AFVBC Crawley & Horsham

This brought back many memories of landing on that runway In Gibraltar, good to hear Luke Pollard has arrived for talks and to thank the British military for what they do overseas.

Armed Forces Minister, Luke Pollard, arrives in Gibraltar for familiarisation visit ​The Armed Forces Minister is visiting the Rock. Luke Pollard arrived this afternoon on an RAF plane.It's not Mr Pollard's first time in Gibraltar, having be...

35 this morning at the Burgess Hill AFVBC great turn out for a new club. Rob is bringing on the club in leaps and bounds and the team at The Top House are really supportive. They are planning to start a Veterans Drop-in at Burgess Hill on Tuesdays starting after the summer break.

It was great to meet Mark MIF Smith a brother from the Class of 82, plus meeting Olly who is the current serving RSM of 47 Commando.

Just a few photos of the club visit to the NMA. We visited, read testimonials and placed crosses at the memorials of Craftsman Christopher Edgar, Fusilier Micheal Sampson both killed in N I. Then moved to the Bastion memorial to visit Cpl Graeme Stiff, Mne Scott Summers, Pte John Brackpool. LCPl Matty Smith. Then visited the Basra Wall for Sgt Paul Connolly and finally the Cyprus memorial for Sgt Andrew Hay. ‘We will remember them’

The Royal family honouring our heroes from the Second World War. We salute your bravery and remember the fallen.

Princess Anne joins veterans in Normandy to mark D-Day anniversary Princess Anne, 73, in her role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regina Rifles, a Canadian military unit, hailed the 'bravery' of the regiment as she unveiled a statue to honour them.

The Torch of Commemoration is making its way to Normandy for the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings. 🕯️ 🇬🇧

The Torch of Commemoration was passed from Claire Horton, Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, then to 99-year-old naval D-Day veteran Peter Kent at Horse Guards Tiltyard today.

The flame was passed down through generations, represented by soldiers, cadets, and CWGC ambassador Eleanor Duftin. Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew Stokes highlighted the importance of remembering the actions of service personnel and passing on that torch. ❤️

Source: The Army in London - HQ London District (Facebook)

Yesterday 35 Veterans & family had the opportunity to visit the Gatwick Aviation Museum at at Lowfield Heath, Charlwood. A unique opportunity to see the Avro Shakleton Mk3 developed in the late 1940's, it was primarily used in hunting Russian submarines. An amazing aircraft and we all wanted the opportunity to go onboard and see what the crew had to deal with while on board. Surprised to see a full working kitchen to serve hot stew, bacon butties or baked beans. Very cramped conditions for the amount of time it was in the air. Loads of interesting aircraft to see, another highlight was the Hawker Harrier GR3 developed in the late 1960's, it saw active service in Germany. I remember watching it land and hover in Bielefeld, Germany in the early 1970's what an impressive sight.

Thank you to Karen, Paul, Nev, Vanessa, and Tony H who also is a member of this group. Amazing knowledge & further insight into their history's on working on these aircraft.

We also had the opportunity to see what First Class flying was all about in the Virgin A350 training rig where a special guest was waiting to greet us in the cocktail bar, unfortunately he wasn't buying the drinks on the day.

Great to see 35 veterans at the Drop In at the St John's Bridge Cafe this morning, some regular old faces and two new faces. So welcome all. As a community group we are here to help as many veterans as possible. A big thank you to everyone who donated easter eggs & also the money collected from the HMS Victory Trip, it will make a big difference to 3 local charities to share.

Today ex veteran Mark Harmson-Silvestri, Assistant Psychologist from NHS Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust gave a talk about Talking Therapies "Its time to talk about your mental Health" scheme. You can self refer so if anyone is struggling out there, mental health can affect anyone, men are the least likely to talk about their problems and that needs to change. The second picture shows the contact details if you do need to speak to someone.

26 this morning at Horsham breakfast, good to see Vernon engaging with the group. We were also fortunate to have Jeremy Quin MP drop in to update us on what going on in defence in Parliament. He was very complimentary about the reach achieved by the breakfast clubs in the area.

Jeremy Quinn MP from Horsham dropped into our Horsham Breakfast this morning

There was a good turnout this morning for the Crawley and Horsham Armed Forces Breakfast Club meeting at Warnham Barn. With new clubs also established in East Grinstead and Burgess Hill this is proving a really popular model for getting veterans together.

Five of the Falklands Veterans and their families from Crawley and Horsham AFVBC had the emotional pleasure of undertaking the 2024 seaworthy trial of F8 the last surviving seaworthy landing craft of the Falklands War. Great memories and banter with the crew.

The Crawley &Horsham AFVBC were fortunate to have had a dinner night. HMS Victory. It was a fantastic and very moving experience to dine in such a historic part of our great nations history.

Massive thanks to Val and Brian at for laying on breakfast for the 25+ veterans this morning. Bit of a which Guards Regt is best thing with three of the clubs Guardsmen too.

Here is a group photo from our visit to Amberley Museum yesterday by kind permission of David Ballantyne.

What an amazing day at Amberley Museum yesterday, a big thank you to Eddie and all the volunteers who made us feel so welcome. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of history in helping to take part in the making of Planters which are being made for “HM King Charles 111 and Queen Camilla” to celebrate their Coronation in 2023.
The planters were absolutely amazing and the detailing and work put into them is a credit to the Lead Makers in the so called "Gin Room" which was initially called the Engine Room. Also joining us on the day was David Adams who is the Master of Worshipful Company of Plumbers. Everyone took photos on the day so here is a few taken by Admin.

A great morning spent at the Amberley Museum today, a massive thank you to Eddie who arranged the event. We were able to do some lead casting ourselves as well has some rubbing down on two planters they have made for HM King Charles 3 and Queen Camilla. A few pictures of the event

ROBERT HARDMAN: Countdown to one last epic salute for heroes of D-day ROBERT HARDMAN: Portsmouth will host a major ceremony and concert on June 5, the eve of the anniversary, on live television in front of thousands of members of the public.

Can l remind everyone that the trip to Amberly museum on the 7th March is still going ahead and we now have confirmation that we can open up the event to anyone that’s interested in attending. Full details are on the clubs FB events.

Yesterday, Jane and I attended the the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust Armed Forces Strategy Review, which looked at the changes completed and planned for NHS support to Armed Forces Personnel, veterans and their families. We along with Paul from East Grinstead AFVBC, Jane and Dave from Littlehampton AFVBC, Matt from Crisham Farm and CC1, Steve from Eastbourne Blue Van, Martin from Service Dogs and Sacha from ASDIC all participated in helping the Strategy team understand what the grass roots support organisations for veterans would like included in the strategy.

We had presentations from all Three Veterans Commisioners for England, Nottheren Ireland and Wales as well as one By Johnny Mercer. Great insight by Nick Wood about the Military Human and a very touching presentation by Spencer Bull about his journey with the NHS and the veteran community since his medical discharge from the Army.

In Remembrance 💂🏻