NORTHEAST SCOTLAND BRANCH

The North East Scotland Branch of the BKVA held its first meeting in the Banchory Royal British Legion Scotland Club in May 1986. At the National Council meeting held in Kendal on the 26th of July 1986 the details were ratified and the Branch was officially recognised. The area covered by the Branch ranges from Dundee in the South to the Orkneys in the North and to Skye in the West. We do have a few old time members from the Glasgow area and one from Denmark. Currently we have 77 members including 2 life members, 3 honorary members and 5 associate members. Because of the vast area that we cover sadly we are not able to meet as many of our members as we would like. Our meetings are arranged to extend as far as possible to give members who live in some of the more distant regions of our area the chance to catch up on Branch matters first hand. Our annual dinner/dance held each November, at which we hold our AGM, is the main event at which many of our distant members are able to attend. We publish an annual Branch magazine called "THE WATERING HOLE", publication is usually made at the end of each year. It is edited, printed and issued by the Branch Secretary with assistance from McIntosh Plant Hire Aberdeen Ltd, a local company who kindly allow full use of their copying facilities, thus saving considerable monies which otherwise would have to be met from Branch funds. Branch funds are enhanced each year by the annual raffle drawn at the dinner dance in November, monies from this enable the Branch to subsidise events for members and wives etc. In the year 2000 the Branch was fortunate in obtaining a grant of £5000.00 from the Awards for All Lotteries scheme which enabled 34 members and wives to travel to London to take part in the Remembrance Day Parade which the BKVA had the honour of leading. The trip was spread over 5 days and included a stopover in York on the return leg when many members took the chance to visit Eden Camp Museum. Earlier that year the Branch held a commemoration event at Fort George Nr Inverness. The event took the form of a parade and service in the Garrison Church conducted by the Padre of the Black Watch. The parade was led by the pipes and drums of the Queens own Highlanders Regimental Asociation and the event was filmed by Alan Grimley who produced an excellent video of it,(available from Alan www.thegrimleypartnership.co.uk), including the fly-past by a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss and a Tornado from RAF Lossiemouth. In July 2003 the Branch was again successful in obtaining a grant of £5000.00 from the Lotteries Commission to fund the 50th anniversary event in Inverness (see details under events) Once again the Lotteries Commission came to our rescue in 2005 when we were awarded £3500.00 towards the cost of organising and staging the event in Stirling to which many members of Branches from the south of the country attended. We had the pleasure of having most of the National Council with us on this very special event which was expertly videod by Stirling Video Services, VHS or DVD's are available. The organising committee for this event was David Drinkwater, Tabby Angier and Adam McKenzie from the Bathgate Branch. Tabby raised a total of £1400.00 towards the cost of this event for which she was presented with a certificate of appreciation by the National Chairman during the banquet meal on the 24th of September. In 2006 the Branch once again were granted £5000.00 from the Awards for All Lotteries scheme which enabled a 5 day visit to London to be planned to cover the Remembrance day parade, the attendance to the Service of Remembrance in the Royal Albert Hall, a conducted tour of London including a visit to the Imperial War Museum and the London Eye. On the return journey an overnight stop enabled a visit to the Arboretum to be made, members from other BKVA Branches met us and looked after us throughout the whole trip. In total 46 members made the trip and thanks to expert fund raising once again by Tabby Angier which included donations from the Royal British Legion Scotland and the Highland Council made it possible for members and wives to enjoy the trip at a cost of £25.00 each plus insurance, tickets to The Royal Albert Hall and single room suppliment where applicable. Once again Whytes Coach Tours of Aberdeen organised the accommdation and trips so professionaly. The Branch was also able to subsidies the cost of the annual dinner dance for members and wives by 50%. Full details of the events are reported elsewhere on this web site.