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Stirling event 2005/London Event 2006
The special weekend which had been the subject of almost 18 months of organising finally arrived and on Friday the 23rd veterans from all over the country began to arrive in Stirling for this very special gathering. The venue was the Golden Lion Hotel which although fully booked,local guest houses and hotels were able to cope with the over flow. This was a "meet and greet" day with veterans renewing friendships or making new ones with veterans of the Korean War which took place over 50 years ago. As the evening wore on and the Water of Life flowed freely many memories were recalled and stories of the forgotten war the topic of many discussions. It was great to have so many veterans in one place and to listen to and join in the stories that took many of us back to those long gone war days. Saturday the 24th dawned with the prospect of a fine sunny day with some strong winds, ideal for the proposed trip to the BKVA Memorial gardens. For this excursion the coach that had transported the members of the Northeast Scotland Branch to the event was laid on to take all that desired to these very special memorial gardens. Captain Lee, the Korean Defence Attache, Col George Gadd, and other members of the National Council, together with their wives, laid wreaths in honour of fallen comrades to the strains of "Flowers of the Forest" played by Arthur Campbell the Northeast Scotland Branch piper. Those that did not wish to take part in this visit were able to explore the delights of Stirling whilst others needed to attend a rehearsal in the Holy Rude Church. The main colours, Queens Colour, Northeast Scotland Branch Standard and the BKVA National Standard were well rehearsed by WOII Paul Patterson and WOII Alan Webb so as to ensure that there would be no hitches during the service on Sunday. Liz Clayton our standard bearer and also the soloist in the service at which she would sing the Offertory Anthem, Panis Angelica, and Eleanor Rose Cousins the grandaughter of David Drinkwater, who would read the poem Absent Veterans by DUR Lidstone, both required to rehearse to ensure perfection on the day. Eleanor, with her mother, had travelled from the Doncaster area, a distance of over 140 miles this very morning. With all rehearsals completed to the satisfaction of all concerned and the return of the memorial gardens party, the time rapidly came whereby members began to gather in the anti room of the Regency Suite where the banquet meal would be served. The room was resplendent with colourful decorations, table layout was superb with alternate red and blue serviettes, plus three pronged candelabras, making the room very special. At approximately 7.00pm with over 140 veterans and wives sated our Branch piper piped in our Branch President and Chairman and with Grace being said by the Rev Peter Donald the meal commenced. What a splendid meal it was and enjoyed by all concerned. Our special guests included Provost Colin O'Brien, Captain Lee the Korean Defence Attache,Lt Col James Stirling CBE recently retired Lord Lieutenant of Stirling, Air Vice Marshal George Chesworth CB.OBE.DFC recently retired Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Andrew Cameron the Chief Constable,Lt Col Campbell CO 51st Highland Regt, Wing Commander Phil Beach MBE CO 43 Squadron, Lt Col J A Harrison MBE MC, Commander D Troop 120 Mortar Battery in Korea and Eric Munro National Chairman Royal British Legion Scotland. Speeches were given By Col George Gadd, Provost O'Brien, Capt Lee and Andrew Brown. Following the meal music for dancing was provided by Tom Duncan and his ceilidh band with special enteraintment from 4 very excellent pipers who were dressed in full highland attire and raised the roof with their playing of a selection of pipe music. A brief summary was given of the tremendous effort shown by Tabby Angier in helping to organise this event plus previous commemorative events for the Korean Veterans - as well as all the charity work that she has done over the years. In recognition of her work she was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation By George Gadd from the National Council. Publicity was given to the CD The Thistle and the Poppy, (Copies still available), and Andrew Brown's book From Music to Wars, (still available). The liqid refreshment flowed freely and the dancing a real pleasure to see; such energy from elderly veterans not to mention that Andrew Brown at 90 yrs young was not behind in getting on the floor. It was a great pleasure to have been in such good company in such a splendid setting on such a special occasion. But like all good things it had to come to an end. We needed to retain some energy for the demands that would be upon us on the morrow.
