I regret to inform you of the death on the 29th September 2007 of 2621480 Cordon(Frank) ex 5th Bn. of the Nottinghamshire Branch.  Funeral to be held at 3.30pm Friday 5th October 2007 at St Mary's Parish Church, Greasley, Notts.

Lest we Joh Tidridge is trying to compile  suez stories from 56, if you have anyting pse email him at:
 jtidridge@interbaun.comforFrom an Eddie Lawson:

It's a long shot - my father (same name - Eddie Lawson) joined the Regiment in 1936 & was injured in North Africa in 1943 - was Sergeant Major. Born 1913, died 1988. Used to go to association pints in Mother Mac's pub in Manchester. Would really value any contact from anyone - he never spoke about his war but I would like to learn more if possible. edward.lawson@artscouncil.org.uk
From RHQ: for sale ABF Pocket Diary 2008 at cost price of £5.20 plus P&P at 50p total cost £5.70.

Please make cheques/Postal Orders  payable to ‘The Grenadier Guards Association’, send this order form to The Grenadier Guards Association, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London. SW1E 6HQ.- Only 50 in stock. also:get.

Diary dates:
Major General’s Review Sat 31st May 2008Colonel’s Review Sat 7th June 2008Trooping the Colour sat 14th June 2008

THE GUARDS MUSEUM

Its time for the Grenadiers to rally to The Colours!  The Museum has had a pretty hard time of it financially but we are now turning the corner thanks to support from a number of quarters.  Unfortunately, we have now had a cross put on our backs by The Adjutant General.  He has decreed that with effect from 2010 all MoD funded regimental museums must achieve 'Accredited' status within the MLA scheme or they will lose their funding.
 
To put it simply, if we were to lose this funding we would be forced to close.  One area where we would fail would be in the amount of staff we have.  For many years we have limped by with a tiny permanent staff who work the clock round supported by five volunteers.  This needs to change if we are to pass our assessment.
 
We are looking for an Office Administrator (a permanent paid post) and another five or six volunteers (permanent but unpaid, although we do cover travel costs) to do one day per week or whatever you can manage.  The current team of stalwart volunteers feature one Coldstream, one Mick, one Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and one RAF - so how about redressing the balance with a few more folk from the First or Grenadier Regiment?
 
It is vitally important that the museum remains operational as it is one of the few 'shop windows' that the Division has to tell the exceptional story of Guardsmen past and present.
 
If anyone can spare some time to help us then drop me an email, write a letter, make a phone call or send a smoke signal and we'll get together for you to meet the team.  Believe it or not, working here is great fun and the huge contribution made by the volunteer staff cannot be over-emphasised. 
 
Equally, if anyone is interested in applying for the paid post then get in touch soonest to arrange an interview.
 
Please step forward gentlemen (or indeed, ladies..!) your museum needs you!
 
Very best regards,
 
Andrew Wallis
Curator
Email guardsmuseum@aol.com
Tel:    020 7414 3271
Mob:  07887 506 724
 
 
From Pete Hales:
This is just to let you know that, all the recruiting Sergeants from AFCO Nottingham (and Jim Grocott ex 2nd Batt) successfully completed a  Charity Bike ride from Nottingham to Selly Oak, (75 miles) today.  When we finished we went up to the ward to see some of the lads in there, a  very humbling experiance. Two Grenadiers still there, both in good spirits,  both as were all others we spoke to chuffed that we were doin our little bit  for them.

We have hopefully raised in access of £5000, which will be put to use taking the lads out on trips and getting them a few bits and peices for the Regiments WIA fund.
 
Credit Pete and the lads.
 
I must admit I was a bit dubious about publishing the following as the Regiment has its own WIA fund as can be read above - albeit only for our own lads. This, as Mark pointed out to me is to supply the bricks and mortar for facilities and the like for all personnel. I think its a pity HMG cannot provide. Maybe you can email your MP to tell him so, this link might help some of you:

http://www.writetothem.com/

As per normal you makes your own minds up:

From Mark Noddy Elliott:

Help For Heroes

About 3 months ago and friend of mine Bryn Parry (Countryside Cartoonist) contacted me and asked if I would help set up a charity to help injured servicemen and women from the current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Quiet by coincidence  WO2 “Pogie” Powell contact me and asked if I could get Vinnie Jones (actor) to visit the Selly Oak Military wing. Over the past 12 weeks things have moved at an incredible pace.  I have been to visit the boys at Selly Oak twice now and Vinnie and I went up there last Monday and I hope (I know) the visit went down extremely well,  with Vinnie meeting all the injured and meeting many of the families.  He was incredibly moved by the visit. More visits from some interesting people are planned for October! Help For heroes is now ready to go and the Launch is tomorrow (Monday 1st October) and people can visit www.helpforheroes.org.uk right now to see what we are trying to achieve.  I hope many people will be able to make a donation to this cause, I certainly think it worth supporting and perhaps even some will join us on the Great Bike Ride in May 2008.  I’m planning on running either the London Marathon or Paris marathon before the bike ride which should add a bit of spice to the challenge! Volunteers to join me?I hope over the coming few years we can really make a difference and help many of our “heroes”.  There is good press coverage in today’s papers (Mail and Times). If you have any thoughts or ideas or perhaps you know people that would like to donate money please encourage them to do so, we are after large company donations as well!  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at mark.elliott40@ntlworld.com (Help for Heroes e mail address not set up yet!!).Thanks for taking the time to read about Help for Heroes and do please spread the word.

From David Webster (Wings)
Dear all,  Hope you don't mind my sending this to you.... It came to me from a friend.  Most unlike him to get excited about anything!   I think most of us feel strongly about the way we are all being 'dummed down' these days.  I keep saying we are going to have to start marching to make ourselves heard.  DJ

The world-famous Red Arrows have been banned from appearing at the 2012 London Olympics because they are deemed "too British".

Organisers of the event say that the Arrows military background might be "offensive" to other countries taking part in the Games. The display team have performed at more than 4000 events worldwide, but the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have deemed the display team "too militaristically British". Red Arrows pilots were said to be "outraged", as they had hoped to put on a truly world class display for the Games, something which had never been seen before. Being axed from a British-based event for being "too British" is an insult - the Arrows are a symbol of Britain.

The Red Arrows have been excellent ambassadors for British overseas trade, as they display their British-built Hawk aircraft all over the world.The Arrows performed a short flypast in 2005 when the winning bid was announced, but their flypast at the Games was to have been truly spectacular.It is to be hoped that common sense prevails. If you disagree with this decision, sign the petition on the link below

 http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/RedArrows2012/?ref=redArrows2012

From John Bush:

 Say No to 0870 numbers

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

This is an extremely useful search engine to find geographical telephone numbers and, if available, freephone numbers that hide behind 0870 and 0845 numbers.Very useful if you have inclusive minutes either on a mobile or landline as 0870 and 0845 numbers are not normally included in such packages.I use the website frequently rather than getting ripped off by having to use the 0870 and 0845 numbers that most organisations tend to use.
 
And finally my thanks to Joe Beeston which gets pride of honour after yesterdays results!: