MEETINGS & REPORTS
Branch Meeting held on 9
th
June 2025
Weymouth, Portland and District Branch.
Monthly Meeting.
Monday 9
th
June 2025.
At the Admiral Hardy Public House,Weymouth.
Commencing at 1930.
Apologies:- Chrissie Payne, Stan Berry, Ann Weaving, Chris Carr, David Hearn, Clive & Lois Edwards
Obituaries:- None
March Meeting: Acceptance of March minutes proposed by Paul Cooper, seconded by Christina Payne .and agreed
unanimously.
Chairman:- Minutes of the last meeting were brought up, Michelle commented that they are being distributed far too
late in the month and people not present at any of the meetings may not be getting all or any of the
information of forthcoming events. Nigel sends them the same week. We will talk to David Hearn at the
next meeting.
We need to get Facebook up and running so members that use it can see when the next meeting is and
where.
The Chairman stated that he had visited Portland Port to see Bill Reeves to thank him for the donation for
the memorial.
He suggested we have a casual get together instead of a meeting every month, it was deemed that the
next meeting was too soon so we will be holding this for our August meeting details TBC.
Vice Chairman:- Paul advised French Trip went well, we were proud of Hannah Doble stepping into her dad’s shoes and
standard bearing on behalf of the branch and the deposit for the vehicle should be back in the bank 5-7
days.
Treasurer:- Report as at 9th June 2025
Main Account. £3,504.45
Refundable Deposit: £1000.00
To recap, a loan was given to the Vice Chairman for a hire vehicle deposit to facilitate the trip to France to
represent the Merchant Navy in the annual D Day remembrance period.
Subs for Branch are now £10 a year, please settle up if you haven’t already as the subs are vital to keep the
branch going.
The Memorial and Celebration of Life for Lyndon Ludlow (Standard Bearer) was held at All Saints Church
Wyke Regis, Donations in memory raised a fantastic sum of £221.00 for the branch.
James would like to advise all members that our Vice Chairman and Logistics Officer Mr Paul Cooper is
now a second signatory for the branch banking.
James also suggested all current officers operate a ‘round robin’ system between the team either by
WhatsApp or email to keep all officers in the loop before each meeting.
Raffle this week raised £55 thank you.
Welfare:- Unfortunately Chrissie was not present due to illness so there was no welfare report, we wish Chrissie a
speedy recovery.
Future Events:- Armed Forces Day, Sunday 22
nd
June Weymouth seafront. Muster at Astrid Way 10.30am for parade and
service at 11.00am.
Dorchester Armed Forces Day takes place on Monday 23
rd
June at 10.00 am. Muster at Colliton Perk
09.30 am.
A.O.B:- We have a new Branch Standard on order, hopefully it will be with us before Armed Forces Day.
VE Day service in London, there was no Merchant Navy Standard carried or separate segment for service
men and women!
It was bought up that the Merchant Navy Head Office has a substantial amount of money given to them from
Legacies, we feel this money should be distributed amongst branches to help with travel costs to
ceremonies and other events.
And finally, There will be a bell ringing ceremony performed by Alvin Hopper 11.45am at The Royal Oak,
Weymouth (Quayside) on Monday 23
rd
June, all welcome to attend.
Please, if you know of a member that is not receiving any email communications, ask them to contact
anyone of us to give us their email details as we seem to not have some on our radar.
Next Meeting:- Proposed informal get-together Monday 14
th
July 2025 (tbc)
Next formal meeting Monday 11
th
August 2025 (tbc).
Meeting Closed: 20.15