Sunday the 25th, sadly the weather was not kind to us, dull,cold and rainy. However we were not deterred and with a splendid breakfast inside us we made our way up to the Esplanade just below the Castle to begin the complex proceedure of forming up the parade, a responsibility so well dealt with by RSM Athol Stewart and his very able assistanat. It had been anticipated that the short march to the Holy Rude Church would begin at 10.30am but in view of the adverse weather conditions it was considered prudent to set off earlier so that at least we would have the shelter of the church from the torrential rain that was now falling. The Holy Rude Church that has such a special place in the history of Scotland was a perfect place in which to hold our service of remembrance, it is an awesome place of worship and possesses one of the finest organs in the world, having experienced its power, of that I have no doubt. The choir are magnificent and so professional. With the Colours laid and the remaining Standards strategically placed in the Church the assembled congregation were to be blessed with a service conducted by the Rev Morris Coull with such passion and feeling that I doubt if many had experienced such perfection before. The service which had been subject to discussion between our Branch and the church resulted in the production of an impressive sheet being produced by the church at no cost to us. Its contents, hymns and prayers, plus the readings by Andrew Brown, Provost O'Brien and George Gadd, the singing of the anthem by Liz Clayton and the reading of the poem by Eleanor Rose were all so very special. Perhaps the poignant part of the service was the Pipe Major dressed in all the splendour and magnificence expected of such a dedicated and skilled Scotsman slowly moving through the Church playing the lament "Lochaber no More" as was played in the service of commemoratation in 1953 by the Black Watch in memory of fallen comerades in the UN cemetary in Pusan. I have no doubt that many a member of the congregation had a tear in their eye at the splendour and magnificence of it all, so fitting was it for such a special occasion. Following the servcie and in better weather conditions the parade formed up and again led by the very special pipe band marched down into Stirling to the Cenotaph with the salute being taken by the Provost on the way. At the Cenotaph the Rev Peter Donald conducted a short service prior to the laying of wreaths by the provost on behalf of Stirling City Council, the Korean Defence Attache, the high ranking persons on parade and other veterans on behalf of all arms of the services. This special mark of remembrance heralded the end of the Military event organised by the Northeast Scotland Branch of the BKVA, except that in the Golden Lion Hotel the Stirling City Council honoured us by providing a splendid buffet much to the enjoyment of all. Although the military event had been concluded our piper Arthur Campbell, who this time armed with his accordian and other items of equipment from which all manner of sounds could be produced, entertained us with some splendid melodies for futher dancing during the evening. Tabby Angier showed us her unending skill and versatiliy by entertaining us on the pipes. Liz Clayton officially handed back the Branch Standard to Chairman David Weir and so what had been a mammoth task some 18 months earlier was concluded, and I know that I speak for Tabby and Adam without whose support and valuable help the event would not have been possible. It was a great pleasure to have been instrumental in bringing so many veterans from all corners of the country together in one place and such comments on the Monday morning as "Shall we book again now for next year" or "Same again next year" made all the problems and frustrations experienced during the organising period seem so insignificant. From the many letters of thanks and congratulations it was quite obvious that the week end had been a tremendous success. It was of course all placed on VHS Video or DVD by Stirling Video Services with copies in either format still available at a price of £11.00 per copy.
These are the words of David A Drinkwater the Secretary of the Northeast Scotland Branch BKVA who was, and is proud to be, associated with such a fine body of veterans.
Standards on parade under the control of WOII Paul Patterson. |  |
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David Drinkwater, Tabby Angier (organisers) and other veterans
| Prelude to the march to the Church of the Holy Rude. |  |
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The Veterans begin to assemble
| Veterans from many Branches begin to form up in preperation for the march. |  |
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The Off
| The pipes and drums of 51st Highland Regt lead the parade to the Church of the Holy Rude. |  |
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Consultation with the Authorities
| David Drinkwater and RSM Athol Stewart discuss proceedures for the event with a Police Inspector. |  |
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We Remember Them
| The oldest man on parade. Lt Col Andrew Brown MBE.MID President of the Northeast Scotland Branch BKVA 90 years of age, next to Wing Commander Phil Beech MBE Squadron Commander 43 Fighter Squadron RAF Leuchars, next the Air Vice Marshal George Chesworth CB.OBE.DFC.Life Member Northeast Scotland Branch BKVA. |  |
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A Special Tribute
| Brian Cunningham the Branch Social Conveynor (ex HMS Ceylon) pays his own tribute to veterans who did not return. |  |
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Time to reflect
| George Coutts, Malcolm Smith and Alex Dickson in deep thought. |  |
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London Trip Nov 10th - 15th 2006
At 0515 hrs on Friday the 10th of November the first party on the trip to London organised by the Northeast Scotland Branch were picked up by Whytes coaches in Inverness. The coach then made its way to Aberdeen picking up members en route before finally picking up the remainder, making a total of 44 in all at 0830hrs. The coach then began its long journey to Coventry with stops along the way to enable us to stretch our legs and to refresh ourselves with tea/coffee etc. Our first stop was “The Horn” between Dundee and Perth where “Mammoth” bacon rolls were much in evidence; on then to Moffat and one more stop before arriving around 8.00pm at our hotel in Coventry. The journey was long, and in some of the worst rains that we had seen for a very long time. After a splendid meal and the odd wee dram sleep was the order of the day prior to our departure at 9.00am for the trip to the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday the 11th. The journey was in fine sunny conditions with all in good spirits, once again we had the usual toilet and refreshment stops along the way. Upon arrival at the hall we were met with very stringent security checks prior to being allowed in. The Service of Remembrance was quite spectacular, very colourful, meaningful and emotional; it was enjoyed by all of us. Following the performance we encountered problems in locating our coach due to the fact that the agreed pick up point could not happen due to the closure of the road by the police to all traffic.
