GENERAL STATEMENT BY ‘THE HONORARY GENERAL SECRETARY’ “THE NORMANDY VETERANS ASSOCIATION”
It is fully understood that with an extremely late decision of; ‘THE NATIONAL LOTTERY’ to agree to fund ALL Veterans and ALL Carers of ALL World War Two campaigns, there is an obvious and urgent need for information. The following information will be of help, but Please be minded, that as ‘Honorary General Secretary’, to ‘The Normandy Veterans Association’ my remit and responsibility is to the MEMBERS of that Association. Also; nvafriends is a purely a voluntary and generous private endeavour to keep The Honorary General Secretary of the ‘NVA’ in touch with reasonable requests.
FIRST; In the coming weeks, ALL VETERANS will be able to download from THE NATIONAL LOTTERY WEB-SITE an application form to apply for funding.
‘The Normandy Veterans Association’ has NO influence or partnership in this funding.
SECOND: The greater majority of UK Branches of ‘The Normandy Veterans Association’ have booked pilgrimages / excursions many months ago and almost all coaches are now FULL.
THIRD: Accommodations in Normandy are scarce and if you are intending to travel in the period: 4th to 9th June - you must find accommodations very quickly.
There are a number of Businesses that specialise in trips to Normandy including; ‘GALINA TRAVEL’ and ‘HOLTS BATTLEFIELD TOURS’ to name just two.
Details can be down-loaded from the internet.
FOURTH: The “OVERLORD” appeal was instigated to fund MEMBERS of ‘THE NORMANDY VETERANS ASSOCIATION’ only! This, due to an earlier situation when ‘The National Lottery’ had declared that NO funding would be made available for the 65th anniversary of ‘D-DAY’ and The Normandy campaign.
These funds therefore, have been restricted to Our MEMBERS whose names had already been recorded on the ‘Overlord’ list in October 2008.
FIFTH: ‘The SWORD Fund’ was established in Bristol - England in 1982 to assist less fortunate Veterans within The City and County of Bristol and surrounding region. As a private endeavour it has never directly funded Veterans outside the region except to Host the National Conference of the ‘NVA’ in Bristol in 2004.
Reasonable requests for help and assistance will continue to be welcomed. If however, the requests are of a nature that can be satisfied by the above, then no action will be taken. FINALLY: ‘NVA’ Events in Normandy are as follows:
FRIDAY 5th JUNE: @1100 hours at Colleville-Montgomery.
FRIDAY 5th JUNE: @1600 hours at Caen Memorial Garden.
SATURDAY 6th JUNE: @1030 hours at Bayeux Cemetery.
SATURDAY 6th JUNE; @1700 hours at Arromanche-les-Bains.
ALL VETERANS ARE WELCOME.
UK EVENTS:
SUNDAY 21st JUNE: @1330 hours at Whitehall - London.
SUNDAY 19th JULY: @1400 hours at ‘York Minster’.
Administration of ‘The Normandy Veterans Association’ is undertaken by The Honorary General Secretary who is also committed to his own private business. Working in a ‘broom-cupboard’, it is absolutely impossible to attend to the wealth of communications as much as one would like to do with a number of staff to satisfy all. The same goes for Mr Harm Kuijper of: nvafriends. We do not want him ‘killed-off’ by overwork.
Yours Most Respectfully, Peter L. Hodge (Master Mariner) - Honorary General Secretary to The Normandy Veterans Association., also Signatory to the “OVERLORD” appeal., and Chairman of ‘The SWORD Fund’ Committee - Bristol.
 |