1964 CRA AGM - Minutes now uploaded

After a wait of 50 years, the minutes from the 1964 AGM held on 7th July at Southover are now available on the Download page of the CRA Website.

Keep checking in for further updates and uploads. If you are a Facebook or Twitter user you can also keep up with the latest CRA news via social media. 

Twitter (@CRA_Update)

Facebook ( Centarian Regimental Association CRA) 

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The 2013 CRA Dinner

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This year's CRA Dinner will be held at Southover on 7th June.

Invitation letters will be sent in the post towards the end of March but it will aid planning (and cost!) if members respond to the email invitation sent on the 9th March.

For convenience, the invitation letter can also be downloaded directly from the CRA website or via the link below.

http://www.zen113982.zen.co.uk/cra/Dinner2013.pdf

This year, following extensive discussion, we are extending the invitation to the wives and partners of Centarians and we hope that this will encourage greater attendance levels. We will also be reducing the number (and length) of speeches in order for the social nature of the evening to come to the fore.

If you haven't attended a CRA dinner for a while, this may well be a good year to return.



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Ricochet 2013

Dear Members

We are intending to produce the next edition of our Association magazine "Ricochet" in time for the annual dinner on 7th June.

I'm sure you know that any magazine is only as good as its content and that club and association magazines such as ours rely largely on its membership for content.

So I'm writing today to ask you to put pen to paper (or these days fingers to keyboard). 

We would like to hear from you if you have any news that might go in "Notes and Jottings" or maybe a longer article that will stand on its own.  This might be recollections of your time in the cadets or during any form of military service or a more recent trip or visit with a military or similar theme or any other subject which you think might be of interest.

Photographs, drawings and cartoons are always welcome. 

We can receive material by email or post and can copy any original photos or negatives, etc which will then be posted back to you.

We would like to receive any material by Easter but our very last deadline would be the first week in May.

Please do not ignore this request and simply delete this email in the assumption that "someone else will produce something".  Remember if we don't get any articles we won't be able to produce our magazine.  Its up to you - our members.

Thanks in anticipation.

Look forward to seeing lots of you at  our dinner on 7th June,

Regards

Mick Crick

(Chairman & Magazine Secretary)

CRA Dinner 2012

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The invitation letter for this year's dinner can now be downloaded from www.c-r-a.org.uk

The dinner will be held on 8th June at Southover and this year's event promises to be the best ever with some very distinguished speakers lined up.

Information will be circulated by post and email, on the CRA website, Facebook, Twitter and of course here on our blog.

If you haven't attended a CRA dinner in a while, make this the year of your return. Timings are slicker these days and you are guaranteed an enjoyable evening in good company.

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Photographs from yesterday's highly successful 100th Anniversary event at Southover can now be viewed on Facebook (you do not need to be a member of Facebook to follow the link)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.338261189534072.99385.100000505813333&type=1&l=c9119ba12a

The images are compressed for the web, if you would like a full resolution copy of any image to print at home or take to a photo processor, please contact Terry Gibson.

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Wreath Laying at the Menin Gate

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CRA members may be interested to know that we have been given permission by the Last Post Association, Ypres www.lastpost.be/calendar to lay a wreath at the evening ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8pm on Wednesday 19th October.

Messers Fuller, Groom, Crick and Millen will attend during this year's pilgrimage to locate the remaining 28 ex-pupils of CCF who are commemorated in that area.

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CRA Dinner 2011

The 2011 CRA Dinner was a great success. A full report will follow in due course - but here are some images. As always, click on an individual image for a larger version but if you would like a full resolution copy for printing at home, please email me.

The 2011 CRA Dinner

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The 2011 CRA Dinner will be held at Southover on the 3rd June.

The usual letters and emails will be going out shortly - but make a note in your diary and please make every effort to attend this year. You can save a great deal of administration time (and postage costs) if you download the invitation letter directly from the CRA website at www.c-r-a.org.uk

If you were at the 2010 dinner you will know that the change of caterer allowed us to achieve sensible timings so that member with great distances to travel were not inconvenienced (and more local members could spend more time at the bar).

Our innovation this year is the ability to pay by Paypal which may be more convenient for some members. Simply email dinner@c-r-a.org.uk for a Paypal invoice.

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2010 AGM - Proposed Rule Change

At this year's AGM, there are two proposed rule changes on the agenda.

5. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

In view of the difficulty in finding sufficient members to fill all the allowable places on the Executive Committee it is proposed to amend Rule 5 (a), by adding the words “up to” in italics, to read:-

“The Executive Committee shall consist of the Chairman; the Vice-Chairman; the Honorary Secretary; the Honorary Treasurer; the Honorary Social Secretary; the Honorary Magazine Secretary; the Honorary Membership Secretary and up to six other members”.

7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Due to changes in Auditing Laws it has been recommended that we should change the requirement to appoint an “Honorary Auditor” at the Annual General Meeting to appointing a “Reporting Accountant”.

This would bring us into line with other sections of the Old Finchleians’ Club.

It is, therefore, proposed that the last line of Rule 7 (a) will read:-

“The Annual General Meeting shall also appoint a Reporting Accountant”.

