On Thursday the 14th of October we were joined at Five Acres Community Garden, for our very first SSAFA big brew, by Mike Donne, President of the SSAFA County Durham Branch and Ruth Wright who is SSAFA South West Durham Divisional Treasurer, along with some very special veteran guests.
We were also joined by Sandra Haigh, Mayor of Newton Aycliffe, Victoria Lane Academy, the local DLI team, as well as some of the members from Leyburn 1940’s re-enactment group.
We also were honoured to have the 1940’s singer Yvonne Slater who entertained the crowd and had veterans, champions and children all up dancing together on the dance floor. We had a collection of military vehicles the American army medics, a Soviet group, the DLI also brought a collection of war memorabilia for the children to explore, join us for this fun packed day.
We enjoyed listening to the bagpipes played by Ruth Wright and also Arthur Middleton, these are always a favourite with the children and our champions, we had Iris Hillery and Allan Jones who joined us in uniform and also did a Morse code workshop with the guests. The children from Victoria Lane Academy learned that Morse Code was very much like texting but in the olden days.
The pupils and champions enjoyed packed lunches and the veterans and guests were provided with a buffet that our champions had helped prepare. We held a raffle and raised £175 for SSAFA which will be used for veterans in our local area.
Mike Donne, President of SSAFA County Durham Branch, commented that all the veterans really enjoyed their day and it was good to see the SSAFA, REME Association and REME Recovery Mechanics Association Standards on display. Mike Donne thanked the staff and champions at Five Acres Community Gardens for the money raised and told us this will be used to assist vulnerable and isolated veterans in the Divisions area of operations.
Victoria Lane Academy commented that they were delighted to support Five Acres Community Garden in supporting our SSAFA big brew, we had an informative and enjoyable day learning about the uniforms, weapons, vehicles and first aid used by the armed forces in the past. We discovered how difficult it was to communicate using Morse code and took part in various craft activities. They also commented that the highlight of the day was the joining together of the pupils, veterans, SSAFA volunteers and the Five Acres champions, to dance to the music and singing from Yvonne Slater, it was heart-warming to see them all enjoying the music together and reliving history.
