1 8 Grimsby & Cleethorpes Branch Registered Charity No 501145 5 Alexandra Road Cleethorpes North East Lincs DN35 8LQ July 2011 Newsletter ‘The Flying Paperclip’ CLUB OPENING TIMES Monday 1900-2300 (subject to the Quiz League playing) Tuesday 1900-2300 (subject to the Quiz League playing) Wednesday 1930-2200 (Only on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month) Thursday 1900-2300 Friday 1900 – 2300 Saturday 1200-1400 and 1900 – 0000 Sunday 1200 – 1400 The Dickie Collins Trophy – amendment Sorry, I made a mistake…the Dickie Collins Trophy is awarded for the most efficient CLUB and not Branch. We still won it though….. Saturday 4th June – Visit by the Doncaster RAFA Branch by Cyril Monks Members from the RAFA Doncaster Branch came over to visit the Club and were met by some of our members. They arrived at about 11am and had refreshments before having a walk and shop around Cleethorpes. The weather was very good and a traditional fish and chip lunch was thoroughly enjoyed. After returning to the Club at about 2.30, the members were treated to some great entertainment by Jeanette, who was fabulous as usual. Everyone said how much they had enjoyed the day and thanked the Branch for their hospitality. Friday 17th June - SWING WING CONCERT by Pat Howard The light gleamed and reflected off the highly-polished musical instruments of the Royal Air Force Swing Wing Band. The musicians looked immaculate in their dress uniforms on the 3rd- year concert at the Central Hall in Grimsby. The dignitaries and guests were ushered in by the excellent lone bag-pipe player, John Best. The band-leader, Warrant Officer Gary Stevens, began the concert with a rousing tune, „Swing Wing‟, which heralded a wonderful evening of varied music, with solo artists on instruments and singers as well. A trio of ladies called „The Blue Belles‟ sang in perfect harmony and sounded very much like The Andrew‟s Sisters from the war period. SAC Walker sang songs of Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles. 2 There was a joyous rendering of „On the Street Where You Live‟ from „My Fair Lady‟ and „Route 66‟ had us all tapping our feet. Cpl. Bev Kirk gave a sensuous version of Peggy Lee‟s „Fever‟ and we were given a wonderful rendition of melodies from „West Side Story‟ which gave SAC Matt Walker the opportunity to show his prowess on the drums. There was a surprise for Branch Standard Bearer, Steve Flint. When it was announced that it was his birthday, the band played „Happy Birthday‟ and the audience sang to him. My, was his face red! After a rousing ending of „Flying Home‟, the band played an encore of „The Lincolnshire Poacher‟ which brought an end to a lovely evening of many different melodies from a group of extremely talented players, singers and solo artists. Saturday 25 June ARMED FORCES DAY by Bill McCann, Chairman “Now that the dust has settled and after writing a myriad of letters, I have had a few moments to sit and write and say a big thank you to all the Committee Members and members for their invaluable and outstanding support on such a busy day. I don‟t think any of us realised how many people would turn up for the event, either to march or just come and watch. In fact, I have never seen Cleethorpes so busy. We had excellent support from RAF Coningsby, from the Station Warrant Officer Peter Hainsworth; he was a very helpful point of contact and had numerous practical suggestions to offer me. Then there was Sergeant Whelan, the Typhoon Engineering Display Manager and Corporal McArthur from the Survival Equipment Display, both of whom I spoke to on the day and who seemed delighted with the amount of interest they had attracted from those many visitors and townsfolk supporting Armed Forces Day. Trish and Mark played an excellent role as hosts to the dignitaries – well done to you both. A big thank you as well to Pat and Colin Howard for all the hard work in making our garden look impressive and for supplying all the flowers! It was nice to see our Wings Team in their new marquee, certainly attracting the general public. Well done Donna and Andrea. A big thank you to all those who worked so hard in the Club to give us record breaking takings, a magnificent effort, and individual letters have been sent out to show the importance of the work. An extremely big thank you to Councillor Alex Baxter who really came on board and supported us (Ex Royal Navy!!). 