Queen’s Own Highlanders
Regimental Association
Edinburgh Branch
BRANCH NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2008
Amalgamation Dinner 2008
The Edinburgh Branch’s Amalgamation Dinner was held in the Royal Air Force Club, Edinburgh on Saturday 9th February 2008. The event was our first time at the club and everyone seemed to find the venue ideal for the purpose.
There were a total of thirty eight members and guests sitting down to the meal, some of them coming from afield as far as the Inverness area, the Borders, Cumbria and points in between.
The assembled company was piped into Dinner by two young pipers from Edinburgh Academy. The Rev Matthew Robertson, who was the Battalion’s Padre in Edinburgh, Sharjah, and Osnabruck, then started the proceedings off by saying a grace composed especially for the dinner – the grace being in an extremely well thought out and humorous verse.
Brigadier Nick Ridley proposed the Loyal Toast and Lt Col Ritchie Turner proposed a toast to the Colonel in Chief.
Lt Col Charlie Millar was the guest of honour for the evening and stood up to recount some of the history of the amalgamation and the detailed planning leading up to it. It was his opinion that the meticulous preparation by the Colonels of both the Seaforth Highlanders and the Cameron Highlanders had laid the foundations to how well the two regiments had finally merged. As usual for Colonel Charlie, his talk was also interspersed with a few of his own inimitable jokes.
The formal part of the evening ended with a toast to the Regiment, followed by a fine selection of Regimental pipe tunes.
Sandy Dewar should be thanked for providing the photographs for the website and George Taylor is thanked for making contact, and having a conversation with the spirits living in the Gent’s toilets!
News from Home Headquarters at Cameron Barracks
The museum at Fort George continues to move into improvement mode and Brigadier Hughie Monro has been appointed as fundraiser for Phase 2 of the Heritage Appeal (if you see him approaching with a direct debit mandate – Run!). The Museum Trust Committee has also appointed Dr Alexandra Power-Jones as the new Museum Curator, with Kelvin Hunter, Wilma Guthrie and Amanda Pattison-Wilson as museum attendants. The museum’s summer season has just commenced with extra opening hours, so if any members are up in the north, you are encouraged to drop in.
For the Pipe Band enthusiasts amongst the branch, the Inverness Tattoo returns to familiar territory at The Northern Meeting Park in Inverness in July after being held at Fort George in 2007.
B Coy, 4 Scots (The Highlanders) are now firmly based in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, but due to the political situation in Iraq, the remainder of the Battalion is still awaiting confirmation of their operational deployment to the Middle East. It is certain however, that at least one company (D Coy) will to go to Basra in May 2008.
Branch Summer Dance
This year’s Summer Dance will take place at the Royal Navy Club, Edinburgh on Friday 20th June 2008 starting at 7.00 pm. We have booked a highly recommended Neil Diamond tribute act by the name of Michael Munroe, who will be providing “The Real Diamond Experience” He is from the same agency who supplied the singer for the Christmas Dance and is therefore guaranteed being of the same quality - as a result we should be in for a great night. The Royal Navy Club is situated at the bottom of Rodney Street at the junction with Broughton Road and is ideal for our purposes – good parking, good disability access, a good function room, and club prices. We hope to fill the hall, and as the venue is capable of seating over a hundred, we thought you might fancy bringing along some guests, however please let Danny Carruthers know so he can gauge the interest and ensure that Branch members get priority. The tickets are a snip at £15.00. For those of you that live further afield and require accommodation near to the venue, Sandy Dewar, who recently celebrated his 60th birthday, has very kindly sussed out the addresses of a few Guest Houses within a three minute walk of the venue. They are:
Brodies Guest House Tankard Guest House
22 East Claremont Street 40 East Claremont Street
Tel: 0131 556 4032 Tel: 0131 556 4218
Relax Guest House
11 Eyre Place Please book early before the summer tourist
Tel: 0131 556 1433 season gets started in Edinburgh
Please fill in the proforma and return to Danny Carruthers as soon as possible.
News from Other Branches & Associations
– Provisional dates for Highland Branch functions are: Annual Barbeque – Sunday 7th September 2008 and Dance on Saturday 15th November 2008. For further information contact David Terron on 01343 556128 or email dat@cabarfeidh.com)
– Friday 24th October 2008 Liverpool Scottish Annual Hot-Pot
Regimental AGM
The Regimental AGM will take place at the Seaforth Club in Nairn on Friday 18th July 2008. All former Queen’s Own Highlanders are invited to attend, so if anyone wishes to be present, please let Danny Carruthers know so that the necessary catering arrangements can be made for lunch. George Givens and Danny Carruthers will be attending on behalf of the Edinburgh Branch, so if anyone wants to raise any business at the AGM, please put your points in writing so they can be included in the agenda (let Danny know and he will pass them on to David Loftus, the Regimental Association Secretary).
Branch Forecast of Events
Sunday 28th September 2008 Branch AGM/Curry Lunch Scots Guards Club
Friday 5th December 2008 Christmas Dance Royal Navy Club
Recruiting
At the Amalgamation Dinner in February we handed out some regimental “business” cards to those members who were present. We hoped these plastic cards can be passed to former Queen’s Own Highlanders who are not members of the Association, in an attempt to recruit them to the Edinburgh Branch. We have enclosed a couple of cards for those who did not attend the February Dinner and hope you will keep them in your wallet so you can hand them to any old comrades you might bump into
Late News
The Regimental Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland is giving a concert in the Canongate Kirk on Thursday 24th April at 1930 hrs. Admission is free but there will be a collection for Combat Stress.
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AT THE SUMMER DANCE
PLEASE FILL IN YOUR PROFORMAS AND GET THEM BACK TO DANNY CARRUTHERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Name:
Address:
I wish to attend the Summer Dance on Friday 20th June 2008
I enclose cheque/postal order for sum of
£………… (£15.00 per head)
Yes / No (delete whichever is not applicable)
Yes / No
I am on the Internet and my email address for future Newsletters is:
If you have not already done so - I wish to renew my annual membership (£15.00 per member and £10.00 for pensioners)
Yes / No
Total amount of cheque: £__________
(Please make your cheque out to QOHLDR Regtl Assn, Edinburgh Branch and Not to Danny Carruthers)
Please return ASAP to: Danny Carruthers
Picterin Cottage
61A Grahamdyke Road
Bo’Ness
EH51 9DZ
Tel: 01506 829766