Thanks to the use of a mobile phone link up between myself and the coach driver we were able, eventually to round up all of the party and set off for our hotel in South Mimms, this was to be our home for the next three nights.
Sunday the 12th of November called for a 7.00am start in order to get to Horse Guards Parade by 9.00am. With the exception of minor confusion by the boys in blue we did manage to get the coach directly opposite the parade ground (much to the annoyance of a Police Sgt who clearly indicated that we should not have been there).
Tell that to aging veterans who would respond by indicating that he should have been where we were 50 odd years ago. Anyway the weather was fine, the public brilliant and the friendly attitude of all other police and Military persons really great. It was good to meet up with pals from other branches once again, and for me specially to meet Charlie Haynes who has done so very much for the web sites both at National and Branch level. Following the parade, which no one taking part, either marching or watching, will ever forget we had the problem of locating our coach and an even bigger problem of getting the whole party on it. The agreed pick up point was on the Embankment on the opposite side of the river from the London Eye. Guess what! the police had closed the road to traffic so once again with the mobile phone link between the coach driver, Tabby Angier and myself and the aid of a kind-hearted policeman we were able to establish a point where the coach would be which just remained for us to get the whole party there which we did with one exception but he turned up later. We were then able to make the return trip to our hotel for an evening of merriment and enjoy the expertise of our piper Arthur Campbell. Monday was a casual start (9.00am) to drive into London to pick up a guide in Park Lane who would give us a brilliant tour of the sites of London with brilliant dialogue. Following the tour some members wanted to go to the London Eye and others to the Imperial War Museum, all were successful and we had all aboard for the return to South Mimms by just past 6pm. Tuesday the 14th we left for a special visit to the NMA at Alrewas arriving at about midday. We were met by Barry Tunnicliffe and other members of the BKVA who guided us and looked after us throughout the very memorable time that we spent there. The section dealing with the Far East Prisoners of War was very moving, as were the Royal Artillery Gardens with the magnificent polished granite (provided by me) so expertly engraved, and the Chapel with its brilliant carvings. It was special to us and during our time we had a formal march to the Korean location led by our piper in order to lay a wreath which had been sent by the Turriff branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland and was laid by Allan Paterson a member of that branch and a Korean War Veteran. It was so very special to me to meet Pat Barker who had travelled from Derby to meet me; Pat is the widow of a very special pal that we lost recently, Tony Barker. We returned to our hotel in Coventry for our final dinner prior to departure back to Bonnie Scotland. During the evening we had the very great pleasure of the company of Jim and Mary Bridges and Hugh and Betty Tierney who had travelled from their homes to meet us, they were great company, remembered by many of our members from our event in Stirling last year. Much “water of life” as well as other inhuman concoctions were consumed during the evening, little wonder that there were a silent few on the coach for the return trip on Wednesday. Being very much aware of the journey time coming down we decided that an early start was needed therefore breakfast was set for 6.30am with a departure time of 7.15am planned. The hotel pulled out all the stops for us and breakfast was on the table before 6.30 and we were on the road by 7.15. Anticipating a possible time of arrival in Aberdeen at around 9.00pm our driver used the toll motorway in order to pick up time and because of our early start we managed to get that time down to 7.00pm and thus allowed the Inverness element to arrive at around 9.30pm, a civilised time for them. The branch would like to extend heartfelt thanks to all members of the Korean Veterans Association that we met during our trip specially those that helped us and guided us during our visit to the NMA.
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