3 Finally I must thank my alter ego Graham Malster, who though busy with his Guest House and his job still took the time to support me as the Deputy Organiser. His partner, Cheryl, said he is morphing into me!! But that‟s this year – Graham, Alex and I have already moved on to next year‟s event and the planning has already started. I will update you as the year moves on but I can tell you that it will be a two day event - the Saturday being the Parade and Flying etc. and on the Sunday there will be a full Military Tattoo in the Meridian Showground and Arena, with possibly a visit by a Royal! We have been promised 100% support from NELC, which is really encouraging. So to end, a big thank you to you all; thanks for your support without which none of this would be possible.” Bill McCann “On Saturday June 25th I witnessed larger than usual number of pedestrians walking past my house towards Cleethorpes. With the dog, Julie‟s daughter and baby in pram we joined them. As soon as we joined the Kingsway it was evident that the RAFA Club, its Committee and specifically Bill McCann had filled Cleethorpes with visitors. We arrived just in time to see The Blades enact a perfect air display over the seafront. We then hurried on to the RAFA Club, expecting to get soft drinks and a seat as we had done last year. Not a chance! I was making mobile calls to friends on the inside just to check if it was worth persevering to the bar. We continued down Alexandra Road, every cafe full. Then through the throngs in the Pier Gardens, all enjoying the military stalls, back to Ross Castle to stand at the back of another crowd to listen to the band. Another check to see if we could gain entry into the RAFA Club. We would have had more chance getting into a Wembley Cup Final without a ticket! Onwards home past another heaving pub (Willy's) and we struck gold on the Kingsway, three chairs and a table free. Coffee and a seat at last! After an evening meal and a nap we returned to the RAFA Club around 9.00 pm, expecting to see only a few regular faces. How wrong we were. The club was still full! The entertainment was brilliant. Ian Carroll had the audience in the palm of his hand. Encore after encore. Julie and I left at near midnight and I am sure the last bar order had not been taken. 4 This turned out to be Cleethorpes‟ finest day thanks to Bill McCann and his hard working committee members, some of whom had been up since the crack of dawn in preparation for the big day. Fortunes have been spent getting visitors to Cleethorpes but the RAFA Club and its volunteers have set a standard others will be pushed to follow. Well done.” Kevin Bryant “A wonderful day and evening was had by one and all! Cleethorpes was crammed full – the clubs, bars, shops all did a roaring trade thanks to the efforts of our chairman, Bill, and the wonderful Committee members. People did a fantastic job to give everyone who visited the RAFA Club a great day and evening.” Pat Howard “May I say what a grand day out I had on Armed Forces Day. This was my first one and I didn‟t know what to expect. As the day unfolded you could feel the excitement of what was to come. The parade was great and the service too. The flying display was followed by a great evening‟s entertainment. A special thanks must go to our Chairman, Bill McCann, for all the work and effort he put in to organise all this once again. Bill, thank you. Alex Elrick “This year was my second Armed Forces Day and as well as being Standard Bearer for the Branch in the Parade, Bill asked me to look after the 2 bars and cellar for the day. The bar was open from 10am until well after 1am on Sunday and whilst the day started slowly, once it picked up we were flat out until well into the evening. I would like to thank everyone who helped on the bar - George Rollo, Shelle Green, Mark Jones and Richard Brock, as well as Margaret Rollo for making teas and coffees (although she ended up doing more glass washing than drinks!) Also Brian Green, Graham Robinson and Rowena Brock for collecting and washing the hundreds of glasses we got through. The upstairs bar was looked after excellently throughout the day by Catherine Aldred, Anne Prowse and Phil Massen. It was a fantastic effort by all of you, thanks for the excellent teamwork and your hours of hard graft, see you again next year?” Steve Flint 5 Donna Flint would like also like to say a big thank you to Rowena Brock, Andrea Shepherd and Jen Brock for all their hard work at the Wings marquee.