The full version of the current Rules of the Association can be viewed on our web site at c-r-a.org.uk.

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Albuhera 2011

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Arthur Banham and Brian Fuller will be going to Portugal next May to attend the 200th celebrations of the Battle of Albuhera over the weekend 13-16 May 2011.

If any ex-Middlesex cadet is interested and would like further info please add your name here and your details will be passed to Arthur

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The 2010 CRA AGM

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The Annual General Meeting of the CRA will be held at Southover on the 18th November at 20:00.

An agenda will be circulated to members in due course.

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CRA Dinner 2010

The 2010 CRA Dinner took place on 4th June at Southover. A more detailed write-up follows shortly. In the meantime, a slideshow of images has been uploaded which can be found in the right hand side-bar

CRA Dinner 2010

The 2010 CRA dinner will be held at Southover on the 4th June 2010.

Please watch this space for further announcments. The dinner invitation letter wil be sent out in the next week or so and a downloadable version placed on the main CRA website.
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Ricochet - Now available for download

The latest edition of Ricochet has now been published. Members who attended the dinner received their copies in person and members who were unable to attend will recieve their copy in the post shortly.

For those members who cannot wait to read the latest edition of this inestimable publication, a PDF copy can be downloaded from the CRA website at http://www.c-r-a.org.uk/
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CRA Dinner 2009 Images Uploaded

Images from the 2009 CRA Dinner have now been uploaded and can be viewed in the slideshow on the right.

The pictures have been reduced in size for easy online viewing. Please contact the webmaster if you would like full resolution copies for printing at home.
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CRA Dinner 2009 - The Newsletter

This year I have decided to send e-mail newsletters to members advising them of progress with the preparations for the Dinner. If you did not receive the first newsletter, I have copied the text below for your convenience. If you believe that I do not have your e-mail address (or I have it recorded incorrectly) please let me know.

CRA Dinner 2009 Newsletter No 1

Welcome to the CRA Dinner 2009 newsletter. Now that I have the Membership Secretary “hat” as well as the one for the Dinner Secretary, I thought I'd use my newly acquired database to provide you with an update on preparations for the dinner.

To be honest, I also have an ulterior motive. After the losses of recent years, it is of paramount importance that the dinner covers its costs. The only way it does this is with a good attendance and I hope this newsletter acts as a reminder to you to put your cheque in the post if you haven't done so already.

Even if you know you are going to attend the dinner this year please respond promptly. A number of payments have to be made in advance of the dinner and this year the inestimable Pierre has insisted on payment on the night for the balance. This seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable request in the current climate and in would help me enormously if members paid as far in advance as possible.

A number of members have already responded and I am happy to report that after only a few weeks, we are looking at a healthy attendance. This year promises to be another memorable dinner and it gives me great pleasure to confirm that our main speaker this year will be Tom Harrison (CCF '47-'54) not forgetting the fact that our own Chairman Mick Crick is in his Presidential year of the OF Club.

You will be aware that this year, your committee has decided not to include wine in the cost of the dinner. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that some members choose not to drink (or choose to drink large amounts !) and others have long distances to drive. Members may be wondering what arrangements are in place for the purchase of wine and I can confirm that ample stocks are being laid on and members can purchase wine at the bar on the night.

I hope to have a wine list with prices for the next newsletter which I intend to send out at the end of April
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CRA Dinner 2009

The "book" is now open for the 2009 CRA Dinner to be held at Southover on the 29th May. Invitation letters will be sent out before the end of March but keen members wishing to be ahead of the game can download a copy of the letter here:

http://www.zen113982.zen.co.uk/cra/webinv09.pdf

I look forward to seeing you all on the 29th May.

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CRA Dinner 2009

Members who like to organise their diaries early will be pleased to note that the date for this year's CRA Dinner is announced as:

Friday 29th May 2009

Members will of course receive their usual invitation in the post in due course.

This year, our Chairman, Mick Crick is also the Old Finchleians President so we can be assured that all our speakers will be of the highest calibre.

Please make every effort to attend so that this year, we can crack the 50 diners target.

One change for this year is that as a result of comments received, wine will no longer be included in the price of the dinner. This will allow us to reduce the price and your committee hopes that members will prefer this approach.

Updates to www.c-r-a.org.uk

The main CRA website has been moved to a new hosting company. This change should have been entirely un-noticed by visitors to the site but if you experience any problems viewing and of the website of downloading any files, please contact the webmaster.

One of the benfits of the change will be the ability to add a "Guestbook" to the site and we hope to have this functionality enabled shortly.
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CRA AGM 13th November 2008

This year's AGM was held at Southover on 13th November. Attendance was up on previous years and the evening was full of reminiscence and debate as well as the formal business of the meeting.

The minutes will be published on the main CRA website shortly - in the meantime, the Chairmans report to the AGM for 2007-8 has been published. If you follow the link to:

http://www.c-r-a.org.uk/

and click on the link to "Membership Application Forms, Minutes, Rules & other documents" you will find the report together with minutes from previous AGM's. When time permits we intend to add the Chairman's reports from previous AGM's to ensure that the website provides a complete history of our Association.