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‘Cheerio mates, see you next year. Keep in touch’ would likely be heard many
times on Sunday morning as the Old Boys set off for home after the
gathering.
Hearsay, feedback and unfortunately some restricted
personal experience, would indicate another very successful A.O.B.A.
Reunion, the second to be centered on the National Memorial Arboretum at
Alrewas, with the National Army Apprentice Memorial at the heart of the
gathering. Once again the WAGS were
included but this time the voices, which last year railed against their
inclusion in all the events of the weekend, appear to have been
silent. Most attendees welcomed the
presence of the ladies and the evening gatherings were once again
reportedly enhanced by their inclusion.
Unfortunately we have no photos of the evening events of Friday and
Saturday and so this year the look at the weekend here on the 49ers site is
somewhat lacking.
The amount of work put in by our AOBA Committee
members, all volunteers remember, to organize such a large scale event, is
phenomenal and we owe them a great deal of thanks. One event closes and no doubt the task of
organizing the next reunion starts straight away. Dates for the next two reunions have
already been fixed this far in advance.
Unfortunately there were several discordant notes at
the Drum Head Service. In reality
there were no notes at all. At
previous services we have had live music to accompany the singing of hymns,
but alas not this year. There is a
long Arborfield tradition of failure of the P.A. systems used at reunions
and this meeting was no exception. Some
musical notes struggled to find voice from a form of portable player but
were hastily silenced as a disaster.
The congregation bravely battled on, voices raised to overcome the
lack of music. The Drum Head
Service, for many, is a major part of the weekend. We gather to remember not just those Old
Boys who have been recalled to H.Q. since the previous reunion, but all of
those who have trod the same paths of Arborfield as us since its opening in
1939. In a country currently
obsessed by financial cutbacks, one has to hope that the ‘economy mode’
button has not been pressed where our Service of Remembrance is
concerned. We owe our departed
comrades a touch more respect than that.
There is but one way to close this review of the 2013
A.O.B.A. Reunion. Look on it, not as
a farewell on New Year’s Eve, but as the start of something new, just as it
was when we marched off of the parade ground, through the big sliding doors
and set off to a new beginning in our careers.
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