Grenadier Guards Association

ASSOCIATION NEWS PAGE

2009 Christmas Cards can now be ordered - more details on the Merchandise page
Sergeants P&P Dinner & Dance - 14th November 2009
Please click for details of the menu and arrangements for this Annual Dinner and Dance to be held at the Thistle Hotel, Marble Arch
Guest of Honour - Colonel R D Winstanley O.B.E. - tickets £35 per head for this prestigious event
Potential attendees, please email LSgt J Ellingham for a proforma - to be returned no later than Friday 16th October 2009.
www.guardsdivcorpsofdrums.org.uk
Members may be interested to note that Guards Division Corps of Drums Association now have their very own web site,
You can Click our link to view ...
'ride to the wall - 10th October 2009'
Please see www.rttw.org.uk for details of the 2009 event - any Grenadier bikers
wishing to RV with Rod Bedford please contact Rod at Chairman@rblsomme.org;
Get your Fondest National Service memories Published ...
Brian Davison is writing a book on National Service experiences abroad, from 1946 to 1963. He would like to hear from
National Service veterans of all ranks, from all the armed forces, who have unusual, different or humorous stories to tell.
He particularly needs the experiences of those National Service Grenadiers who spent their time in the Middle East and Far East.
Anyone interested please contact Brian at bhdavison@hotmail.co.uk - and mention that you saw it on www.Grenade.org.uk !
Memorial Service - Northern Ireland Vets - 12th September 2009
Northern Ireland Veterans' Association - Service of Remembrance
National Memorial Arboretum - 11.30am Saturday 12th September 2009

This years service will be held in the amphitheatre which is situated to the rear of the chapel, guests are therefore requested to dress for an outdoor service. The service will be followed by a parade down to the Ulster Ash Grove for the laying of wreaths. The parade will form up for march off at 12.15pm by the Polar Bear near to where the train for the AFM departs. Following the laying of the wreaths, there will be a 15 minute pause before the parade forms up for the return march to the visitor centre during which the guest of honour will take the salute. The service is open to all and all associations are welcome to parade their standards. It would be appreciated if Associations arranging for groups of their members to attend could notify us of numbers and confirm if their standard will be parading. A reception desk will be manned just inside the conference room and we will be only too pleased to give you any assistance or answer any questions. If you have considered joining us, you can bring your documents with you and have a chat with our membership secretary. Membership is open to all those who served the Crown in Northern Ireland: Military, Police or Prison service. We look forward to welcoming you to our annual memorial service

For further information please contact us via: media@nivets.org.uk or visit our website at: www.nivets.org.uk
Mike Bray - Secretary COBSEO - www.cobseo.org.uk

The Galleria now holds 290 photos from Black Sunday 17th May 2009

Click image for full size .pdf poster.

Beating Retreat - Horse Guards - 3/4 June 2009
The massed bands of the Household Division present an evening of military music on Horse Guards Parade, on the evenings of Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th June 2009 at 9:00pm.
Featuring
The Mounted Bands of The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals.
The Bands of the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards.
The Corps of Drums of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards
        and 1st Battalion Irish Guards.
The Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards and the 1st Battalion Irish Guards
Supported by:
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery
'Special Guests' - His Majesty The King's Guard from Norway.

Tickets available www.ticketmaster.co.uk or by phone 0844 847 2435 at £15 each
OAPs/Students/Children under 16yrs £10 each - Family Ticket (2 adults 2 children under 16) for £40.
Wheelchair access at £15 allows free entry for a carer.


Click to open the Autumn 2008 Association Newsletter to All Grenadiers

2007; between April and August each of the 3 Rifle Company Groups of the 1st Battalion spent 6 weeks in the Falkland Islands as the Roulement Infantry Company. In early May, the Regiment was honoured by the naming of King's Company Bridge at Aalten in eastern Holland, that town having been liberated by The King's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and No 2 Squadron, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards on 30th March 1945. A few days later, the Regiment was further honoured by being granted the Freedom of the City of Lincoln and was given a fantastic reception by the residents of Lincoln as it marched through the streets with 'colours flying, drums beating and bayonets fixed'. Regimental Remembrance Day took place on the 18th May with over 1000 serving and retired members of the Regiment marching to the Guards Memorial where HRH Prince Philip, our Colonel, laid a wreath and took the salute. Nijmegen Company had a busy Spring carrying out public duties and State Ceremonial, culminating with The Queen's Birthday Parade on the 14th June. Since then, they have visited Bruges (where the Regiment was formed in 1656) and have been training for their tour in the Falkland Islands over the Christmas period. The Regimental Band has been carrying out its normal ceremonial duties and supporting Regimental events; in particular, it carried out a highly successful 14 day Band Tour across the country in aid of the Colonel's Fund. The Band also spent a month at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and a month in support of British forces in Germany. The 1st Battalion, having moved from Aldershot to Wellington Barracks, London in the summer, will carry out public duties and State Ceremonial until the New Year and then undertake an exercise in Kenya in early 2009 and this marks the start of their training for their return to Afghanistan, in the autumn of 2009.

