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.................................................................................................................................The next Fandance is Sat 18th May 2024......................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................TO PAY YOUR MEMBERSHIP FEES .....................................................................................................................................Please set up a STANDING ORDER to: ............................................................................................................................... Lloyds Bank Sort code: 30-90-09 a\c No: 30516068
Having taken into account the current COVID restrictions that currently apply in the different parts of the UK, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 reunion.
The Chairman Nick Butler will be heading up the Fan at 0930 hrs on Saturday the 15th May and he will lay a BAFC wreath on behalf of the Club at the summit.
He will also toast The Fallen.
If other members wish to make their own pilgrimage up the Fan at their own risk please follow the relevant COVID restrictions that will be in place.
As a Club we are not able to accept liability for members safety and well being over the weekend of 14/15 May. Our Clubs insurance that normally covers Fandance will not operate this year.
Update to follow reference Aldershot 10 Miler on the 20th November 2021.
.........................................................................................................................The 10 Miler will be held on w/e Saturday 23rd November 2024........................................................................................
They went down in the Debit Column as the cost of doing business as an Empire I suppose. I wonder how many Swiss and Swedish War Cemeteries and memorials there are scattered around the globe
Good job I don't win the lottery, I'd bring them all home..............Haifa is the most inexcessible place in the world at the moment, an thankfully noone has desecrated the graves yet. I know the CWGC supervisor there and he does a great job
Think I have said this before (senility!) but on holiday in Cyprus, drove over to Nicosia and went to the cemetery there just outside of our (1 Para) camp. You went for breakfast when there were burials taking place a few yards away. We had to be accompanied to the cemetery by UN (Brit) soldiers because it borders on the Turkish line. Cemetery was appalling, litter and shit all over the place, there was another party of Brits also at the cemetery and we agreed to do a tidy up for a hour. Lads buried in the worlds shit-holes, sent there by mindless and spineless t**ts, then totally forgotten even by the War Graves lot it seemed. The Brit soldiers with us were appalled, they said that they did not know that the cemetery was there and (bunch of Toms) they said they would make a point of visiting every couple of weeks and tidy the place up. Restores your faith in the Tom. They also said that when they 'rotate' and leave the lads coming in would be told to visit the cemetery, so the fallen are not forgotten by the people who really matter, fellow soldiers. RIP
Dave,
Not really mate went to both last year, tracing two missing lads who they had buried there but weren't. All in Pegesus journal a couple of investigations on behalf of the CWGC now completed and the lads "officially" buried in the UK where they were repatriated in the 50's by their parents, not in the sand pit of Cyprus or Silent Valley.
Cyprus is great but a few restrictions on visiting which "pisses" off the Turks, if you go wear your maroon machine they hate it!!
Silent Valley is attacked weekly as is Maala Town British Cemetery, by the lovers of Allah...........don't think thats the same God as mine!!!
Attacked weekly ???? Bloody hell. Like that vid on You Tube of those Salafists in Tripoli or Benghazi (?) yanking those head stones and attacking the cross with a sledgehammer. The blokes were vunerable at the end of their life. Which is why they are there. They are now vunerable for all time. Out on a limb forever. Wonder how much money it would take to get every single one home. Maybe do one big cemetery up on the moors or the Penines. Or maybe one in each county where they came from ? Gil does anybody know how many there are all told ?
From my time out there, I know that Colin Carver and Quinny were repatriated at the behest of their families but Mac. still lies in Silent Valley still holding the ground for 1 Para since 1967. RIP Lads. "Utrinque Paratus!"
Think I have said this before (senility!) but on holiday in Cyprus, drove over to Nicosia and went to the cemetery there just outside of our (1 Para) camp. You went for breakfast when there were burials taking place a few yards away. We had to be accompanied to the cemetery by UN (Brit) soldiers because it borders on the Turkish line. Cemetery was appalling, litter and shit all over the place, there was another party of Brits also at the cemetery and we agreed to do a tidy up for a hour. Lads buried in the worlds shit-holes, sent there by mindless and spineless t**ts, then totally forgotten even by the War Graves lot it seemed. The Brit soldiers with us were appalled, they said that they did not know that the cemetery was there and (bunch of Toms) they said they would make a point of visiting every couple of weeks and tidy the place up. Restores your faith in the Tom. They also said that when they 'rotate' and leave the lads coming in would be told to visit the cemetery, so the fallen are not forgotten by the people who really matter, fellow soldiers. RIP
I have to say, I was there on Remembrance Day 2016, and hope things haven't gone to pot. Things had changed "in my view" and I met the groundsmen too in the hut next to the Cross Of Sacrifice. I have a letter from the CWWG informing me that EVERY British unit or Commonwealth unit coming in for the UN tour has one CSM allocated to the visits at the Cemetery. He is also in charge of all things WAYNES KEEP Cemetery including litter picks.
Did you go after 2016?
Added.............Sorry mate missed your original question. Yes the total is known but sadly can't be relied upon, becaase of desecration and poorly signed British Cemeteries that have been badly serviced by CWWG personel who have had to move out such as Benghazi due to threats to their lives, and things will get back to normal hopefully when things settle down a bit.
I have to say, I was there on Remembrance Day 2016, and hope things haven't gone to pot. Things had changed "in my view" and I met the groundsmen too in the hut next to the Cross Of Sacrifice. I have a letter from the CWWG informing me that EVERY British unit or Commonwealth unit coming in for the UN tour has one CSM allocated to the visits at the Cemetery. He is also in charge of all things WAYNES KEEP Cemetery including litter picks.
Did you go after 2016?
Added.............Sorry mate missed your original question. Yes the total is known but sadly can't be relied upon, becaase of desecration and poorly signed British Cemeteries that have been badly serviced by CWWG personel who have had to move out such as Benghazi due to threats to their lives, and things will get back to normal hopefully when things settle down a bit.
Visited a number of years ago, so glad to hear that things have improved. When I came back I wrote to CWWG to describe the conditions at Waynes Keep, also reminded them the soldiers serving nearby at the time were a credit to the Brit army.
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