For Your Tomorrow by Harry Moses
A History Of The 2 DLI. This book covers the whole of the period of History from 1919 to 1955, particularly through the eyes of those officers and soldiers who served with the Battalion in peace and war, reinforced with over 50 photographs and 9 maps.
Details from.
The Memoir Club Limited,
Dartmoor Suite,
The Courtyard,
Aryanna ebusiness Centre,
Arya House,
Langley Park,
Durham,
DH7 9XE
Tel: 0191 373 5660
Fax: 0191 373 9652
BRANCH BULLETIN MARCH 2012
17.12 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - AGM
Please find enclosed with this Bulletin the Agenda for the Annual General Meeting of the Executive Committee which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 0 April 2012 in Rifles Durham Office commencing at 1400 hrs. Please ensure that your branch is represented . There are several important items to consider.
18.12 ARMED FORCES DAY = SUNDERLAND TATTOO
Armed Forces Day will be celebrated by the City of Sunderland with a Tattoo which will take place in the open at Sunderland University on Saturday 30 June 2012. The programme will be as follows :
1000 hrs to 1239 Hrs - Rehearsals.
12.30 hrs to 1330 hrs - Lunch Break.
14.30 hrs to 16.30 hrs - Dress rehearsal in front of an Audience.
1745 hrs to 18,30 hrs - Jubilee Medal presentation.
1930hrs to 21.30 hrs - Tattoo.
`The advisor to the event is Major Alistair Hutton OBE, the voice of the Edinburgh Tattoo, and the Deputy Lieutenant taking the lead with the project is Major Eric Ingram MBE. Branches are asked to send their Standard Bearers to this event and advise the Rifles Durham Office if they intend to do so.
19.12 INDOOR GAMES - RAFFLE
Will branches please remember to bring a raffle prize to the Indoor Games which are being held in the RBL Dubmire Club on Sunday 25 March 2012. doors open at 1100 hrs. Please ensure that your Branch name is on the donation. Branches who hold trophies should bring them to the Games, polished and engraved.
20.12 RHQ TRAVEL - NMA ALREWAS
Branches are reminded that the last day for applications for the RHQ travel and accommodation package is 31 March 2012. Bookings have been made by 131 members which leaves only 16 places available. As the timing of the ceremony has been changed to 11.30 am on Sunday 22 July, the ETA back in County Durham will consequently be earlier than originally estimated
21.12 NMA TRAVEL - SUNDERLAND BRANCH
The City of Sunderland Branch is travelling down to Alrewas on Saturday 21st July and has arranged an overnight stay with a return journey being made after the Ceremony on Sunday 22nd July. There are several vacancies on this coach and anyone interested in this as an alternative should contact the Branch Secretary Mr Norman McMahon
22.12 THE LIGHT INFANTRY & RIFLES REUNION - SHREWSBURY
You have been advised that the above Reunion will take place on the 15th & 16th of June in Shrewsbury. Please note that the closing date for application to attend must reach the Rifles Durham Office by 1 May 2012.
23,12 BLAZER FOR SALE
A green blazer size 40-41 has been donated to the Association. It has the recognised DLI badge on the breast pocket and is in good condition - any reasonable offer secures .
24.12 DEATH
The following death has been reported to the Rifles Durham Office since the last Bulletin:
ALAN TODD - 1 DLI KOREA
May he Rest in Peace
Kevin Storey BEM
Secretary
Elvet Waterside
Matthew Richardson. Deeds of Heroes: the story of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1854-1993
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was instituted before the Victoria Cross, and until the honours system was revised in the 1990s, ranked second only to that medal in the order of precedence. There are some extraordinary stories of heroism associated with this decoration, the so-called 'live man's VC', and Matthew's talk will examine some breathtaking accounts of bravery from the Crimea, both World Wars, Australian involvement in Vietnam in the 60s through to Northern Ireland, the Falklands and Gulf wars.
Adult £4.50, Concession £3.50, Children (4-16 years) £2.50
Annual Pass Holders
Adult £2.50, Concession £2.00, Children (4-16 years) £1.50
BRANCH BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2012
9.12 SECURITY - ARBORETUM
The organisers of the Dedication Ceremony on 22 July 2012 have been instructed by the Staffordshire police to ensure that stringent security measures are taken and that the credentials of those attending including those who are making their own travel arrangements, must be clearly recorded to facilitate the issue of “entry passes”. To achieve this Major Paul Wharton MM will be sending out to all branches instructions with a request for the full names and addresses, dates of birth, and where appropriate maiden names of all those attending. Branches may feel that some of the details requested are unnecessary, however, we have raised this issue and have been informed that this is standard procedure and must be complied with.
