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The meeting was
attended by 54 members and proceedings opened by our
Chairman Jim Husband who then introduced the members
of the committee. The chairman read out the roll of
honour this was followed by a minute’s silence, then
our President, Major General Peter Baldwin recited the
Act of remembrance as the Langeleben standard was
lowered by bearer Tom Neal.
APOLOGIES:
The Secretary Ernie Callaghan issued apologies of
those members who for various reasons were unable to
attend.
MINUTES OF 17th AGM:
The minutes of the 17th AGM previously handed out for
the benefit of attending members and published on our
website were accepted by the floor after a proposal by
Steve Vaughan and seconded by Dave Whittaker.
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS:
Major General Peter Baldwin, in his usual good form,
welcomed all and marvelled at the uniqueness of our
close knit association and that of our cousin the BVA.
He knows of no other military group or association
that can match our achievements. Most of his news in
reference to the Royal Signals was about withdrawals
and expected cuts in numbers and equipment.
TREASURERS REPORT:
Our Treasurer Gerry Kane issued a detailed report on
the branch’s current financial situation which showed
a healthy balance, mainly due to the committee’s
prudence and generous donations from our members.
Acceptance of the financial report was proposed by Ray
Armstrong, seconded by John Rosson and accepted by the
floor. Gerry asked that attending members paid him the
monies for the ordered events at the end of the AGM.
The Secretary Ernie Callaghan gave a report which is
shown as a separate item below.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS:
Our President Major General Peter Baldwin had
previously indicated to the committee that it would be
prudent if we were to elect a Vice President to cover
for him in the event of his future non attendance for
age and health reasons, after discussion member Rod
Goddard was proposed as Vice President by Stuart
McLeod and seconded by Ken Vipond, unopposed Rod was
accepted by the members and we welcome his appointment
as a member of the committee. The Secretary then
advised members that the current committee were
prepared to continue for the next year but as the
average age of the of the present incumbents was
approx. 77 years perhaps it would be a good idea to
select a shadow committee to cover the remaining
incumbents so as to ensure uninterrupted continuance
of the Langeleben reunion branch.
2012 REUNION:
It was agreed that our reunion in 2012 be held at
Burleigh Court Loughborough at our usual slot at the
end of May, (subject to acceptable pricing and
availability) The meeting closed at 1235 hours.
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SECRETARY'S
REPORT.
Good morning all, this is going to be a shorter report
than usual as you are now kept fully up to date in our
newsletters.
(I hope you are all receiving your copies, those of
you that are not could you please give me your names
after this meeting).
We have some 74 members and guests attending this
reunion weekend, obviously down on two years ago, all
of you who attended in 2009 know what a special
reunion that was and what a hard act it is to follow.
Considering the economic situation and our ageing
membership we still have a remarkable turnout this
year and we thank you all for coming.
I have to announce the resignation of our assistant
secretary John Richardson who felt that he was under-
employed and that his position was intended for the
2009 memorial reunion only. John did an excellent job
on that occasion; the success of that memorable
weekend was mainly due to the planning and effort that
John put in on our behalf and we, the committee, are
eternally grateful. John thankfully will continue to
be our representative and liaison at the German end.
I would like to take this opportunity to formally
thank our talented editor Marlene Brooks for the great
work that she does for us in producing a readable and
entertaining newsletter, we do need more input from
you our members, more articles please, just small
pieces, photos, reminiscences of your times at
Langeleben or looking for long lost army pals: just
200-250 words would be great.
I would also like to thank our webmaster Tom Perkin
for the time and effort he puts in to produce and
maintain our excellent Langeleben website, we are
grateful to them both.
Since the last AGM in 2010 held at Loughborough we
have enlisted seventeen new members, the last one
being member number 502. We now have 436 live members
and the membership is still growing, again mainly
thanks to our website.
You should have all received the Itinerary for the
weekend and as you can see it is fairly packed,
especially for those of you that are going on the
Eastern zone trip on Sunday morning and also attending
the Sunday evening BBQ. For those of you not going on
the coach trip on Sunday the hotel does do a very good
brunch from 1100-1400 at a cost of 11 Euros per person
which you can charge to your room account, please book
to reserve at reception sometime today.
Over the weekend you should still be able to find time
to look around town and perhaps pay a visit to
Langeleben and check on our commemorative stone,
especially those of you that have not yet seen it.
Monies for the booked events should be paid to Gerry
Kane at the end of this meeting, please also sign the
attendance book on the way out.
I hope the weather keeps fine for us and that you all
enjoy your weekend.
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