The Semaphore Circular No 652 The Beating Heart of the RNA August 2015 RNA Falmouth branch members manned a stall at an Armed Forces concert at Princess Pavilion, Falmouth, given by the Military Wives Choir from RNAS Culdrose, on 27th June. Following the concert, the choir posed for a photoshoot - note the RNA hats, they are getting everywhere! 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. Biennial Parade Update 2. More Biennial Stuff 3. Field of Remberance 4. Remberance Sunday 5. Annual St Pauls Seafarers Service 6. 2016 Welfare Seminar 7. Guess Where? 8. Joke – Greek Bailout Explained 9. Finance Corner 10. Donations received 11. Honours MBE/BEM 12. RN VC Series – Rear Admiral Eric Robinson 13. HQ Open Day 14. Joke – Blind Pilots 15. His and Her Calendar 16. RNRMC News 17. Legion d’Honneur Award 18. HMS Illustrious Memorial Service 19. Cooking Lessons 20. Can you assist HMS Sturdy 21. Joke – Sex and Good Grammar 22. Even more Model Ship Building 23. Unashamedly Shep Woolley 24. RNRMC New Chairman 25. Joke – The Australian/Indian Taxi driver 26. Order Forms for Diaries, Crimbo Cards and His & Her Calenders 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, As I write this introduction to the Semaphore Circular the America’s Cup boats are sailing out from the Dockyard for their practice day and it is blowing a complete hooley – God save sailors on days like to day!! No doubt the SAR helicopter will be busy later. The buzz around Portsmouth has been great. You might be interested to know that M33, a monitor that saw service at Gallipoli, will shortly be opening to the public as part of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard ticket. I had a preview visit this week and it is a great visit, with a VG video explaining what M33 got up to. M33 is a very basic riveted ship that was built in 7 weeks and painted in 1918 dazzle camouflage, tiny but with 2 6” guns. Remember that if you present your RNA membership card at the Dockyard ticket office you will get an amazing £10 deal for a day ticket that is almost 60% off the normal price – and will pay for eighteen months subs!!! I have been given notice that S/M Paddy McClurg intends to stand down as the Chair of the Standing Orders Committee. This is a National Council appointment. Applications from, or suggestions for, suitable persons would be very welcome – please send to the GS. I would be delighted to chat over with anyone what the job entails, please contact me directly. There is one important change to the arrangements for the Biennial Parade. Following a meeting with the Met Police about security, they would like all vehicles to be parked on Whitehall Place and not on the Embankment. I have sought an extension of the period for parking and that should be forthcoming. The Minister for the Armed Forces, Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt (Lt RNR) and theFleet Commander have confirmed his attendance and he will be accompanied by the Warrant Officer of the Naval Service, WO1 Steve Cass, one of ours! We expect a good turnout from our fellow CONA associations with Ganges and Type 42s sending good numbers. I had the great privilege of attending RNA Rayleigh Branch’s memorial dedication at the ‘Living Memorial’ – known as Operation Sweet Pea’. A great day with a very good turnout of VIPs including our National President as the Guest of Honour. A great effort by the branch to design and install a memorial – which includes 2 Admiralty Pattern 10A stockless anchors! I even fulfilled a boyhood ambition of seeing 2 Dagenham Girl Pipers doing their stuff. The IMC Sailing Camp finished this week with a roaring success for our 6 sponsored cadets, all of whom came from the Sea Cadets and were accompanied by a Sea Cadet instructor. They had a fantastic 10 days sailing. There was a big thank you from them to the RNA for its sponsorship of their camp fees. A reminder that the His’n’Hers calendars are on sale and proving to be very popular, with great RNA images on each month. A reminder that from 1 January 2016 the old style membership card will be invalid. The old style cards will be replaced free of charge. Branch secretaries should contact Nigel with their requirements, taking care to get the membership category right, since there are separate cards for Full, Life, Associate and Associate with Certificate of Appreciation. 4 Chris Dovey and I were joined by NCM6. Keith Ridley and his wife Maureen for the Armed Forces Day at the National Memorial Arboretum to give presentations on the Naval Service Memorial. We were in a fantastic position with the main arena between the NSM and the SAMA memorial, meaning we were at the heart of activities. We showed many hundreds of folk the memorial – and the designer/sculptor, Graeme Mitcheson joined us for a few hours. A great day. We have had our summer CONA Conference with 30 associations represented and the Second Sea Lord attending. We have funds for a CONA admin assistant from Greenwich and SF(UK), which will be available for RNA Areas and branches, details to follow. Due to staff leave over the summer period there will not be a Circular in October, not Sept as indicated last month. Have a great summer Paul 5 Chairman’s Chat –August 2015 Not a lot to say this month, but I would like to thank all those Shipmates who took time and effort to communicate with me on the Subscriptions debate at Conference. If I, and all the other NCMs, had received before Conference the many views expressed to me post-Conference the National Council could have been better informed of the feeling of the Membership when we discussed the motion at the Council meeting at Conference. I had received negligible comment, or requests for clarification, on the Council decision to propose a £5 increase. Some comments since said Council should have put out a clear justification before Conference. Had we been aware of the apparent widespread feeling about the issue we would have done so, but no branch suggested this, no member asked for it, and no NCM proposed it at Council. We really didn’t think it was necessary otherwise we would have done. It is very easy to be wise in hindsight. Several comments I received said Council had had plenty of time since Conference 2014 to put out details in the Semaphore Circular. But we hadn’t even considered the subscription issue until the November FAC meeting when the poor legacy and donation income for 2014 became apparent. Council in December asked NCMs to put the suggested £5 increase to their Area meetings to obtain feedback for the March Council meeting when the motion to Conference would be finalised. There was little or no feedback from any Area, so the Council, understandably, presumed there was no major issue. With the benefit of hindsight, we would have put out a statement, and I am sorry we didn’t. It was pointed out to me that Branches are the power of the RNA, and I don’t disagree with that, but with power comes responsibility, and no Branches to my knowledge exercised that power in giving their views to NC, which holds the administrative and governance power within the RNA. Nor did any Branch other than Falmouth propose an amendment to the NC motion, so once again no other Branch exercised their power. However, as I said last month, the RNA is a democratic organisation, Conference made its decision and NC must adhere to and act on that decision, which we will do. Talking of subscription rates, I met the wife of a former Chief Artificer a couple of weeks ago whose husband of more than 60 years had been admitted to a nursing home as she was no longer able to care for him properly at home. She had tried hard to do so over the past year but had to admit defeat.