Sacriston WW1 event

“The Sacriston Heritage Group asked me last year, as it was the commemoration of the beginning of WW1, could we do something for this years event. Billy Gray and I together with Janet Bradley got our heads together and came up with the idea of a map of the village of SACRISTON for the year 1914 to show the home locations of soldiers who had volunteered. We also had electronic copies of the Chester-le-Street Chronicle showing many pictures of the men and cuttings from the paper referring to their letters, and public notices of the wounded, deaths and POW’s etc, these we have reproduced and made them into laminated cuttings for the display boards. We have also made a ‘Power Point Presentation’ of many of the pictures of the men, which runs for nearly fifteen minutes, many of who were in the 8 DLI as well as other units recruited in the county.

The launch will be at Sacriston Workingmen’s Club on Tuesday 30 June at 1 PM followed by the Heritage Day on the 4 July and then in churches and schools in the village.”

Ralph Harrison

The Durham Light Infantry Association

Monthly Bulletin June 2015

DLI Executive Meeting – took take place on Wednesday 10 June 2015 at 1400 hrs at the Rifles (Durham) Office. Branches should have received copies of the minutes by now.

1. The Secretary has concerns that not all branches of the Association were represented at the meeting on 10 June 2015. Branch Secretaries are asked to do their best to ensure that they have a representative at Executive meetings. Important business is transacted there and if branches have no representative present they cannot contribute to decisions made.

2. A decision was made to make a financial donation of £100 to Colin Laverick of the Consett and Stanley Branch who represented the Durham Light Infantry at the Ceremony in Sint Joost.

44. 30 000^th PLAYING OF THE LAST POST AT THE MENIN GATE, IEPER (YPRES) IN BELGIUM

    1. Secretaries are reminded that they were asked to inform the Association Secretaries of the numbers of their members who are attending commemorative broadcasts of this ceremony at various locations in the county. (Consett, Darlington, Durham, Peterlee, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor). It is hoped that as many branch standards as possible will parade at the Durham Community Fire Station at Lanchester Road, Durham. As the ceremony takes place on 9 July it is important that information about attendance is received as soon as possible so that the information can be sent on to the locations.

44. LIGHT INFANTRY REUNION – Fri 5 - Sat 6 June 2015

    1. The Light Infantry Reunion was held this year at the Greenhous Meadow Stadium, Shrewsbury on 5 & 6 June 2015.

    2. Attendance figures showed that around 2800 members attended.

    3. There were some teething problems as might be expected the first time a new facility is used but in general the location was acceptable.

    4. The Association of Light Infantry and Rifles Buglers played their part in the ceremony and gave a very good account of

    5. The date for the Annual Reunion of the Light Infantry in 2016 has been published as 17 and 18 June.

44. DLI ASSOCIATION DRAW TICKETS 2015

    1. DLI Association Draw Tickets (Initially 25 books for each branch) were made available to Branch Secretaries at the DLI Executive Committee Meeting.

    2. Major Association events depend very much for their finance on sales of these tickets. Further tickets, if required, will be available from the Admin Officer, Shirley Nicholson.

    3. Some draw tickets remain to be collected by branches who were unrepresented at the meeting.

    4. Branch Secretaries who are aware of any tickets allocated to them which they feel they have little chance of selling should be returned to the Rifles Office as soon as possible.

44. FINAL ISSUE OF THE DURHAM BUGLE

    1. Packs of the final edition (No 30) of the Durham Bugle in its present form were placed for collection by branch secretaries from the Rifles Office, Durham.

    2. Each copy of the Durham Bugle was accompanied by a letter from the Chairman explaining the circumstances behind the ending of the Durham Bugle in this form. Major Mike Van der Gucht is continuing with the Durham Bugle title as a newsletter which will be published around 6 times a year. It will deal with current events. He looks for your support in this venture.

44. BLIND VETERANS UK

    1. General Sir Peter de la Billiere, a former DLI Officer and Commander of British Forces in the first Gulf War is encouraging as many veterans who feel they would like to do so to contribute to Blind Veterans UK, to support former servicemen and women who have been blinded as a result of their military service. Further details of the ways that contributions can be made will be emailed to branches shortly.

    2. It is a worthy cause and it is hoped that members of the DLI Association can support General Sir Peter in his work.

44. VC COMMEMORATIVE STONES

    1. The VC commemorative stones which will celebrate the award of the Victoria Cross to all British soldiers are being distributed to local authorities at the present time. There are a significant number of these to be placed within the boundaries of the former County of Durham, not all of them commemorating DLI soldiers.

    2. Arrangements are currently being made by local authorities, family members and military representatives as to how and where they will be placed in each area. Association Branches will certainly be able to play a part in the ceremonies of commemoration. Branches will be kept in the picture.

44. DEATHS REPORTED

    1. These death have been reported to the Rifles Office since the publication of last month’s bulletin.

William ‘Billy’ Waites died 14 April 2015 aged 84. Billy served with 1^st Bn DLI in Dec 1951 in the Assault Pioneer Platoon. He also served in Korea 1952-1953, transferring into the 8^th Bn in Jan 1954.He was a member of Houghton-le-Spring Branch DLI Association.

Brian Shaw, died 1 June 2015 Served with 1DLI & later with the Military Police.

Albert Hawkes died 16 June 2015. Served with SCLI in the Recce Pl

May They Rest in Peace

Elvet Waterside

Durham

26 June 2015

Military Talk: The War Behind the Wire

June 20th at 2pm. John Lewis-Stempel

Author and historian, John Lewis-Stempel returns to the DLI to talk about his new book 'The War Behind the Wire.' He reveals the last untold story of the First World War: the fortunes and fates of British prisoners of war. For the captured soldiers the war was far from ‘over’ as they exchanged one barbed-wire battleground for another.

Tickets £3.50 plus admission, available now from the DLI Shop or by calling us on 03000 266590.

Western Front Association Talk

The next meeting of the Western Front Association takes place on Tuesday 16^th June, at the Royal Navy Club, William Street, Stockton, commencing at 8.00pm.

The talk is titled:

The Battle of Waterloo

Our speaker is Professor John Derry who well known to the branch for his highly knowledgeable and informative talks. The Battle of Waterloo is one of his areas of expertise and his talk will be almost 200 years since the actual battle.

A small buffet is included. Suggested Donation is £3.00.

Brass Band Concerts

Brass Band Concerts at the
DLI Museum & Art Gallery

Summer Sundays from 7th June

Our series of Sunday afternoon brass bands concerts begin at 2pm this Sunday at the DLI with the NASUWT Riverside Concert Band. Come along and hear some of the region's finest brass bands perform in the beautiful grounds of the DLI Museum and Art Gallery. On Sunday 5 July we will be hosting the Durham County Brass Band Association Contest, from 10.30am with performances all day long.
The DLI Café will be open throughout the afternoons serving light refreshments and delicious ice-creams from Doddington's Dairy.

• Sunday 7 June - NASUWT Riverside Concert Band
• Sunday 14 June - The Gala Big Band
• Sunday 21 June - Pittington Brass
• Sunday 5 July - DCBBA Entertainment Contest (all day from 10.30am)
• Sunday 19 July - Craghead Colliery Band
• Sunday 26 July - Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band

Each concert is free and begins at 2.00pm.