Membership Matters
Membership
Since the last newsletter we have lost 1 Full member and two Associates, the latter who decided not to continue. Sad to say the Full member we have lost was Shipmate Fred Cushion and his obituary is given below
During the same period we have gained four new members, three of whom are Associate members and one very important new L03 member. Their details are given below:
S/M C. Allen Stoker L03 1938-40
Mrs. P. Price Associate Member Wife of S/M J. Price (D57 1951-54
Mr. L.D.K. Cable Associate Member Great grandson of the late P.O. H. Gilham (D57 1953-55)
Mrs. B. Flisher Associate Member Widow of the late
C.P.O. A. Flisher (D57 1951)
Membership now stands at 289, made up as follows:
Full/Life Members 186
Associate Members 97
Honorary Members 6
Total 289
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Subscriptions
As the Chairman has mentioned, there are quite a few of you, 109 at the count on 11th June, who have not been in touch to pay your annual subscription. Thanks to the reunion raffles and the generous donations made by a number of those who have paid up, we have been able to keep the subscription at £5.00 for a number of years. However, we do want your subscription if you wish to remain a member. A reminder chit will be enclosed with this newsletter to all those from whom subs have not been received. Please return the chit with a cheque made payable to HMS Cossack Association or a note to say that you wish to relinquish membership. Thank you.
The financial report, giving details of Income & Expenditure for the year ended 31st March 2005 is given later in this newsletter, as is the financial statement for Reunion 2005.
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Obituaries
Other matters
In the last newsletter we asked for a volunteer to take over as Standard Bearer from Shipmate Brian Hibbert. We are pleased to welcome Shipmate A.W. (Lobby) Lunn to the post. He volunteered (or was press-ganged) at the reunion. Brian will be carrying the standard for his last time at the International Drumhead Ceremony as part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations at Southsea Common on 29th June. Incidentally, we shall have a display/information board in the Veterans’ Centre there and hopefully we may find a few more Cossacks to join us.
We have also been asked by the Ministry of Defence to ensure that all war veterans are aware that they are extremely welcome at the Veterans Centre in St. James’s Park, London throughout the entire Veterans Awareness Week 4th - 10 July. The tent will be open from 1100 hrs to 1830 hrs for light refreshments including a bar, entertainment and the chance to sit down and chat with former colleagues. Toilets will also be available within the tent. Use of the tent is free but there will be a charge for refreshments. Some veteran identification, eg an Association membership card, would help avoid delays on entry. We have also received half a dozen pamphlets giving details of the various events for the Veterans Awareness Week, including a map which shows where these events are taking place. Please telephone Peter Harrison if you want one.
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Can you help
Not long before the reunion George got a letter from a Malaysian gentleman but, because of the handwriting he couldn’t make much of it. So of course he sent it to his secretary! The letter, reproduced below, was obviously addressed to George in his old capacity as founder of the 8th Destroyer Association.
Poopalu Nagiah
Tel: 6472672 18, Main Road
(Home) Port Dickson 71000
Negri Sembilan
West Malaysia
Mon. 7 March 2005
Dear George,
It has been my deep long interest to write to you personally. Sadly I do not receive any ‘China Chat’ magazine. During my brief correspondence with Alan Quartermaine (Cossack) some years back I was passed on a few which I found of great interest to me. I am not a navy man but have great love for the Royal Navy. Of course, during my younger days I still recall the life-buoys of H.M.S. Cossack, Comus, Constance, Concord and Black Swan hanging so proudly outside the walls of the old Port Dickson Recreation Club – sadly which is no more now.
Though I have done quite well with the present day ships of the Royal Navy, somehow ships of the past that have been up here during the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s are in many ways so special to me. That is my main reason in writing to you and asking for your help. I’m very much interested in wanting to know members in your association and their ships which visited Port Dickson in the 1940’s and 50’s. From them I welcome photographs of their ships at Port Dickson and of Port Dickson town during the 40’s and 50’s. I also wish to know if any one knows of Sir Frederick John Dickson who was resident of Port Dickson in 1928 – after whom the town was named. I also welcome anyone who knows the whereabouts of any of his family surviving members. Thank you. I welcome your help in any way you can. Besides being a great enthusiast if the RN, I am also a strong supporter of the Ton Class Association for more than ten years now. If you wish to know more about me please contact TCA chairman John Soames who’s a good friend of mine.
Thank you. Till I next hear from you.
Yours
Poopalu
I replied to Mr. Nagiah telling him of George’s change of position vis-à-vis the 8th D.A., that I was passing his letter to the Secretary of the 8th D.A., sending him a photograph of Cossack (D57) and telling him that I would ask our members if they had any photographs of Port Dickson. I passed his letter to the 8th D.A. with the recommendation that they should give his letter wider circulation in their magazine “China Chat” and suggesting that they might like to make him an honorary member so that he could continue to get copies of it. There aren’t many around the world these days that continue to love us and we need all the friends we can get. I have had no reply!
Those on the 1951-54 commission may remember that we visited Port Dickson and Port Swettenham after bombarding insurgents along the Malayan coast in 1953 after the Korean War truce was declared. Whether there were any other visits there I have no knowledge but if you have any photographs taken at, or of, Port Dickson please send a copy to the Secretary (address on page 1) or by e-mail (address on back page) and I will make sure Mr. Nagiah gets them.
