MINUTES OF THE 29^th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

of the

LANGELEBEN REUNION ASSOCIATION

held on

SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2022

at

QUORN GRANGE HOTEL, LOUGHBOROUGH

The meeting opened at 1000 hrs with 24 members in attendance.

The Chairman, Chris Jones, welcomed members to the meeting. He recounted the circumstances whereby he had first taken on the role of Editor of ‘The Listening Post’ in 2018. He had then been approached by the outgoing chairman, Rod Goddard, and agreed to take on the role as Chairman but, due to covid, had not had the advantage of the promised double-banking period. When Tom Perkin had announced his retirement as the website manager, Chris had agreed to succeed him.

The Chairman stated that he very much enjoyed all three of these roles and was happy to continue but, if the role of Editor of ‘The Listening Post’ was taken on by someone else who only needed to be Microsoft Office literate, he would be grateful.

The Chairman stated how honoured he was that the Association had voted for him and was keen to recruit younger members who had served in Langeleben during the 1980 and 1990s. He was therefore pleased to welcome new associate member, Ben Husband, grandson of founding member Jim Husband, and was looking forward to future reunions, both in the UK and Konigslutter, for many years to come.

The names of those members who had passed away since the last AGM were read out:

The exhortation was recited by the Chairman and a two minutes’ silence observed.

Apologies had been received from: Bernie Neilings, Ray Armstrong, Tom Perkin, Betty Hardy, Dennis Parr, Keith Middleton, Tom Allum, Tony Cudlip and Andy Hunter.

The Membership Secretary, Charlie Charlesworth, reported that there were 291 active members and, despite various attempts, had lost contact with five members: Rodney Briggs, Phil Hamer, Anthony Taylor, Mark Horne and John Monks. 24 members were receiving ‘The Listening Post’ from 21 Buddies.

The minutes of the last meeting, held on 7 September 2021, had been posted on the Association website. Peter Ellis proposed and Steven ‘Farmer’ Vaughan seconded that the minutes were a true reflection of the proceedings of that meeting.

4.    Matters Arising

         There were no matters arising

5.    President’s Address

         The President covered 4 points:

The President began by suggesting that one of the reasons that the Russian armed forces were performing so poorly in Ukraine was because their armed forces had not been used to conducting major military operations outside of the Russian border for over 30 years – and that if you didn’t use something you tended to lose it. In this month of November when we mourn the loss of Service personnel in recent conflicts, as well as during the two World Wars, it was perhaps worth reflecting that those sacrifices also enabled us to retain credible, professional and well-motivated armed forces.

The President then gave an update on relevant military developments. He said that what we were doing in Ukraine had continued to cement the UK’s role as the Ukrainian partner of choice in helping Ukraine to combat Russian aggression. In this, our Royal Signals and Intelligence Corps units, supported as always by the RLC and REME, had been involved in a myriad of roles, sadly most of them not for public consumption. The Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) Effects Group had now been established, with three regiments under command: 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare), 13 Signal Regiment and 21 Signal Regiment. This compared with just two regiments involved in this area at the height of the Cold War. And Royal Signals and the Intelligence Corps were now much better represented at the highest levels in the Army: the Master of Signals was a female 3 star officer and Deputy Head of the Army; and Full General Sir Jim Hockenhull, late of the Intelligence Corps, was now commanding the UK Strategic Command. So, the Royal Signals and the Intelligence Corps continued to go from strength to strength as the Army continued to realise that what we do really does matter.

Having originally thought that the Reunion Association would collapse if and when we stopped going to Langeleben, the President had changed his mind. The aim of the Association was to foster comradeship and hence getting as many of us together at least once a year was more important than doing so in any particular location. Consequently, although we should continue to try to get people to Konigslutter every other year, holding the AGM every year in Loughborough should be our top priority. However, he felt that we needed to get the timing right for the Loughborough AGM: November was far from optimal.

The President concluded with an appeal for people who had not yet served on the committee to consider doing so and reminded us that most reunion associations and Royal British Legion branches that collapse, do so because they cannot fill essential positions on the Association Committee.

6.    Treasurer’s Report

Details of the receipts and expenditure had been circulated for scrutiny and the balances were as follows:

One of the items of expenditure had been a one-off payment for the cleaning of the Association Memorial Bench sited at the National Arboretum and in memory of Peter Baldwin. Dennis Weir stated that the Y Services Memorial Area at the National Arboretum paid an annual fee to the Arboretum for its upkeep. He suggested that, if the Association Memorial Bench were to be re-sited into the Y Services Area then this cost could be absorbed. However, as the Association Memorial Bench is sited on the periphery of the Royal Signals Memorial Area, and no annual fee is paid to the Arboretum, it was concluded that re-siting was not necessary.

With the current balance standing at £2,192.85 the Treasurer encouraged the membership to be generous with donations and buying raffle tickets.

7.    Secretary’s Report

The Vice President, Rod Goddard, had been covering this vacant role and had nothing to add. He did, however, bring to the attention of the Membership the success currently being experienced by member and poet Clive Sanders and read out one of his poems “Unless you’ve been a soldier”.

8.    Any Other Business

Dennis Weir raised the subject of the timing and venue of future meetings. After much debate it was concluded unanimously that the Annual General Meetings take place in the UK in either May or June of each year and that those members wishing to continue to make the pilgrimage to Konigslutter every second year at the time of the Schutzenfest do so independently. The Committee agreed to research suitable venues and availability for the next meeting.

Jud Charlesworth volunteered to take the role of Secretary and her offer was eventually accepted.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 1100 hrs.

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Last updated 25th November 2022