Forum RWFCA BRANCH OF THE FUTURE

Hi all members of the Forum, its just an idea but why doesn't the forum become a branch in its own right.
Members could get to a branch any were in the world, get draw tickets and not miss any branch meetings, plus it would possible be the biggest branch in the RWFCA with information of functions and events at ones finger tips.
Plus people could access there branch from any INTERNET café or library from any were in the world at 24 hours a day.
Its time to move with modern day culture, and we need more members the more numbers we have the stronger we become .
Please take this idea on board and look into this, and make it happen.
Cheers Val.

i for one think it's a great idea

I'm with Dutch, I think it is a great idea. Being in Devon I have never been a Branch member and this wonderful forum has allowed me to feel a part of the Regiment again. There will probably be a number of Admin issues which I'm sure Bob and Al will explain, but WOW what if? Nick

To all of you out there who are not attached to a Branch as it stands at the moment this mode of contact through the forum is where we need to go for the future. Another thing we need to consider however, is in doing this, we must still be able to offer a similar level of contact to those individual members who are not as I.T. literate as the forum users.
Any ideas? Given there's not a pot of gold out there we can use indefinately!
We still have to ensure this is done on an affordable basis.

Keep the ideas ciomung

Hingey:spinny:

Perhaps some sort of subscription & newsletter would be the answer. The members of the Bargoed & Blackwood Branch (of which there are 49) pay a subs fee of £16 per year which works out at £1.60 per meeting (we hold 10 a year). This helps pay towards the costs of stamps as every member gets a copy of the minutes of the last meeting sent to him, usually a week before the next meeting, whether he was at the last meeting or not, that way EVERY member knows what is happening at Branch or, where warrented, Association level and can then contribute fully at the next meeting. Granted some of the members are sent the minutes via the internet but the majority of them do not have or cannot use the internet and are therefore sent the minutes via the post. Those individual members who don't have access to the internet and therefore this forum could subscribe a fee to the forum or Association and get in return a newsletter sent to them (how often could be worked out). I know this would mean a lot of work and dedication for someone but it is possible..............just my thoughts!!!

Hello Paul,
I think that using I.T. to send members the minutes some thing of a reverse incentive.Even allowing for the fact that I presume you send the minutes as a private e mail. It may deter some members from attending meetings Only a thought.

Dick Aka "Don"

I send the minutes via email to my members who only actively use the internet and I find it doesn't distract them from attending our meetings quite the reverse in fact as more often than not they say how getting the minutes reminds them that there is a meeting going on. Granted the majority of my members get the minutes via the post (letter) but ulitmately I think its important that they do get the minutes (post or internet) as it informs them of what's going on at Branch or Association level, it informs them of what was discussed at the last meeting if they couldn't attend, it reminds them of when the next meeting is going on and it makes them feel part of the Branch and hence Association. It's just an idea that a newsletter or something similar be produced and sent to those individual members that wish to subscribe and don't have access to the internet but granted its going to take someone with time and dedication to get it going.........any ideas who???

Hi all i would like the forums team to comment do think it will work as a branch ,or do you think cardiff would not surport a modern RWFCA branch, cheers Val.

i for one think it is a brilliant idea! good luck. and i will try to help if i can.

i believe it could be good idea, but i think this being a branch is taking away what we are using this for and thats to keep in touch with old friends, and to keep up with the Bn movements, and to arrange reunions. Myslf and Mac have arranged two reunions in two years and they have both been succesful South & North, and i am in the process of organising our 3rd, which will be held down south. of which Val you are still yet to attend may i say, being an ex drummer.

I am a comrade associated with the Bridgend Branch, Old Boys, and co organiser with Anthony Macarten (mac) of the RWF drums reunions, of which will continue to take place as long as two or more of us want it to.

this will be just like mobile phones nobody having time to meet and pull up sand bags just text or in this case leave a message on the forum. I know we should go with the times and thats what Bob, Al have done by putting together this forum. None of us i agree wanted the two regiments to merge, but merge they have and theres no going back. I myself will be attending Wrexham this year and have already booked my room for the first time since i left the Bn in 88 and am looking forward to it. I am and always will be proud of the time i spent with the Royal Welch, but times move on. How do you think the lads and women now serving feel that they have got to wear RRW cap badge and backing, with the ackle & Flash. may i also add the welch feathers were in our cap badge also they have just dropped the fuse. and we are here sqabbling between associations. maybe someone should suggest if Wrexham does have to stop that the comrades should ask to have one North & South every other year, like us drummers have. at the end of the day we are all "WELSH"

Traditions will keep going i'm sure, lets just support the new regiments and who ever holds the purse strings.

