Member NC National Council AMC Association Management Committee FAC Finance Administration Committee NCh National Chairman NVCh National Vice Chairman NP National President DNP Deputy National President GS General Secretary DGS Deputy General Secretary AGS Assistant General Secretary CONA Conference of Naval Associations IMC International Maritime Confederation 2 NSM Naval Service Memorial Throughout indicates a new or substantially changed entry Contacts: Financial Controller 023 9272 3823 [email protected] FAX 023 9272 3371 Assistant General Secretary (Membership & Slops) 023 9272 3747 [email protected] Deputy General Secretary 023 9272 0782 [email protected] Shipmates Administrator 023 9272 0782 [email protected] General Secretary 023 9272 2983 [email protected] Admin 023 92 72 3747 [email protected] Find Semaphore Circular On-line ; http://www.royal-naval-association.co.uk/members/downloads or... RNA Website – Members Area – Downloads – Circulars – Code (Shipmate) RNA HQ Staff continue to attempt to build a library of e-mail addresses within the Association. It would be extremely helpful if those Branch Secretaries able to communicate by e-mail would forward a short e-message to HQ to [email protected] 3 Snail Trail Mail - Postal Address RNA HQ, Room 209, PP70, Semaphore Tower, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth Hants PO1 3LT Dear Shipmates Welcome to the December Circular, I hope that you all have many parties and celebrations planned. Whilst I am sure many branches will be enjoying the great comradeship that is the hallmark of the RNA, can I remind branches (which I hardly need to do), that Christmas can also be a lonely time for some. So please spare a thought for those shipmates and partners that may not be coming to meetings or events and who would appreciate a call or visit at this time of year. You might be able to mention the Virtual Branch to them, which might be part of helping to reduce their sense of isolation. Contact Shipmate Rita Lock in the Central Office if you would like more details. I would like to say a big thank and congratulations for the many Shipmates who have represented the Royal Navy and have supported the many Remembrance events over November. I had the great privilege of acting as the National Chairman’s wreath bearer at the Cenotaph Parade and witnessing the RNA squad marching past the Cenotaph led by our National President and a 93- year old WW2 veteran. But I know that you have turned out across the whole of the UK, which is a wonderful way of supporting our RN. I am sure that you join me in expressing our pleasure at the very good result for the RN in the Strategic Defence and Security Review. Great news that we are getting enough F35 Lightening aircraft for both of the 2 carriers, maritime patrol aircraft and the Type 26, Global Combat Ship and a growing number of sailors. Perhaps not as many as the Navy would have liked, but an increase none the less. I hope that the National President will have an article for the SC on the Review in the New Year. A significant change that has just been approved by the Finance and Administration Committee is that in future slops etc must be paid for in advance, rather than put on a branch account. As of 1030 on the day of writing branches owed over £29,000 for subscriptions, slops and other costs. Some treasurers can take a lot of chasing to pay their accounts, so we need to change the way we manage charges to improve our cash flow and reduce the time and effort in chasing up. So here to some business: We still have Christmas cards available for sale and our popular his ‘n’ hers calendars, the funds for which help to support the RNA. I hope you enjoyed the new style Yearbook, which has not cost the RNA at all and has been distributed Free of Charge. If you would like more copies, again FOC, please let us know. House Flags are selling fast, so get your order in before we run out. A reminder that the deadline for NCM/DNCM elections is 19 February. Please note that elections are required in 1, 3, and 4,5,12. Apologies to NCM Scotland and 10 Area for including them in the form the last time. The deadline for branch motions is 19 Feb 16. You may have heard in the news of a fire at Wokefield Park, our Conference Venue for 2016. We have been in contact with the Hotel and they will be fully up and running long before our Conference. So please get booked up, with all bookings being managed by the CONA travel service, our wonderful partners. Due to the fact that many branches do not have a January meeting, and the HQ closed period, there will be no circular in January 16. We are in the final stages of agreeing a deal with Wessex Funerals with the Veteran Funeral Service for a cremation package £1,000 cheaper than a standard Co-Op budget. Details in the New Year, but contact HQ if you want to find out more before then. 4 A reminder that the April 16 Circular will be the last one sent fully hard copy to all branches. I have written personally to the Branch Secretaries of all branches where we do not have an e-mail contact. If you are still relying on a hard copy and have not had a letter then please let Nigel know. We are in a period of parallel running to prove our e–mail system works, so it is vital that you let us know if you are not getting the e-mailed Circular, or any other issues you might be facing. I well appreciate that this might be a worry for some, and we will have a temporary hard- copy print arrangements for some, but the circular is much better sent electronically since: links work, the photos are in colour, you can dist easily to those with e-mail addresses and you can print off just the parts you want and it saves a great deal of money. A final reminder to 12 Area secretaries that the DNCM12 election returns are due with the HQ by 14 December 15. Finally a very warm Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all the staff at the HQ. Paul The photo above shows The National Chairman, General Secretary, Gail Dovey and Liz Quinn in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the Remberance Parade 5 Chairman’s Chat - December 2015 I apologise for the lateness of this edition of the Circular but the FAC had to be postponed for a week because the GS and I were both away and we wanted to get the up to date budget forecast for 2015 out to you this year. That forecast shows a potential saving of just over £50K on the approved budget for 2015. This reflects continued very good work by the staff on controlling our expenses. We have also been very fortunate to receive a legacy late in the year and we are now anticipating that our end of year accounts could see us close to breaking even over the year. We have been fortunate with this legacy and this windfall is why we don’t account for possible legacies or donations in our annual budget. We only budget for what we can genuinely anticipate receiving or spending. Subscriptions are the only certain income we can rely upon, but cash returns on investments have also boosted that income, but even they are not guaranteed. One thing the GS has referred to in his statement at the beginning of this circular is the nearly £29K of money that is owed to HQ by branches through their HQ accounts, over half of this sum being owed for 6 months or more. We are no longer able to carry this amount of debt as it impacts directly upon our cash flow. Some of this debt is actually subscription money, which branches hold onto until they have collected it in from all members before sending to HQ.