Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. December 2017 LAPSED MEMBERS Overseas Area Newsletter. Inside this issue:

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1 Overseas Area Newsletter December 2017 LAPSED MEMBERS Inside this issue: Introducing the new Director of Membership 2 Annual Conference European Area Annual Conference <style type="text/css">.wpb_animate_when_almost_visible { opacity: 1; }</style> The London Cenotaph 4 Malta GC Branch 5 Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year

2 Introducing the new Director of Membership Del Rowlands is our new Director of Membership based at Atlas House, Leicester. Since joining at the beginning of October, we found out more about the man behind membership. Tell us a little about you. I had an interest in aviation from a very young age. I was in the Air Training Corps as a child and my dad was an aeronautical scientist at Farnborough. Aviation runs through my blood and I commissioned into the RAF in 1989 and served all over the world during my career. My final RAF appointment was as Commanding Officer at MOD Abbey Wood, having been assigned there in 2015; prior to that I served in Whitehall for three years on the Future Reserves 2020 programme. I live in Cheltenham where most of my time recently has been spent making my Victorian home habitable. I have two children, Charlie (23) and Ellie (18), and in any spare time I enjoy motorcycling, horse riding and testing my ever-evolving cooking skills on friends. What are you looking forward to in your role as Director of Membership? I m especially looking forward to meeting all of those that have done and are doing so much for the Association. They have a great deal to be proud of. My team is obviously geographically dispersed, although of course, the headquarters membership team is based at Atlas House, and I am looking forward to meeting all of the teams in the weeks ahead. What do you feel are the challenges? Growing our membership of approximately 72,000 to 100,000 by 2020 is certainly a challenge. But one that I am looking forward to and one that I feel we as an Association are up to with the support of all of our members, volunteers and employees. I believe that each of us should be thinking about growing the Association, speaking to friends, family and colleagues and encouraging them to join us, especially as we approach the centenary of the RAF, so that the Association s great work can continue. What do you think is the biggest benefit of the Association? As a member, it is knowing that you re doing something worthwhile for people that have done so much. It s also invaluable to maintain those connections that people have enjoyed in the service. I believe that among many things the RAF Association holds that link in place.

3 Annual Conference 2018 The 2018 Annual Conference will be held at the Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre from 11 to 12 May This is your Conference and your chance to contribute to important debate on the future plans for the Association. It is also an excellent opportunity to catch up with friends. As one of the largest conference and training centres in the UK, Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre is situated in the heart of the Midlands in Stone, Staffordshire. Please visit their website for full details on the venue s facilities. Registering your attendance: Registration is now open, you can register delegate details for yourself and all guests who would like to attend through Eventbrite: rafa.org.uk/annualconference. In order to use Eventbrite, you do need an account. Therefore, if you do not have an account, please contact our reception team on They will happily take your booking details over the phone. Once you have registered, you may receive an automated from Eventbrite asking you to create a password in order to login and print your tickets. To clarify, you do not need tickets to attend Conference. Once registered, we will have all the information we need and therefore please disregard this . Accommodation: We are pleased to inform you that we have secured the same accommodation rate for you at the 2017 price, which provides excellent value for money. This is priced at a night for single room or a night for a double/twin room based on two people sharing. This price includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and each room offers an en-suite bathroom, TV, hairdryer, unlimited tea/coffee and biscuits and wi-fi. Your accommodation can be booked through our reception team on Please do not contact Yarnfield Park directly as all the accommodation has been allocated to the Association for this event and must be booked directly through our reception team. Please note, fully accessible rooms are limited and we would advise booking early to avoid disappointment. Car parking: There are over 600 car parking spaces available on site at Yarnfield Park and parking is free for all those attending Conference. Although they are limited disabled parking spaces are available, but we can also allocate normal car parking spaces for blue badge holders. In addition we will provide transport and support for you/ your luggage on arrival and departure. Conference documents: Closer to the date, all the Conference documents will be available online and further links and details will follow. Conference 2018 live streaming Following the success of the live streaming in 2017, we are pleased to announce that we will again be live streaming Conference in This enables anyone unable to attend to watch the main business of Conference. A schedule of the live streaming will be published in 2018.

