ANNUAL
REUNION
For all
ex-Bandsmen and Buglers of The Royal Green Jackets and former
Regiments
Location :
Held annually in the City of Winchester - England (Home of The
Royal Green Jackets)
Aim of the Reunion :
To reunite ex-Bandsmen & Buglers of the Royal Green
Jackets and former Regiments.
The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (43rd &
52nd)
The Kings Royal Rifle Corps (60th)
The Rifle Brigade (95th)
- Annual Reunion
- Tony Dowd - out-going secretary (ex-Band
Serjeant 1 RGJ)) organised the first Ox & Bucks
(1RGJ) band reunion in July 1983 in respect of the late
WOII Graham Barker's wishes (Band Serjeant Major - killed
in the Regents Park bombing - 20th July
1982).
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- Graham had the initial idea and was
in the process of collating information and address's
just prior to the bombing. During the winter of 1982-83,
whilst recovering from his own injuries, Tony took up the
challenge from where Graham had left off. From the first
reunion in July 1983, attended by 40 ex-members, he
gradually built up a mailing directory of over 150 ex-Ox
& Bucks bandsmen.
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- Having traced ex-members from all
over Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Finland, Iceland,
Canada and Bermuda, he then set about gathering names and
address's of ex-bandsmen of the KRRC and RB's. Having
run, with great success, the Ox & Bucks Band Reunion
for nine years, and with the blessing of the Ox &
Bucks members, he then organised the first Royal Green
Jackets Band Reunion incorporating all three former
Regimental Bands.
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- This took place in Oxford (Slade
Park Barracks) in September 1992. Attendance has always
been high, with equal numbers of members from each Band.
Boasting a mailing directory of over 400 ex-bandsmen (the
oldest - Cyril Beare MBE - joined as a bandsman in the
52nd back in 1926) Tony has now started to gather names
and address's of ex-Buglers of all three Regiments.
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- 1999 Reunion
The 1999 reunion
was held again in the RGJ Association function room in
Sir John Moore 
Barracks Winchester on Saturday 2nd
October and was attended by approximately 60 ex-bandsmen,
buglers and Bandmasters. A poor turn-out this year in
comparison with previous years (I'll put it down to
holidays). It was decided that for the Millennium Reunion we move the venue to Oxford. Therefore, keep
popping back here for confirmation
of venue, and it is hoped
that we can secure the services of The Waterloo Band to
entertain us during the course of the day, maybe even
have a "sit-in" with them, so get the cob-webs
of those instruments - just in case. A decision was made NOT
to allow females to attend the reunion next year - so,
sorry to the lads who have been pushing for it. For those
that did attend this years reunion, all seemed to have
had a great time, and again we had a couple of new faces
to welcome back into the fold.
- Extra Reunion
- A few ex-members met up in the
German town of Celle in July this year. Celle, as the 1st
& 3rd RGJ ex-members will remember, was one of the
better postings in Germany in the 60's and 70's.
Coinciding our visit with the Celle Shutzenfest, who
could have wished for a better holiday. Lots of late
nights and Warsteiner - just the ticket for a bunch of
ex-bandsmen of the RGJ. The "finale" to the
weeks holiday has to be the Sunday morning parade, where
we
were invited to join the Alten Celle
Shutzen Club (the Fritz Krone Gang) for the annual march 
through the streets of Celle, and the
back streets, complete with "a beer at every
house". We met many "old" faces from
yester-years, and came away with more happy memories of
good old Celle.
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The reunion
planned for 2001 will be organized by the new secretary (Mr Neil Saitch).
Details will be published here when known, and also sent to members in next
years Newsletter. Could I ask all members to give their support to the new secretary
by replying to him next year, and ask that you attend and give your support to
our annual get-together.
The year 2000 was a disappointing one, to say the least, with
regards to the reunion.
Looking forward to see all your smiling faces again in
2001......Tony Dowd
- Further Information
- The reunion is financed by it's own
members, and over the past couple of years it has been recognized, and now established, as a Branch of The Royal
Green Jackets Association. With the ever-dwindling number
of "Old Boys" due to ill-health, age and
death, Tony feels that it is important to sustain the
reunions and maintain the closeness that has always been
shared by musicians, not just for the sake of the present
ex-members, but for the future ones also. And by
dedicating himself to the success of the present day
reunions, he hopes that the future will bring in, in
time, ex-members of the newly formed Light Division Band
who's roots are shared with those already contributing to
the success of this unique annual event.
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