And just get on with life because its to short, just remember what we had and hope that wrexham keeps going for as long has i and the last RWF man or woman stands propping up the bar.

VINCIT VERITAS

Hi rik , i would like to say due too illness i could not attend this years bash in wrexham, and i attended the drums meeting in wrexham 06 on the friday which you did not.
The first drums bash i did not know about. Thats why this forum is so important to ex RWF as it is for new members of the RW, it maintains or link with 1bn Rw Royal Welch Fusiliers.
Thats why i think the forum could become a modern day branch, not everybody lives near a Rwfca branch and people who live around the world can have the same accsess in a round about way as us who have accsess to a RWFCA branch.
This forum is a great medium for us to get us together, it also encourages us to make guys to turn up for annual reunions, turning a segment of the forum into a branch for boys to have accsess to surport RWFCA is not a bad thing.
Some ex members like to have accsess but because of work family life , and dont really want the hassell of branch meetings , just turn up to reunions.
By having an easy and less time consuming way of attending a branch will suit some but people like me who attend branch meetings in my local area still think another way of keeping in contact is a must. Val

Val I never said not for it to become a branch, I just voiced my opinion like other have on this thread. And yes i do understand why you could make it to this years and last years through illness and not knowing. However there will be plenty more. what we must remember now is that the Royal Welsh as they are now recruit from all over Wales and are not predominatly from the North. When I was in the RWF the split was 50-40 and the rest coming from Wales & england Spud Murphy, Camplin and SImo are Three english Fellas I served with to name a few. All I was trying to say has a fellow drummer once told me ( Mall Ball) its good to TALK

Vincit Veritas

The Forum could certainly play a more active role in the association. We have the ability to store individual member details and access them quickly, we can mass email, and produce newsletters, and many other things, which Bob can better explain. What I wouldnt want to happen is for Bob or myself to become burdened with more work which would allow other areas of the Forum to suffer.

Its fair to say that we could ensure that all Individual members, who have an email address, and hold membership of the Forum, receive information in the same timely manner that Branch Members do, and much much more. It just needs a little imagination on the part of the Association, to take itself firmly into the 21st Century.

The problem is, we can only support you if we are being fed the information, and if there is a desire for change at the top. Its gratifying to receive information from Branch Secretaries, but it needs to be forthcoming from RHQ. It is possible that Major Lake will have his own ideas of how communication takes place, they already have webspace on the veterans site. So perhaps it might be useful to wait a few weeks and see whats develops.

But thanks for all the ideas, as Rik(and mal) say's "Its good to talk"

it would be usefull to hear views from Individual Members, especially in relation to what info they receive throughout the year from the association, and perhaps what they would like?

Having sat last week on my first RWFCA Executive I was proud to hear the comments coming from the members across the table with regard to the Association.
There are a few administrative glitches that have to be ironed out to the Associations working arrangements with RHQ RW, who incidentally will now deal with the Benevolence side of what was one of the remits of RHQ RWF.This was the domain of RHQ RWF when it was a Regiment in the Army Structure but unfortunately it does not exist any longer.
An ill conceived merger carried out with little thought or knowledge, but lets not dwell on things we cannot change!
For the future of the RWFCA we need to communicate with all our former colleagues and give them the opportunity to come into the fold of a thriving, bouyant Association that gives us one and all a chance to enjoy the comradeship we had whilst serving with the RWF.
There are literally 1000's of ex RWF out there we need to bring into the fold so lets get our thinking caps on and contact them wherever they may be and let them know the RWFCA is alive and kicking and is there for them.
If you find anyone let H.Q. Wrexham know and let Al Poole know especially if they have an email address then we have every opportunity in drawing them back into the fold.

Hingey :spinny:

For what it's worth, from somebody who hasn't lived near a branch long enough to become a member I believe the option of having a 'virtual' Forum Comrades Association Branch for those ex-RWF who are 'absent' is an excellent proposition.