Association Newsletter |
THE BRIXMIS ASSOCIATION AGM AND REUNION – SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER
The 25th Annual General Meeting and Reunion of the Association will take place on Saturday 31st October 2009, in the WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess, RAF Northolt, by kind arrangement of Committee Member Ian Jebson.
The camp is located in the Ruislip area of NW London, situated on the west side of the A4180 (West End Road), just north of the junction with the A40 Western Avenue. The nearest tube station is Ruislip Gardens on the Central Line to West Ruislip. There are a number of hotels in the area, details of which are attached.
However. please note that the Day’s Inn, the main venue for the past few years, is completely booked out for a wedding party.
There is ample parking within the camp for those taking cars. However, please note that your vehicle details must be provided on the return for security purposes. Given the current security situation in UK you are advised to have some sort of photo ID with you to enter RAF Northolt.
The AGM, which is open to Association Members, their spouses and partners, will commence again this year at 1800 hours, to take account of the chef’s mandatory rest period. Private guests may be invited to the Reunion, which will begin immediately after the meeting, at approximately 1900 hours. Tea and coffee will be available in the Ante Room from 1700 hours. As the same room will be used for both functions, a few ‘willing volunteers’ will be required to move furniture around! Those persons not wishing to attend the AGM, may be accommodated in an adjacent room; it is hoped that the bar will be open at this time, and will remain so until midnight. You will all be very pleasantly surprised with the cost of drinks, which remain at Mess prices!
There will be a hot buffet, probably consisting of chilli con carne, chicken fricassee and a vegetarian option. The cost is once again £10.50 per head.
If you wish to attend, please complete the attached pro forma and return it to The Secretary no later than Wednesday 21st October, as the details are required by the Mess Manager for catering purposes, at the very latest by the Friday the week before the meeting. You have had plenty of notice, so get your returns in early!
AGM
Please note that, in accordance with the Constitution, any Member who wishes to raise an item for the Agenda, where discussion and/or voting may be required at the AGM, must inform the Secretary beforehand. Minor matters and general comments may be raised under AOB.
ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP
Since the last AGM, we have recruited a further 12 new members:
Len Holman - RASC driver 1953-54 Colin Adams - NCO i/c MT 1968-69 Denise Postings - PA to Deputy 1986-88 David Green - RCT driver 1967-69 Michelle Hallahan (nee Banks) - WRAC clerk 1986-88 Tony Duignan - RAF Admin 1973-76 Bill Blackburn - Mission House WO 1964-67 Peter Johnson - Special Section 1989-90 Paul Trent - Special Section 1971-73 Eric Pearson - NCO i/c MT 1963-65 Steve Boundy - Geographic Section 1985-88 Bob Kane - RAF driver 1963-65
The following death has been reported: Jeff Fairbairn, Senior Tour NCO 1979-82. The Chairman has sent a letter of condolence to his widow, on behalf of the Association.
We have also recruited 12 ‘lost and found’ over the period.
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
We have received two nominations to join the Association as an Honorary Member:
Mrs Anne Lloyd, widow of Jeff Lloyd, RASC/RCT driver 1969-72 Lisa Roberts, daughter of Gary Roberts RAF Tour NCO 1989-90
COMMEMORATIVE ITEMS
Hopefully, most of the items have now been completed, all of the art work etc. approved, and they will be ready for distribution at the AGM for those attending, and the others will be posted shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, we have not so far met the minimum requirement for the medals, so if anyone wishes to order them (or any other item), please get in contact with the Chairman as soon as possible (tel: 01308 897138/07717 293077: email: sender00@hotmail.com)
ARCHIVE FILMS
The following report has been received from John Elliott: He has recently had ‘dealings’ with the Chicksands Museum over the request by FMLM to have access to, and copy, BRIXMIS video for their new film.
He accompanied the film team to the Museum to pursue this aim, but received nothing but obstacles, all supposedly outside the Museum’s control, to do with access to the camp for filming and concerning the MoD Copyright of BRIXMIS films and video.
It appears that reproducing video would have involved seeking permission from the MoD (and time was too short) and the cost if permission was granted, would have been in the order of 10 of pounds per second of video copied. The cost of still photographs would have been £50 for the first couple of prints and then £50 per print thereafter. Crown Copyright appears to have been the major stumbling block, as the video and films were taken whilst on military duty.
The original idea behind the reduction of the 35,000 rolls of film, saved from destruction by the Association and then reduced, by willing, unpaid volunteers to a manageable 10% of that number, was for them to be made available to future researchers for the possible production of educational articles etc., that would benefit anyone who wanted to look back at BRIXMIS as a unique unit. We certainly did not envisage anyone having to pay for the privilege.
Andy Pennington and John volunteered to contact the MoD with a view to formally gaining permission, within the Copyright rules, to allow researchers access to the films and videos, and to copy them if required at a minimal cost, on the understanding that publication should not produce a financial gain to the researcher.
John has also been in touch with Sir John Foley, to see if he had any contacts in the MoD who might be able to assist us with the problem, but unfortunately he was unable to help on this occasion.
After much debate on the topic during the September Committee meeting, the Chairman volunteered to contact Brian Davis and Nigel Wylde, to seek guidance on the origins behind the agreements with the Museum regarding storage of the archives.
Dave Cockburn mentioned that he has previous dealings with the Crown Copyright people, who operate a licence system, and it had been very difficult.
John has since been on the MoD web site regarding the copyright rules, and suggests that it will be almost impossible to get the permission that we wish for, and if we started the process, we may find that more problems might arise with our video and DVD production internally.
On a related topic, the Secretary has received an email from Peter Thomson, who works at JARIC, who believes that he may be able to get access to additional BRIXMIS imagery currently stored there. He will keep us informed of progress.
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
All Committee members have to be re-elected at the AGM, in line with the Constitution. All of the present members are willing to stand again for a further 12 months.
CONSTITUTION
A review of the Constitution was also requested at the recent Committee meeting, and the following suggestions were made:
Para 2: delete ‘Objects’ insert ‘Aims’. Para 2a: delete ‘between; and insert ‘among’, and also the phrase ‘at national level and locally’. Para 3a: Change the wording to read ‘Any person who has served on the posted strength of the Mission shall be eligible for Ordinary Membership’. Para 3b: add ‘and sons/daughters’ after the word ‘wives’. Para 4a: delete ‘distinguished’. Para 4c: delete the whole sentence and insert ‘Any Association Member’. Para 10: add ‘and proposed at the next AGM’.
A copy of the present Constitution is on the web site.
ARTICLE
An article about the RAF ‘activities’ of the Mission, including interviews with John Elliott and Dave Cockburn, is in the November edition of ‘Aircraft’ magazine. |