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Round-up 2009
This year we repeated the out of hours visit to Stonehenge for 50 supporters. Romy Wyeth, a well known Stonehenge guide and author, again led the tour around the site and into the stones.
Only 25 are allowed access at any one time so the other half conduct divining with special rods and then everyone swapped round. The tour is preceded by a glass of wine and canapés in the ABF The Soldiers’ Charity Tent and the event raised in excess of £500.
We held our third Day on Salisbury Plain looking at the archaeology, flora and forna, this time back on the West side of the Plain with a couple of new sites. The event raised over £1,000 and will be repeated in 2010.
This year for the first time an Open Garden Afternoon was held at Great Chalfield Manor by permission of the High Sherriff Robert Floyd and run by Penny Brown and Murray Wildman our Wiltshire Chairman. Unfortunately the weather was unkind and threatened to rain all day so not as many people turned up as expected but we hope to have the chance to ‘try again’ this year.
The Fair was officially opened by Lady Fiona Wall (centre), wife of the Commander in Chief Land Forces, General Peter Wall.
This year’s Early, Early Christmas Fair is over and was the most successful yet in terms of it’s fundraising for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity. It made just a touch over £40,000 for the charity another record. The event was held on the last Wednesday in September as usual, at Tedworth House in the heart of the Bulford and Tidworth Garrison area.
The successful Preview Opening on the Tuesday evening, that includes a delicious supper, continues. Aspire Defence Ltd are our major sponsors, and their generous sponsorship enabled us to again have the Aspire marquee, which was a great success. We also had a wonderful raffle that generated a significant sum. We had tremendous support from many of you and I am most grateful for that.
Photo on left: Joining Lady Wall (centre) are, left to right, Brig Steve Hodder, CSM WO1 John Coles, Roger Mountjoy from Sodexo Defence, Colin Kenton, GFD for TidNBul, Caroline Cary, Fair Organiser and Col Tony Moorby, Regional Fundraiser for The Soldiers’ Charity
See photos from the Early, Early Christmas Fair 2009
See details on the 2010 Early, Early Christmas Fair
We were thrilled that ABF The Soldiers’ Charity was chosen to be the Charity of the Year at The Mitsubishi Badminton Horse Trials in 2009.
Many volunteers came along to help man the tent and collect on our fence. On the Saturday we collected at the end of the Cross Country Day at all the exits and raised over £19,000.
Overall the event raised over £25,000 for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity in addition to giving us great exposure to the general public.
Golfers on the day
This year’s Golf Day in Gloucestershire at the end of July again was blessed with fine weather and raised a wonderful £8,300, in part due to some generous donations. Played again at Naunton Downs GC it was yet another excellent event. Organised again by Richard Coxwell-Rogers, greatly assisted by his wife Louisa, it is sadly their last one as Richard is handing responsibility for it over to Jim Wilson, a former Grenadier Guardsman who will now take it forward.
In Wiltshire the Golf Day was played at High Post GC near Salisbury and we were again joined by Julian Tutt, the broadcaster. A very successful day with an excellent auction organised and run by Ian Holmes meant that the day raised £3,000. We return to Tidworth Garrison Golf Club on Tuesday 5 October in 2010.
Yet again Keith Howe and his team came up trumps with another excellent 2 day Clay Target Shoot on the first class range he has built at Larkhill. A mixture of novices and experts all had great fun over the two days, which were blessed with fine weather. The event again raised £2,500 which is a great amount.
The cycle riders of 10 AEC and their friends from the 4th Division ETS raised £700 for us in the summer. The bike ride was done in good weather but the cheque presentation was decidedly wet!
On a rather rainy day, which was perfect for the mud loving runners, the Army Steeplechase event again raised over £1,000 for ABF The Soldiers Charity.
Last year’s Big Curry at the Officers Mess of 29 Regiment RLC was well subscribed with over 100 attending. We had a fascinating, graphic and well illustrated talk on operations and conditions in Afghanistan from Lieutenant Colonel Bethan Targett, the Commanding Officer of 29 Regiment RLC, who had returned days before from commanding the Logistic Support Group in theatre.
The event raised just under £2,500. The Big Curry will be repeated on 24 October 2010.