There are not too many of us left these days, so we feel in East Anglia we should keep the CF Veterans ‘flag’ flying as long as we can. To emphasise this, our Branch suffered the devastating news that our Secretary, Harry Ley, had died shortly after a hospital operation on his shoulder. The Service at his own Martyr’s Memorial Baptist Church was completely filled. Harry, in his time, had been local Councillor, District Councillor, County Councillor and Mayor of Beccles. A great local character, his energy was mainly directed to aiding the disabled and disadvantaged. He never forgot his wartime experiences on MTBs 672, 685, and 721. He was the glue that kept East Anglia together and we survivors will miss Harry a great deal.
Anglia Branch continued their Meetings in June, July and August with average attendances of 12 to 14, which was pretty good, considering none of us, is getting younger! The Branch has two important dates coming up. First, the Trafalgar Lunch on October 23rd and then our 11th November Memorial Service in Everetts Park, where the Coastal Forces Memorial is located. We continue to meet every third Thursday in the month at the ROAB Club in Lowestoft and we are ever grateful to that Club for their kindness.
The British Military Powerboat Trust (BMPT) has now merged with Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, and its collection will now be available to be seen in the Historic Dockyard. BMPT was founded in 1999 at Marchwood but as declining membership has taken its toll, it has now found a permanent base. Documents will reside in a designated office at the base and the vessels ST1502, FMB43957, FMB5004 and ST1502 will be secured to a pontoon between HMS Victory and HMS Warrior. More Coastal Forces Commemorative Plaques have been placed at old CF bases recently : at Ramsgate (HMS Fervent) and soon at Dover (HMS Wasp). Then, at the one known to most of us, namely Gosport (HMS Hornet), the ceremony will be combined with the Remembrance Service on November 8th.
(Extracted from the 4- page Newsletter by Buddy Crowe)