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Reunion 2005 - Report
(I always feel that someone else ought to write this report since I have a vested interest in making it sound good since I am so bound up in organising it. However, I promise to be objective and tell it like it was. - Peter Harrison)
Last year you may remember that George arrived with his car on the back of an AA vehicle after a car breakdown - which proved fatal to the car. This year he arrived safely! His bête-noir, the car park, was under his control again!
Quite a number had already arrived by the time I got there late lunch time on Friday and most of the hard work had been done setting up. Keith Batchelor though was still at it getting his display boards erected in “The Archive Room”. What a magnificent job he has done now that he has got the new boards which were purchased during the year since the previous reunion. The old boards made up by the late Shipmate Reg Doring had served well but definitely needed replacement. Keith took the opportunity to revamp the whole display and the hard work put in both by Keith and his wife has resulted in a much more structured and interesting display.
On display in the hotel foyer was our new “Ship’s Bell”. Unfortunately it is not the original. That went into the Stores when D57 went to the knackers yard and was subsequently sold off - to whom we don’t know. This bell is a new one, with a mahogony stand, made to match the lifebelt stand and carries a brass plate dedicating it to our late shipmates, Eddie Dove, Vic Hiscock and Ted Forder. The relatives of these three shipmates had given substantial donations to the Association and we had originally thought to use it to buy a wheelchair which would then be available at the hotel for use during our reunions. However, Janet Grist our Eastbourne Co-ordinator, had been able for our 2004 Reunion to arrange for the use of a wheelchair from the Red Cross for the weekend in return for a donation. We therefore deemed that it would be better to continue to do so for future reunions and also provide a more visible symbol of remembrance in the form of a ship’s bell. Both Mrs. Betty Hiscock, Vic’s widow, and Mike Forder, Ted’s son seem pleased with it.
As usual, the rest of Friday was dedicated to meeting up with all our old friends and talking over old times. Entertainment during the evening was provided by Jack Hazeldene and, amongst other things, provided a demonstration of line dancing with the help of some of the Wallace Arnold guests. Thanks to Jean Taylor and Angela Watts the raffle ticket sales for the Friday raffle went very well and £150.00 worth of tickets were sold. The prize was an antique barometer and a Nelson Trafalgar 200 Commemorative Coin and, when the draw took place was won by one of our Norwegian friends, John Støle. There was also a steady stream of visitors to the Archive Room to see the latest presentation by Keith Batchelor.
And so to bed.
Those of you who have attended previous reunions at Eastbourne will remember how fortunate we have been with the weather. This year was no exception. Had we held the reunion at the originally booked date earlier in April it would have been a different matter. That weekend was a washout. It was a beautiful day and many took advantage of it for a walk along the prom or to do some shopping in town.
Les and Jean Taylor had set up their slops shop in the Archive Room and were soon doing a good trade. Just over £180 was taken in slop sales over the weekend.
At 1100 hours in the forenoon watch, six bells struck on our new bell signalled the start of the AGM. Our Chairman, George Toomey, welcomed members and then called for two minutes silence whilst we remembered those who had passed over the bar. The names of those who had passed over during the preceding year were read out during the silence. These were
S/M Ron Poole (L03 1940-41)
S/M Stan Edgell (D57 1949-51)
S/M Ted Forder (D57 1945-46)
S/M Fred Wickert (D57 1954-55)
S/M Captain Rodney Bowden (D57 1953-55)
S/M Lt. Cdr. Mike Champney (D57 1952)
S/M Frank Bradburn (D57 1949-51)
Next came the introductions, where each member in turn stood and introduced himself by giving his name, his ship (L03 or D57), the dates he served in Cossack and his rank/rating at the time. Associate members gave their names and their connections. A very nice gesture was that each L03 member and each new member was given a round of applause.
The Chairman told of his problems and frustrations of trying to get help for Mrs. Poole from the RNA (of which Ron was a member), the Royal British Legion and SSAFA. S/M Geoff Scarlett subsequently wrote an article which was included in the December 2004 newsletter and this gave guidance to members. However, the Chairman thought that it would be a great deal of help if there was someone to whom a person in need could turn and talk their problem through. He asked if Geoff would think about taking that on.
Next the Chairman told of his discussions with the hotel Manager and how we were concerned about the effects of the Wallace/Shearings merger. The Manager was unable to give any information on that score except to say that 40 Wallace Arnold guests were arriving that day. Since we had become used to having the hotel to ourselves on the Saturday evening of our reunion there was some confusion about the dinner arrangements. The Manager had arranged that the W.A. people should have their dinner between 1830 and 1900 so that ours could commence at 1900. This was obviously not an ideal situation for either us or the W.A. guests but was the best compromise in the circumstances. The Chairman assured members that he would do his best to get the Saturday to ourselves in any future negotiations but said that he couldn’t be over-optimistic with such a hard-nosed financially orientated board of the new merged company.
The Chairman thanked S/M Peter Taylor for taking over as Deputy Standard Bearer from S/M Cyril Allwood but said that we still had no replacement for S/M Brian Hibbert, the Standard Bearer. Brian would be carrying our standard at the International Drumhead Ceremony at Southsea Common on 29th June but that would be his last official duty. The Chairman appealed for a volunteer but none was forthcoming at that time.
The Chairman handed over then to the Secretary for his financial report. The Secretary apologised for not having provided a printed financial statement. He said that he had actually printed them off but had unfortunately left them at home. However, he assured members that the Association’s financial state was very sound and that there would be no need to increase the membership subscription. It will therefore remain at £5.00 per annum. The Secretary promised that the financial statement would be published in the next newsletter.