2008 has been a major fund raising year for The Colonel's Fund Grenadier Guards, which has been set up to enable the Regiment to exercise its duty of care to members of the Regiment who have been injured on active service or who suffer as a result of it. The Appeal has raised over £750,000 thanks to the extraordinary generosity of people from all walks of life, whether connected to the Regiment or not; to them, we express our heartfelt thanks. The fund will remain open in the future, and as before, £1 from each calendar sold will be donated to The Colonel's Fund.'

Major Grant Baker Regimental Adjutant, Grenadier Guards

Details on how to order The Grenadier Guards 2008 Christmas cards and
The Grenadier Guards 2009 Calendar can be found on the Merchandise page ...

Click to open the Summer 2008 Association Newsletter to All Grenadiers
The Colonel's Fund Launch Event - 21 February 2008 - Click to View the movie
"A Long, Long War: Soldiers' Voices from the British Army, Northern Ireland 1969-98". More details of Ken Whartons new book can be found on the Merchandise page ...
Four Men with a Mission - Sunday 13th April 2008

All best wishes are extended to: Captain James Fox, WOII Andrew Hill, LSgt Jay Ellingham,LSgt Joe Tack - the team
from Regimental Headquarters running in this year's Flora London Marathon and hoping to raise money for The Colonel's Fund.
You can make your donation at https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/marathonteam.

The more you donate the faster the team will run their way around the 26.2mile course that all true runners are measured by !
The team would also like to thank all those who have given so far; no matter how big or small your donation is, every little helps and is appreciated.

Another exclusive print offer "Winning the Firefight" can be found on the Merchandise page ...
Details of the exclusive Limited Edition Orlando Norie prints are on the Merchandise page
Details of The Grenadier Guards 2008 Calendar can be found on the Merchandise page ...

An Active Service - Richard Dorney
The Story of a Soldier's Life in the Grenadier Guards & SAS 1935-58

An Active Service traces the story of a young Sid Dowland from civilian life into the tough environment of the Guards Depot in the 1930s and then on to a Guards Service Battalion in London and pre-war Egypt. The outbreak of war finds Sid taking part in the retreat to Dunkirk and then service in North Africa before volunteering for the SAS. Captured after a disastrous raid in Sardinia, he escapes from the Prisoner of War camp in Italy before making it hack to England. The end of the war does not signal peace, as the Guards are sent into action in Palestine and subsequently to the jungles of Malaya, where Sid finds that his SAS experience is in great demand.


Click the photo for more details.

Click the photo to view a larger image..

Grenadier Grins - John Browne

Short, fun reminiscenses of a life associated with the Grenadier Guards 1956-2006

The essential family spirit of The Regiment is amusingly recalled in a personal
recollection by former Grenadier and Member of Parliament John Browne.
The stories are sometimes funny and often poignant, encompassing days as a
Caterham recruit, battalion life, Churchill's funeral, the TA and Parliament.
With some 45 photographs and cartoons, they recall the flavour of a time already
beginning to fade from view. Some of the tales are based upon outrageous experiences.
Rendered with affection in a witty salute to the Grenadier Guards,
all profits from this edition will be donated to Grenadier Charities,
in celebration of the 350th Anniversary.

The attached order form gives details of price and post&package charges
All orders should be addressed to RHQ Birdcage Walk please..

350th Anniversary Commemorative Cups.

Two designs of these attractive commemorative issue are now available,

The Apollo China Cup (on the left) is priced at £5.00, while
the traditional Cambridge White Mug (on the right) is £4.00
The attached order form shows that each item incurs a
post&package charge of £2.00 - orders addressed to RHQ Birdcage Walk please..


Click the photo to view a larger image..

For all of the professional photographs taken at Littlecote,
click on their logo - and follow the online gallery ...

Always Photography


The 19th April 2006 saw the official launch of The Anniversary Celebrations
and a national round of advertising - including several mentions on local radio stations.

The aim is to make contact with any and all Grenadiers everywhere - to let them know more
about the Association - and to let them join the celebrations planned for the coming year.

With kind permission of BBC Radio WM - broadcasting on 95.6 FM across the West Midlands and via the internet,
we have an audio excerpt of the Ed Doolan radio program posted live on the morning of 19th,
with Ed giving airtime (3m 30s) to ex-Grenadier Norman Brown.

You can download / listen to this clip in mp3 format at (1.6Mb) - in Real Media format (4.8Mb)
or in more traditional Microsoft .wav format (8.8Mb)