East Anglia RFCA marked a year of achievement and welcomed new Members and committee chairs at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week.
Members and guests in attendance were also able to read hard copies of our Annual Report for 2024/25, which the Chair presented for approval. You can read it for yourself here on our website.
The Army Reserve Centre at Coldhams Lane in Cambridge hosted the meeting, though some Members also joined the AGM virtually. The Association set up the meeting to be “hybrid”, allowing people to join via video conferencing and thus making it as accessible as possible for everyone invited.
Being able to join virtually allowed some Members not only to participate in Association business—such as confirming some of our board’s post-holders—but also to hear from three esteemed guest speakers.
Professor Vince Connelly, Programme Lead for the School of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health at Oxford Brookes University, began the guest presentations by offering some insights into the current state and future direction of the UK’s Rerserve Forces.
Then Colin Branch, Head of Welfare Support at BLESMA, the limbless veterans’ charity, shared his very personal story of his time in the British Army. He spoke of losing a leg and how he came to become both a beneficiary and employee of the charity where he now works, based in central Chelmsford.
The final presentation came from Group Capt Gary Bunkell CBE QVRM AE RAuxAF (Ret’d)—the Association’s own Vice-Chair (Air) after being confirmed in that post by fellow Members an hour earlier.
Group Capt Bunkell is also affiliated with the Royal Auxilliary Air Force Foundation, a charity founded to encourage research into and promotion of the history of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The RAAF is now 100 years old and Group Capt Bunkell offered some highlights of its history.
The AGM agenda also made time for thanking members of staff for sterling service. Both the Association’s Regional Director of Employer Engagement, Kristina Carrington, and James McConnell, a member of our Cambridgeshire team, received long service certificates, for their many years of achievement.
Also, our Cadet Quartermaster for Suffolk, Chris Wilson, received a high honour. Our Chair presented Chris with a certificate of commendation on behalf of the Commander, Home Command.
Earlier, our outgoing President, the Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Robert Voss CBE CStJ Hon.LLD, opened the AGM with some remarks about his term of office. He explained why he felt RFCAs are important and how his lieutenancy backed the local Defence community, as well as welcoming his successor the Lady Dannatt, Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.
You can see some images of the speakers, audience and award recipients celebrated for their support of our Defence Community in the gallery below.
(Pictures should cycle automatically, but you can also click on the gallery or select it on a touchscreen to browse the images manually.)