10.12 TRAVEL TO ARBORETUM - CLOSING DATE
The final date for booking travel arranged by RHQ is 31 March 2012. A deposit of £20 must now be paid with each application. The final payment of £100 plus the £15 single room supplement where appropriate, is requested by 28 May 2012. Please advise all those travelling by RHQ coaches of these dates.
11.12 INDOOR GAMES - REMINDER
Branches have received application forms to take part in the 2012 Indoor Games which will take place on 25 March 2012 in the RBL Dubmire Club at Fencehouses. Please ensure that your application is received at The Rifles Durham Office by 9 March with full payment for the meals ordered.
12.12 MEMORIAL DEDICATION - COMMEMORATION MUG
The Association has commissioned a Commemorative Mug to mark the occasion and it will be available later this year. The mug will have details of the dedication and include on it the Colours and an image of the memorial. A limited edition of 100 is proposed and you may reserve one by advising The Rifles Office on 0191 3865496 - the price is £6.00. each. .
13.12 FOR SALE - GREEN BLAZER
A green blazer with badge has been donated to the Association. It is slightly a lighter green than the traditional DLI blazer, looks like a size 40 and is in good condition. The first £25 secures.
14.12 LIGHT INFANTRY REUNION - 2012
The Light Infantry Reunion will take place on the 15th, 16th and 17th of June in Shrewsbury. Due to some confusion over the Nesscliffe costs there is a need to publish these early to allow those attending to take up the offer or seek other accommodation in time for the Reunion. The charges are:-
Friday evening meal £9.00
B & B Fri/Sat £23.00
B & B Sat/Sun £23.00
Packed Lunch Sun £5.00
These costs include charges for Admin, labour and laundry.
15.12 “FOR YOUR TOMORROW” by HARRY MOSES
Hot off the press, this new work by Harry Moses our Regimental historian is a history of the 2nd Battalion from 1919 to 1955. It has many personal recollections and a brilliant account of the Battle of Kohima . It is in soft-back A5 format and is priced at £14.95. It can be obtained from The Rifles Durham Office and all purchasers will receive a free 2012 pocket diary valued at £2.50.
16.12 DEATHS
The following deaths have been reported The Rifles Durham Office since the last Bulletin:
JAMES LANGAN - 8 DLI WWII
DAVE HOLLOWAY = KSLI/3LI
Lt. COL CECIL ALDER - former C.O. of 6/8 DLI
Mrs CECILY ARNOT - wife of the late Lt. Col. J.A.G. Arnot MC
May They Rest in Peace
Kevin Storey, BEM
Elvet Waterside
Secretary
In 1963, a mop-topped, 38 year-old woman entered the Beatles’ dressing room. She took a few photographs and was about to be thrown out when Ringo Starr intervened: “Oh no! We like her here!” When the woman, Jane Bown from “The Observer”, arrived John Lennon was strumming a guitar, Ringo was sat at a table playing with a pack of cards while McCartney and Harrison talked and remained close to the warmth of the Ascot water heater. By the 1960s Jane Bown had developed a style of approach to her subjects that was non-intrusive and friendly, especially after the customary “Observer” lunch. Study most of her portraits and only a few look her straight in the eye. A very young, smooth-face Boy George looks out of the frame, coyly. Not so Becket! Arriving at the Royal Court Theatre, Jane Bown waited and waited. Becket eventually sent her a message saying he was going and the photo-shoot was cancelled. Somewhat angry, Jane Bown raced to the stage door. When Becket emerged from the dark tunnel into the daylight Jane forced him to stop and managed to make 5 frames before he stomped off.
Born in 1925, after war service Jane Bown studied photography at Guildford College. Using a second-hand Rolleiflex she went to photograph Bertrand Russell for her first paid-for and commissioned photograph for the “Observer” Newspaper. This was in 1949 and without a break she has been photographing at the behest of the picture editors of “The Observer” ever since. For the past 40 years she has relied on her Olympus OM-1 and black and white film. Carrying all her equipment (the camera!) in a shopping bag she arrives often at the subject’s home or place of work and manoeuvres them to a position near a window. Using only natural light (though occasionally “borrowing” the editor’s Angle-poise for highlights) Jane eschews even a reflector.
The selection of 40 portraits on display at the DLI includes a rear-view of the late Labour leader Hugh Gateskell walking along the sea front during a Labour Party Conference. His companion is the tall Aneurin Bevan. The image is reminiscent of a monochrome Morecambe and Wise (or an Austerity-suited “Little and Large”). There are well-known actors and politicians, authors and artists. Both Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon stare out at you, angered, perhaps, by the intrusion. Orson Wells adopts a similar, challenging pose that he tried out on Robert Doisneau back in the late 1940s, the luminous Lauren Bacall is caught full of joy and that inner beauty she exudes while Eartha Kitt lets slip the outer shell and reveals a truer self. Some of the images are painful in their honesty and the humanity they capture while others are just full of humour and common sense.
