King's Garrison Sergeant Major appeals for Coldstream Guards to attend Shropshire meeting
The King's Garrison Sergeant Major is reaching out to members of the Coldstream Guards – past and present – to attend an important meeting this weekend.
Andrew 'Vern' Stokes says former Guardsmen of the regiment, and those with a connection to it, will be welcomed with open arms at a meeting of the Shropshire Branch of the Coldstream Guards Association on Saturday (August 5).
The association, which has an ageing membership, is keen to attract new members and will hold its next meeting at Dawley Royal British Legion Club, Station Road, Dawley, from 12pm noon.
The meeting will see the election of a new chairman – to replace the outgoing Clive Blakeway – plus branch officials and committee members.
GSM Stokes will also talk to the association about ceremonial events of the last 16 months, including Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and the coronation of King Charles III.
"I am going to talk about my personal experience in organising and delivering the Queen's Funeral and the coronation," said GSM Stokes. "It will be called 'Behind the Bearskin', starting at 1pm, I will talk for about 40 minutes and show video clips about what it meant to be involved in such big occasions.
"Hopefully it might encourage a few new people, attached to the Coldstream Guards, or associated with them through other regiments, to attend. We are casting the net wider and including other regiments of the Household Division.
"If there's anybody who lives on the border of Shropshire, or the wider West Midlands, we'd love to encourage them to come forward and join us."
"The Coldstream Guards Association, like many of the regimental associations, was formed after the First World War. We have 18 branches across the country and used to have 50.
"People communicate with each other in different ways now, particularly people of my generation and younger, who use social media but getting together and having a lunch or a meeting is a good thing and we are about encouraging that."
Meanwhile, GSM Stokes said preparations have begun for this year's Remembrance Day events.
"We are starting work on the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. We tend to pull it together in September.
"And we will be doing the same in terms of the Cenotaph Parade. Remembrance is something I find so rewarding.
"The Cenotaph and the Unknown Warrior are so important because 100 years ago, everyone across the country would have suffered the loss of a family member, neighbour or friend, killed in the First World War.
"Their bodies might not have been found or repatriated so those physical structures are the focal point for a whole country in terms of mourning.
"That's always really important and I think about that when we do the Cenotaph Parade. It also makes people like me feel valued, as a soldier, when the nation stops and pauses and reflects on what the Armed Forces have done and are still doing. It's about remembering everyone, including those on operations today."
