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Another enjoyable evening with 40 people present including Ray de Winter, a visitor from Woking Circle.

Included in his speech of welcome, President Mike Robbins had a novel system for telling his jokes - each table had 2 envelopes which 2 different people on the table were asked to open. Then Mike asked each person in turn to read the joke inside the envelope. It worked well. Janet Robbins also spoke entertaingly.

As usual we had a raffle set up by Pat Quigley and run by Chris Smith, with some excellent prizes. A total of £210 was raised for the President's Charity.

About 36 people assembled for a super barbeque in Chris and Ellen Smith's garden at the end of July. It was a beautiful day, a lot of preparation work had been done and as usual the conversation flowed.

Chris Smith was the head cook and we had an excellent choice including salmon, plus salads and lovely sweets brought by some of the ladies.

Thank you Chris, Ellen and all the helpers who made it such an enjoyable day.

On the 6th August, Roy Owen, on behalf of the Circle, presented Matt Murphy with his 40th Anniversary scroll. Matt unfortunately is largely bedridden and is unable to attend Circle Meetings and so the presentation was made in his home.

Brother Chris writes "I attended an award ceremony in the Guildhall, Winchester on Tuesday 6th July with other British Armed Forces veterans who had served in operations in Malaya/Malaysia during the confrontation with Indonesia to prevent communist insurgents between August 1957 and August 1966. The Malaysian Government has reached agreement with UK, Australian, New Zealand and Nepal Governments to present this award to eligible recipients and to date 11,000 medals have been awarded.

The Malaysian Defence Attache, Brigadier General Othman Bin HJ Jamal presented the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (service to Malaysia) medal to each attendee. Relatives and widows of eligible personnel are also able to receive the award on behalf of the recipient who may be ill or deceased. Recipients will already be in receipt of British General Service campaign medals for Borneo and Singapore.

I served as a Midshipman in HMS Bulwark, HMS Lincoln and HMS Woolaston during the period from August 1964 until August 1965 mostly on patrol off the coast of Malaysia and Borneo. We lost 2 fellow Midshipmen in action during this period."

This was special in two ways, one that we gained a new Brother on the transfer in of Paul Nolan as a dual member with Wokingham Circle, and second that the result of last years President's charity was donated to the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.

Bro. Paul was warmly welcomed into the Circle by President Mike Robbins amidst acclaim from the Circle. Paul was supported by three members of Wokingham Circle, including the Provincial President of Province 8.

Peter Attridge, last year's president, presented a cheque for £1600.00 to Anne Wake, a volunteer fundraising ambassador for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice; Anne is a daughter of our deceased Brother Pat Wright. After receiving the cheque, Anne gave a brief summary of the palliative care provided by the hospice, at no cost to the patient – including the latest feature, a Wednesday drop-in facility.

This was a joint occasion with Fleet Circle and was held at the church of Our Lady in Fleet on the 19th June.

Unfortunately our President Mike Robbins was not able to be present because he was still under doctor's orders to rest. Volunteers produced a fine repast in the church hall, with everyone seated. There was hot and cold food, 2 bottles of wine on each table plus salad and bread. There were sweets of various kinds followed by coffee and chocolates. It was a really lovely evening. Peter Attridge, on behalf of West Surrey, thanked Fleet for their superb effort.

Some 40 Brothers, wives and guests, including four Brothers from Portsmouth Circle enjoyed an excellent evening. Unfortunately, President Mike Robbins was not able to attend as he had just had a heart stent inserted, so Peter Attridge officiated instead. Grace was said by Canon David Mahy from Aldershot parish.

A succesful draw was held, organised by Pat Quigley, which raised £190 for the President's charity.