Reunion 2019 - A Family Affair

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27 May

Written By

Lady & Admiral Lord West arrive for the 37th Annual Remembrance Service in HMS Drake

The 37th Association reunion and service of remembrance was a different affair compared to the last few years. The Church Service was well attended but started at the earlier time of 13:00 due to a wedding at 15:00. As always the cadets and officers of T.S. Ardent added a splash of colour to the event.

Admiral Lord West reads out the Roll of Honour

Before Admiral Lord West read out the roll of honour for our 22 lost shipmates the Church was filled with a pitch perfect rendering of the Last Post,delivered by 14 year old Luis, grandson of Pete and Theresa great nephew to Richie, the association is truly a family affair. It was this togetherness that featured at the centre of the sermon from Ken our vicar. Explaining the difficulties many ex-forces personal face rough sleeping in Plymouth, many with PTSD, Ken thanked the association for the 37 years of support we have provided to each other. It was a truly moving sermon and service and the congregation also had a minute's silence to remember the crew of HMS Coventry on their anniversary of being lost in action in 1982.

Cadets greet the congregation
Arrival
T.S. Ardent
Catching Up
T.S. Ardent
Pete delivers the reading
Luis provided the last post

T.S. Ardent
Two new cadets joined the regulars from T.S. Ardent along with a new adult officer Nathan Flood. Nathan was no new comer though as he had been to a number reunions as a cadet and met HRH The Duchess of Gloucester at the 25th reunion in 2012.

Fundraising continues to find the costs of building a new clubhouse for the cadets. The association will be announcing a fund raising dinner in our next newsletter and details of their online campaign can be viewed here:
https://www.gofundme.com/new-unit-building-fund

New adult volunteer Nathan Flood (left) pictured with Alex Palfreyman, both are ex T.S. Ardent cadets

The evening reunion was at a new venue this being the Plymouth Albion RFC clubhouse. More on the new venue will be in the next newsletter when we have gathered more feedback. However, it was a fun evening and great to catch up with everyone.