In past exhibitions these photographs have been placed side-by-side and on top of each other: a veritable wall of faces. Thankfully, the staff at the DLI has placed a space for thought and reflection between each image. The low-ceilinged rooms with their starkness are the perfect ambience for time spent with Jane’s work. Well-lit and of a good size you are seduced into the sittings. However, whether deliberate or not the arrangement does mean you can see the reflection of one next to the face of another. Margaret Thatcher is opposite Her Majesty and the one intrudes upon the other:
There are other strange combinations, such as Anthony Burgess and Lord Longford:
Of all the images the one that haunts me the most and I find the most revealing is the capture of the Welsh poet RS Thomas as he stands, looking lost, at the base of a mountain of slate slag. The look in Thomas’s face explains the lilt and shape of so many of his poems.
For any ardent photographer or anyone interested in human nature this is an exhibition not to be missed. If, however, attending is impossible then why not buy the book: “Exposure” by Jane Bown and celebrate the work of an eccentric but a master of her craft who has one guiding philosophy: keep it simple and stick to what you know!
John Cogan
Durham Photographic Society
Jane Bown “Exposures” is on at the DLI Museum Art Gallery until Sunday 19th February
Local author John Sheen has unrivalled knowledge of the movements and actions of DLI Battalions in the First World War and here he discusses his research into the 12th and 13th Battalions of the DLI. This covers the raising and training of the two battalions that served in 68 Brigade of the famous 23rd Division, as well as their time in France, on the Somme in 1916 and at Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917, before moving to the Italian Front.
Tickets (normal admission cost also applies)
Adult £4.50, Concession £3.50, Children (4-16 years) £2.50
Annual Pass Holders
Adult £2.50, Concession £2.00, Children (4-16 years) £1.50
Tickets can be bought in advance from the DLI shop or by calling 0191 384 2214.
BRANCH BULLETIN JANUARY 2012
1.12 NOEL HEDLEY
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Noel Hedley would they please contact Mr Donald Lowther on 0191 2668119 with details. Noel was a National Service bugler with the DLI and was a member of the Army Cadet Force and was from the Low Fell area.
2.12 SUNDERLAND BRANCH – ALREWAS COACH
The City of Sunderland Branch is organizing a coach for the dedication ceremony at Alrewas on 22 July. This coach departs on Saturday 21st of July and returns on Sunday 22nd July. One night in a Hotel with breakfast. For more information contact the Branch Secretary Norman McMahon
3.12 SUNDERLAND DOGS – FREE NIGHT OUT
The Rifles Durham Office is holding a number of complimentary tickets for this FREE night out at Sunderland dogs on Wednesday 8 February. FREE admission, 1 FREE drink and FREE Pie and Peas supper.
4.12 DIARIES & PEN-SCREWDRIVERS
The Rifles Durham Office has two new items of stock available. A good quality pocket diary/year-planner plus a unique pen which contains several inter- changeable screw-driver heads. Price £2.50 each.
5.12 INDOOR GAMES 2012
Enclosed with this Bulletin is an application to participate in this years Indoor Games which are scheduled to take place on Sunday 25 March 2012 in the RBL Dubmire Club at Fencehouses, Houghton Le Spring. Please return the completed form in accordance with the instructions thereon to the Secretary at The Rifles Durham Office by Friday 9 March.
6.12 BRANCH ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Will Branch Treasurers please ensure that branch Annual Financial Statements are sent to the Rifles Durham Office as soon as possible after the Branch AGM has been held.
7.12 NATIONAL ARBORETUM – TRANSPORT & ACCOMMODATION
Branches are in receipt of the centrally organized transport and Accommodation package for attendance at the Dedication Ceremony of the DLI Memorial at the National Arboretum in Alrewas Staffordshire. It is a week-end package of two night’s accommodation with half-board at The Britannia Hotel in Coventry. Travel by Executive Coach on Friday 20 July to Coventry which is about 30 miles from the Arboretum, use of the coach on the Saturday and return after the Dedication Ceremony on Sunday 22nd July.
The price before subsidy is £120 per person Please complete the tear-off slip on the booking form and return to The Secretary, Rifles Durham Office, as soon as possible but no later than 15 February – a deposit of £20 per person is required by 21 February or earlier.
8.12 DEATHS
The following deaths have been notified to The Rifles Durham Office since the last Bulletin:
ROY (JACKO) JACKSON – 1ST, 2ND & 9TH DLI
STANLEY RHODES = - 1 DLI, KOREA
May they Rest in Peace
Kevin Storey, BEM
Secretary
Elvet Waterside