4 European Area Conference 2018 The European Area Conference will take place at the Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre on Friday 11 May at 1000hrs. Registering your attendance Please inform the Area Director if you are attending the European Area Conference as a delegate, this does not need to be booked through Eventbrite, Eventbrite is for booking the accommodation only. Contact details: sarah.waugh@rafa.org.uk or call Accommodation Accommodation is the same as for Annual Conference so please use this link to visit our Eventbrite booking system: rafa.org.uk/annualconference. Accommodation bookings are not done through the Area office. Please note, fully accessible rooms are limited and we would advise booking early to avoid disappointment. Again, if you do not have internet access, please telephone our reception team on and they will be happy to assist. European Area drinks The European Area Drinks will take place as normal on the Friday at around 1630hrs, full details will follow nearer the time. Remembrance Sunday the London Cenotaph The National Service of Remembrance is a day that the nation remembers and honours those who have sacrificed themselves to secure and protect the freedom that we have today and every year the Association has the great honour of laying a wreath at the service at the London Cenotaph in Whitehall. This year Dr Bryan Pattison the Association s Vice-chairman from the Swiss Branch along with the assistance of Mr Peter McWilliams from the Republic of Ireland Branch were honoured to represent the Association in London. Dr Pattison and Mr McWilliams at 10 Downing Street

5 Malta GC Branch The RAF Benevolent Fund Welfare Communications Officer, Ms Fiona Ferguson requested to visit some of our beneficiaries together with Sqn Ldr Allan Scott, the last Malta ACE Spitfire pilot who defended the Island in 1942 Malta siege and October blitz. It was his first visit since The RAF Association s Malta GC Branch Committee was more than happy to welcome such a distinguished guest and suggested that the visit should coincide with the commemoration of the 75 th anniversary of the presentation of the George Cross to the Maltese people. They quickly agreed that that would be a splendid idea. Sqn Ldr Allan Scott Maj Anthony Abela with The Branch Secretary coordinated the visit with the Office of the Prime Minister who was the organiser, together with the Malta Tourism Authority, both of whom were thrilled with the idea. The commemoration was held at St George s Square, Valletta, the same place the original presentation took place in HRH The Prince of Wales was representing the Royal Family for this commemoration which took place on 4 th October. Sqn Ldr Allan Scott was the special guest at this event and he was left speechless when during the audio/visual display, he was projected on the President s Palace facade, first in a 1942 Biggin Hill Spitfire crew group photo and then live sitting behind HRH Prince Charles. At the end of the event both Maj Abela and Sqn Ldr Scott with Ms Fiona Ferguson HRH and the Honorary Prime Minister of Malta spoke to Sqn Ldr Allan Scott and personally thanked him and his fellow WWII aircrew for defending our island at the peak of the Malta siege and the October blitz in During his two day visit, the Malta GC Branch arranged for a visit to the Malta Aviation Museum, where he saw one of his squadron s Spitfire after it was recovered from the seabed and restored to its glory. At the same time he saw the former RAF Ta Kali Airfield where he served for few weeks in summer He was also taken to the ex-raf Luqa Control Tower from where he recognised the billets he used to live in during the peak of the siege. Before he left he visited the Malta War Museum, Valletta, where he was welcomed and shown around briefly by the Curator Mr Charles Debono. During their visit, the visitors met the Malta GC Committee members and signed the branch visitors book. He was presented with a Branch Pennant and a WWII history book penned by the Branch Secretary. Sqn Ldr Allan Scott During his visit to Luqa Control Tower, the Malta Air Traffic Services presented a model of the present ATC Tower to Sqn Ldr Alan Scott and a donation of 200 to Ms Fiona Ferguson towards their travel expenses. Sqn Ldr Allan Scott meeting HRH Prince of Wales

6 Registered Charity No (England and Wales), SC (Scotland) AREA EMPLOYEE CONTACT DETAILS Sarah Waugh Overseas Area Director HELP US TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOU By far, the quickest and easiest way for us to get in contact with our members is through . This method of communication also saves money on postage money that we can instead spend on providing welfare support to members of the RAF family. Please update us on your current address by sending a quick note using the details on the right. 21 Talbot Street Belfast BT1 2LD Northern Ireland (m) (w) sarah.waugh@rafa.org.uk John Arthur Area Welfare Officer 20 Queen Street Follow us on: Edinburgh EH2 1JX Scotland Branch notices WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU Let us know what your branch is up to, so that it can be included in next month s newsletter. You can contact us by calling the office, or you can your updates and photographs to us using the details above. (m) (w) john.arthur@rafa.org.uk Diary Dates 11 May 2018 European Area Annual Conference, Yarnfield 11 to 13 May 2018 Annual Conference, Yarnfield 2 to 4 November 2018 European Area Autumn Conference, Brussels