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Archived Major Events in 2015
7th November: Poppy Ball at Roca, Aspe, at 19.30 cost: 30€
Please see information on the Poppy Appeal section of the website. Please ensure that all outstanding monies are paid to Tony Dengate at the branch meeting tomorrow (20th October 2015) or at the latest on 24th October, when Tony will be at Destiny's bar (Hondón de las Nieves)11.00 -13.30. Please ensure that you have made any menu selections that are still outstanding.
21st October 2015
There was a District North event, held in conjunction with the Spanish Legion in Almeria. We were hosted at Viator Barracks. There was a service of remembrance to honour the fallen of both Nations, with a parade and band. Afterwards we had the opportunity to visit the museum, which showed the many developments, over the intervening years, of the Legion into an elite fighting force. We were given a lovely lunch and liquid refreshments, before departing to various locations in District North.
Please see the photo gallery for more photos of the event.
18th September 2015: Hondón Valley celebrates
This evening saw the branch celebrating its 9th birthday. The branch celebrated with a cake and the founding members were invited to blow out the candles. The fruit cake was made by Pat Varley and was really delicious, moist and very moreish!
11th August : Branch BBQ, at Barbarroja at19.30 cost, 15€
19th June : District BBQ in Benidorm: El Cisne
This was another very well organised event, by the Branch Secretary Yvonne Demaine. A coach was organised to pick up branch members in various locations around the Hondon Valley.
We arrived at the venue El Cisne at a little after 12.30 and were invited to find seats and to make our way to the bar or to relax and meet up with old friends from other branches, in the District. On the way in was a novel security notice.
There was a raffle with a very large number of prizes and some items from the RBL store were on sale, mainly poppy badges, brooches and other branded items.
The meal itself was excellent, with members having coloured coded tickets, to ensure that people were not queueing for too long. The food consisted of Hams and chicken portions which were well seasoned and cooked, with jacket potatoes, salad, coleslaw, rolls and butter and different condiments to suit individual tastes. This was followed by cheese and biscuits. The catering was by Tina's of Frailes.
After the meal the process of drawing the raffle took quite a long time due to the large number of prizes. The total made for the poppy Fund was 500€.
A presentation was made by the Chairman, RBL Spain, District North, Nigel Hails, to a member of the Benidorm branch, the McCrae Shield, for the overseas branch who had recruited the most members in the preceeding year. Benidorm have won this in 2012 and in 2014, as well as this current year.
16th June: Grand Auction
This was a very well organised and well run event by Neil Pavitt and his wife Lucy. They have worked very hard to make the evening successful, with over 50 Lots available, ranging from a teddy bear to a DVD player and the star attraction, one of the ceramic Poppies from the artwork at the Tower of London. This beautiful poppy was donated by the Vice Chair, Sheila Dolphin and aroused much interest, the starting bid being 50€ and culminating in 400€. Some of the Lots went for as little as 1€, while others made in excess of 50€. The Grand Total for the event was 900€ raised for the Poppy Appeal.