The welfare team will once again be running a welfare seminar on 4 October and will be held at Burn Hall in York.

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1 Royal Air Forces Association Northern Area Headquarters Unit 4, Fishergate Preston PR1 2NJ Tel: Northern Area newsletter a September 2017 NORTHERN AREA WELFARE SEMINAR 2017 The welfare team will once again be running a welfare seminar on 4 October and will be held at Burn Hall in York. Further information regarding this will be available via the welfare team in due course. NORTHERN AREA CONFERENCE 2018 We are pleased to announce that the 2018 Northern Area Conference will be held at the Park Inn Hotel in York, 16 to 18 March Full details will feature in the October newsletter. RAF 100 EVENTS Would all branches kindly contact Area Headquarters informing us of plans they have to mark the 100 year anniversary of the RAF. This will then enable us to maintain a centralised calendar with all planned events taking place throughout the area. BEDALE AND RAF LEEMING BRANCH We welcome the new Bedale and RAF Leeming Branch to the RAF Association. The branch meets on the last Tuesday of every month, 20.00hrs at the Bedale Athletic Sports Association.

2 VOLUNTEERING UPDATE NORTHERN AREA Since our last update, Bryn Williams, Area Volunteer Coordinator for the Northern Area, has left the Association to spend more time with his young family. The Volunteering Team can provide information on the vacancies, as listed below, as well as provide branch vacancy details forms to register details of any volunteering recruitment the branch is undertaking, so we can help. The Area Welfare Teams have identified a number of priority locations where befriender volunteers are required in order to visit members of the RAF family that are waiting for a visit, after being referred or referring themselves to the Association s Befriending Service. As we were keen to address this need quickly, we undertook a social media campaign on Facebook in order to attract awareness of the role to those who may not be aware of the Association and our work. This has been very successful and we had over 30 enquiries and now have eight people in the process of going through interview, DBS and reference checks and onto training courses, due to this short and targeted campaign. In addition, the team continue to send out posters to locations across the Northern Area where we are looking for both befrienders as well as caseworkers, as well as on UK wide volunteering recruitment websites, to cover all vacancies. Posters go out to local shops, libraries, supermarkets, etc. and we have had some success with these already. The role vacancies are continuing to be filled across the UK, with a newly appointed team leader to the Leeds area, bringing our total to five in the Northern Area. Collections all these volunteers are undertaking can be found on our website at Vacancies: Region Role vacancy required Number of vacancies for role Location of role Befriender 1 Alnwick Befriender 1 Bradford Befriender 1 Darlington Befriender 1 Harrogate Befriender 1 Huddersfield Befriender 1 Rotherham Befriender 1 Scarborough Befriender 1 Redcar Befriender 1 Doncaster Caseworker 1 Darlington Caseworker 1 Harrogate Caseworker 1 Harrogate Caseworker 1 Hartlepool Caseworker 1 Huddersfield

3 Caseworker 1 Leeds Caseworker 1 Redcar 11 Chesterfield 11 Leeds 11 Leeds 11 Selby 11 Sheffield 1 Leeds 1 Leeds 1 Selby 1 Sheffield Befriender 1 Carlisle Befriender 1 Crewe Befriender 1 Macclesfield Befriender 1 Oldham Befriender 1 Rochdale Befriender 1 Southport Befriender 1 St Helens Befriender 1 Stockport Befriender 1 Warrington Befriender 1 West Cumbria / Workington Branch Volunteer 1 Leigh / Wigan Befriender Branch Volunteer 1 Leigh Wings Appeal Organiser Branch Volunteer 1 Ormskirk HWO

4 Branch Volunteer 1 Branch Volunteer 1 Branch Volunteer 1 Ormskirk Wings Appeal Organiser PR officer South Fylde Branch South Fylde Wings Appeal Organiser Branch Volunteer 1 HWO South Fylde Branch Branch Volunteer 1 Wings Appeal Organiser South Fylde Branch Caseworker 1 Buxton Caseworker 1 Liverpool Caseworker 1 Wirral 11 Blackburn 11 Burnley 11 Chester 11 Crewe 11 Kendal 11 Matlock 1 Blackburn 1 Burnley 1 Crewe 1 Kendal Following on from our above update on Bryn Williams leaving the Association, we are delighted to now inform you that we are welcoming Rosanne Childs to the role of Area Volunteer Coordinator for the Northern Area. Rosanne will be based out of the RAF Linton-on-Ouse office, working closely with the Preston office and all area colleagues. Rosanne comes from a background in working with volunteers and starts with us at the end of August. She is looking forward to meeting you and will introduce herself in the next area newsletter.

5 WINGS CENTRE VISITS THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM On Friday 14 July, a group from the Preston Wings Centre had a day out at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Staffordshire. This wonderful site had an expensive transformation at the end of last year, with the building of a new interactive Remembrance Centre. After a land-train tour of the site, we went to visit the very impressive Armed Forces Memorial. Then in the afternoon we undertook some personal remembrance at particular memorials that the wonderful NMA volunteers had provided maps to. Finally, we congregated at the RAF Association memorial paying our respects to the many squadrons and individuals who gave so much in the defence of our country. The visit was our first off-site trip and was a wonderful success, enjoyed by all who attended. We aim to do further trips, so if you have a particular recommendation within a two hour drive of Preston we would welcome your suggestions to ian.barber@rafa.org.uk EDEN CAMP ALL SERVICES PARADE Eden Camp will open its gates for free for all veterans and their families on the 10 September The museum s largest event invites veterans groups from all services and generations to take part in the parade and service. The parade will be led by the Yorkshire Volunteer Band. Parade starts at 1400hrs and the museum will be open as normal on the day. Events are attended voluntarily and as such they may be affected by influences such as adverse weather conditions. We advise that you contact the museum nearer the time of any event to receive confirmation/further details. For visitor enquiries telephone or alternatively admin@edencamp.co.uk EREWASH BRANCH The Erewash Branch will be holding the following events, full details of which are attached to this newsletter. Wings Appeal Coffee Morning 15 September, 1000hrs to 1200hrs at Derby City Council House Annual Concert featuring the Derby Concert Band 30 September, 0900hrs at Long Eaton School. All welcome.

6 RAF ASSOCIATION DINNER DANCE, LINTON ON OUSE John Allison BEM will once again be organising this event at RAF Linton on Ouse on Friday 20 October The information and booking form are attached to this newsletter. SOUTH FYLDE BRANCH To celebrate the 100 th anniversary of the Royal Air Force the South Fylde branch will be hosting a formal dinner. This will be on Friday 27 th April 2018 at the Dalmeny Hotel, Lytham St Annes. The cost per ticket is Any branch members who would like to attend the celebration, or for further information please contact margaret.worsfold@gmail.com DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:- 3 September Allied Air Forces Event, Yorkshire Elvington Air Museum 10 September All Services Parade, Eden Camp 15 to 17 September Southport Air Show 15 September Battle of Britain Day 16 September Preston Military Show 17 September Elland Vintage Weekend 16 September Wings Day September Rhyl Air Show 30 September Erewash Branch Annual Concert featuring the Derby Concert Band 4 October Welfare Seminar, Burn Hall, York Attachments:- i. Erewash Branch Coffee Morning Poster ii. Erewash Branch Annual Concert Poster iii. Wings Centre Chair Based Exercise Group iv. RAF Association Dinner Dance and Booking Form Follow us on: By letter: Royal Air Forces Association Northern Area Headquarters Unit 4, Fishergate Preston PR1 2NJ Tel: northern@rafa.org.uk Website: