I am a member of the Royal Air Force Boy Entrant Association and last weekend 08/09/10th September 2001 we held our Annual AGM and Reunion, I am the smuck who has to organise this bun fight. It takes me from about May - September to get everything up tight so that approx. 240 grown men can return to their youth and swing the lamp, drink and eat themselves in to a state of euphoria.

Friday night was included so those that had to travel a long way, we have overseas members as well, can plan better and have a pillow for their heads after the journey and rise refreshed ready for the fray. We started of in 1993 with 30 of us, this year we had 130.
Friday Night has turned into a great social occasion, not part of the organised weekend but getting more important.

So Friday Night started the ball rolling, as is becoming more usual, with everyone after checking in making their own way to one of the local watering holes by what ever means they have available, most have legs, others have legs and sticks and the rest have wheels, normally attached to a chair
Once they have ordered their beverage, a pint in most cases, then their meal it's off to find a table big enough to accommodate them and all their friends. Once the Members have taken over there is not much room for any of the usual guests, sorry about that.
The night then just seem to flash by with the swapping of stories from the old days - "Do You Remember" - type. This can go on, even when the pub has closed in some cases. These chaps are catching up on 40-50 years, this takes some time you know.

Saturday Morning - This is when you regret that the catching up took so long and perhaps that bottle of whiskey did go down too well after all that Ale. Never mind a hearty breakfast and a few cups of coffee, quite a few, will make you feel like a new man.
This is when you feel sorry for those who don't drink - for when they get up in the morning that is the best they are going to feel all day - whilst I am going to feel better and better as the day goes on.

Saturday - This is the day that all the remainder of the Association arrives. The stalls are laid out, Name Badges and passes, memorabilia, books, Video's and CD's etc. Got to part this lot from their money as soon as they arrive, before they get into the bar or you have lost it.
The Lad's and Lass's of the Air Training Corps have arrived to assist us. Everything is run smoothly at the moment.

1300 - onto the buses and onto RAF Cosford Camp, the Sergeants Mess to have lunch and hold the Annual General Meeting. Lunch is great, three choices - Italian/Indian or Chinese, what more can we ask for and the drinks for about two thirds the price of civvy street. Better watch this lot, don't want anyone falling off their sticks or out of their wheelchairs.
The AGM goes OK, everyone is happy so back into the bar. Two wheelchairs think they are Schumarker and Colthard, better get them in and quietened down.

1630 - I have to prize them away from the bar and onto the buses for the return journey to the Campus. Back on the Campus, we have lost one member, he has not been seen since last night apparently. He'll turn up we says.

Dinner is at 1930 for 2000 - at 1845 I think to meself I had better go and get showered and changed for dinner. Walking back to the room who do I come across, legless and talking in Saturnese, our missing member. I now have to organise him and his pal, who also has learnt Saturnese, back to their rooms tuck them in safe and sound, get a shower/change and be back to reception by 1930 to receive our guests, it is now 1910 - I do it with 2 mins to spare. Dinner goes great, speakers are fabulous and so we retire to the bar - yet again.

Saturday Night is a long night - Breakfast Sunday morning is rather a quiet affair, I wonder why.

Sunday morning is own transport over to RAF Cosford Camp - This is Battle of Britain weekend for the Camp and we always take our place in the parade. The lads wouldn't miss this for all the ale in the brewery, well that's what they told me last night, this morning would appear perhaps they made a hasty decision. But, no they are all there, best bib and tucker ready to march with the best of them, thankfully this weekend we are the best of them.

The church service is very good and the parade afterwards is a resounding success. The boss of the camp compliments us on our turnout. After lunch in the NAAFI (as we used to call it) it is time to depart and make and mend ready for next year.

It has, once again, been a great weekend, the meeting of old friends and the making of new ones - Stories been retold and new ones learnt. Stories to tell your grand children of things that used to was, the camaraderie of the armed forces, travelling to places that in name no longer exist, talking a language that only we understand.

"Old men wait, Once they were Comrades in arms, And now they are the guardians of the legends, In their grey heads they carry the glory days, when the legends were born, Places no longer known, Peoples lost in history"
We will remember them.

Please add in your prayers those who have been lost and wounded in the desecration that was Manhattan, New York.