Reunion 2005

HMS LLANDAFF

ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

A great time was had with about 50 in attendance, Friday afternoon got off with a bang with loads of lamp swinging in the Quarterdeck bar , Thanks to the Colonel Mike Brady on duty Q/Master for the weekend for the issue of Station cards , How many of you forgot to hand them back in ???? If you did please hang on to them for next year to save on costs of re printing them.

Once settled in the bar all the lads started rolling in , hand shakes and a few cuddles were in order , Dick Joy turned up with his Son Mike in tow and was in great form having not met some of his old oppos for 29 years and I must say what a pleasure it was to meet his son Mike who really got into the swing of things and enjoyed himself so much he has asked to become an associate member along with Eric Lancaster’s good Lady Janet, so welcome aboard both of you .

Quite a few new faces this year, Tommy Hilton, Dick Joy, Eric Lancaster, Gordon Williams, Ian Wallace, Michael Pleat, Ian Brant, Bill Baker, Keith Morison, Steve Fryer, and not forgetting Tug Dave Wilson who flew in from Kuwait or somewhere like that just to be with us on the Saturday evening and of course not forgetting my old mucker Pincher Martin.

The Slinger Free Gift this year was Llandaff Lapel Badges (Yes Fred Mackie some things are Free)

After the afternoon session most of us had Dinner quick bath and doeby and off we went again , most of us paid a quick visit down to the Llandaff Institute club where as always they made us most welcome, on return to the Hotel most of the latecomers had arrived and once again cant quite remember what time I turned in !!!!! What I do remember is that Dick Joy and Chunky Durrant were still going strong.

The only bit of sad news that we had was a phone call from Jim Hewitt’s wife Veronica who informed us that Jim was taken sick and was admitted to Hospital at the weekend (The thought of meeting us lot must have done it) Jokes aside I have been in touch with Jim since reunion and he is on the mend and is looking forward to next years reunion and he sends best wishes to one and all.

Ron Preston’s Wife Olive also had to miss this year due to one thing or another so we sent her a plant and card from the association and Ron has since been in touch and says that she was thrilled to bits and is hoping to be back with us all next year .

Saturday started in very slow speed and after a full Monty breakfast with pussers sausages (Only cooked on one side) it was off to the town to burn some Plastic, My Bride was very good taking it easy on me considering it was our wedding anniversary, anyway it was back to the Quarterdeck bar for an afternoon session and to watch the Footie.

Bath and doeby and clean into number 1s (Nice to see all the ties and blazers) and off we all went to the Llandaff Institute club for some skylarking and fun.

Steve Fryer was very busy with camera (See web site) and at about 2100 we stopped for nine o'clockers followed by a quick AGM (Postponed from Friday)

No changes my Bride and yours truly have been asked to carry on and the Club swinger Ken Rutherford will go onto the bank account as a back up, it was also decided to hold reunion back at Llandaff next year.

It was at this point I informed everyone that I had secured a permanent loan of the Llandaff Name board and deck plate from the Llandaff Institute club which is great news as I always felt that the association should have them so for safe keeping they now hang on the walls of RNA Uxbridge where I am Chairman for all to see and when ever we hold reunion I will bring them along for the evening .

Following all this we then had our Guest speaker for the evening the last Joss man onboard Trevor Bloom who entertained us all for about 10 minutes with some great ditts , well done Trevor . Next the raffle, thank you to everyone who contributed and that was just about everyone, great fun for about 15 minutes (Same old winners) anyway it raised about £100 to which I stuck behind the bar for everyone to have a wet or two, unfortunately it didn’t last long as I turned around after 45 minutes and it was all gone (Greedy Buggers)

After the raffle we continued with the music and dancing for the rest of the evening (Nice one Chunky for showing Ted Hardcastle how it’s done with his new lady Betty)

2330 Fast backs took us to the Quarterdeck bar for a night cap (Who loaded my cabin number with the bill) Buggers!!!!! My bar chitty was more than the cost of the room!!!!!

I think it was about 0230 pipe down, not too sure about this however once again I struggled to use the swipe card for entering my cabin and myself and Dave Coleman were greeted by my bride trying to carry the newly acquired Deck plate and Name board into the cabin, (Dave decided best to leave at this point )

Sunday morning soon came around and it was Breakfast and a wave goodbye loads of cuddles for another year.

Thanks to everyone who attended and gave myself and my Bride the support that we need if we are to continue to grow from strength to strength.

Here ended the reunion wash up!!!!!

Membership.

Membership continues to grow so keep spreading the word, thanks to everyone at reunion who have paid next years subs it will save me a lot of postage.

Slops.

Not much left at the moment, a few Ties and some Lapel badges , Ties are priced up at £6 each and Lapel Badges are £2 each including postage .

I will place another order for Blazer Badges and Ties soon

Finance

Bank account looking good with most of the slops sold at reunion and with those members paying next years subs in advance we stand at just over £200 in the Kitty.

Quick advert

Ian Brant and his good lady Lesley own a small hotel in Paignton and are happy to give a discount to any Llandaff Member , it has been suggested that we hold a mini reunion at the hotel out of season , They have about nine rooms but are supported by other local hotels if required , your thoughts Gentlemen please , maybe February or March would be a good time ???

Due to quite a few requests I have moved reunion forward one week to October 7^th more details regarding reunion will be with you in January-February, don’t forget to keep an eye on the web site as Ian has added a Forum which can be good fun so all you lot on the internet please get involved