MINUTES OF THE 28^TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

held on

Tuesday 7^th September 2021

at

QUORN GRANGE HOTEL, LOUGHBOROUGH

• President: Maj Gen Tim Inshaw CB
• Chairman: Rod Goddard MBE
• Treasurer: Stephen “Farmer” Vaughan
• Secretary: Charlie  Charlesworth
• “Our Man in UK” Dick Pickup

APOLOGIES

MINUTES OF THE 27^TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The minutes of the 27th Annual General Meeting (held online due to Covid-19 lockdown) had previously been circulated on the branch website. Tom Allum proposed and Peter Ellis seconded that the minutes were a true reflection of proceedings of that online meeting.

MATTERS ARISING

It had been reported that there were no matters arising but Gerry Kane raised the issue of the ‘misplaced’ Attendance Book. This had still not come to light, the Secretary had failed to obtain a replacement and committed to purchase a new one in time for the next reunion.

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

Tim Inshaw said how good it was to see everyone present. His address spoke of the gradual erosion of manning levels in the British Army by successive Governments since 1948, when the level stood at 937,000, up until the present day with an announcement by the present Government that the Army would be reduced from its current level of 82,000 to 72,000 (and 30,000 Reservists) with details to follow.

He put this into context; 72,000 was smaller that both the French and Italian Armies; that 62,000 casualties were suffered by the British Army in the first eight hours of the Battle of the Somme; 20,000 troops were deployed in Northern Ireland during The Troubles and 40,000 during Op Granby (removing Saddam Hussain from Kuwait).

While the Defence Budget remained huge, the majority was spent on the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, ignoring the fact that only soldiers can hold ground and interact with people in areas of operation. Despite the fact that women were now able to join all parts of the Army, recruitment was poor to the extent that the Royal Signals had to man 12% of its post with Gurkhas.

The type of work carried out a Langeleben - Electronic Warfare and Signals Intelligence -continued to grow in importance and is now known as Cyber Warfare. Both the Royal Signals and Intelligence Corps had embraced Cyber Warfare and had changed their structures accordingly, incorporating both 13 and 14 Signal Regiments into the orbat. The Intelligence Corps had been recognised as the 5^th STEM cap badge (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) and would have a number of sponsored officers recruited with Data Analytics and Cyber skills. Both the Royal Signals and Intelligence Corps would look to Reservists with deep technical skills essential to Cyber Warfare, the activity of which is growing at a pace.

The President therefore felt that the Royal Signals and Intelligence Corps were in good shape and, given the rising importance of Cyber Warfare in today’s world, was hopeful that the reduction in manning levels from 82,000 to 72,000 would not impact too greatly on either Corps. He also paid tribute to the support given to both Corps by the Royal Logistics Corps and REME without whom things would grind to a halt.

Moving on, the President made mention that 2020 had been the Centenary year for the Royal Signals. Many exciting events had been planned and organised, the majority of which had had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. However some events did take place including a Memorial Service in Salisbury Cathedral attended by the Corps Colonel-in-Chief, the Princess Royal, a few sporting tours, and some adventure training exercises. “Roger so Far” (a potted history of the Corps over the past 100 years) had also been published and he paid particular reference to a very well written article on page 128 about Langeleben.

The President then went on to tell of a time, while serving in Northern Ireland, when he had met a WO1 and formed the opinion that he was a “good bloke” – dead straight, conscientious and good company. Some 30 years later they met again and the “good bloke” recruited him to the Langeleben Reunion Association. That “good bloke” was, of course, the outgoing Chairman, Rod Goddard. Tim thanked Rod for leading the Association so ably as Vice President and Chairman for many years, for seeing him in and supporting him as President and for remaining as Vice President, as every President needed a “good bloke” for support.

Finally he said how wonderful it was to see so many members at the Reunion, evidence that the Reunion was something special and, if he could find and bottle what made it so, he would be a rich man. He felt that the Association had many more years left to run.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The chairman said that it had been an honour and a pleasure to have been the Association’s Chairman for 7 years. He thanked all of the committee members both past and present for their commitment to the Reunion. He felt that having Tim and Sally Inshaw now involved had given the Association a real boost with their energy and vitality. He also thanked members and their partners for their continued support, not only during his tenure as Chairman, but for the 29 years of the existence of the Association. He finally thanked Chris Jones for stepping into the role of Chairman and felt sure that, with him in the chair, the Association would continue to thrive.

TREASURER’S REPORT

The Accounts for the year September 2020 – August 2021 had been audited by Richard Anscombe, Property Solutions and were distributed to all in attendance. He reported that there had been routine expenditure over that time, some income from new membership, the sale of ties and two donations. £1,000 would be transferred from the reserve to the current account to cover the costs of the reunion.

SECRETARY’S REPORT

The Secretary thanked:

• Chris Jones as Editor of the Listening Post
  
• The “Buddies” who continue to send out hard copies of the Listening Post to members not on e-mail
  
• Dick Pickup for organising the reunion with the hotel
  
• John Richardson for having partly organising the aborted 2020 reunion in Konigslutter
  
• The outgoing Chairman, Rod Goddard, for leading the Association over the past 7 years
  
• Horst Funke for very generously sending some money in order to buy a raffle prize for the reunion. He would be missed at the reunion.
  

He then went on to say that in 1998 Tom Perkin had started the Langeleben Reunion website with just one page and three images. He felt that the Association would not be what it is today without the website. Now, 23 years later, he had handed over the running of the website to Chris Jones. In appreciation, the President presented Tom with a gift

£60.00 had been spent in refurbishing the Langeleben Reunion bench at the National Memorial Arboretum in readiness for the Royal Signals Remembrance Day.

He welcomed new member ANDY HUNTER, REME - 1977-81

Total membership now stands at 308.

Finally he thanked Dave Thomas for standing in as Standard Bearer in Robbie McCallum’s absence.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The Treasurer, Stephen “Farmer” Vaughan had agreed to continue

The Secretary, Charlie Charlesworth, had agreed to continue for another year and asked that members consider whether they would be in a position to take on the role.

The outgoing Chairman, Rod Goddard, stated that Chris Jones had agreed to stand and his appointment was unanimous.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Chairman raised the fact that Chris Jones would now be taking on three roles for the Association: Chairman, Listening Post Editor and Webmaster. He acknowledged that Chris was doing an exceptional job with the Listening Post and felt sure that he would be equally remarkable as Chairman and Webmaster. However, he questioned whether it was acceptable to place so much responsibility onto one person. He therefore put out a plea for someone else, either a member or someone known to a member, who might take on the role as Listening Post Editor.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 1035 hrs.