The President thanked the Chairman for his speech and noted that it was some 43 years since he had stood at the 208 Reunion top table for the first time. On that occasion, he had been the Deputy Squadron Commander, and he recalled the trepidation he felt in coming up to speak that night to talk about what the Squadron had done that year. He had his speech notes on the back of an envelope, and he recalled sitting down next to Humphrey Edwardes-Jones, with Sir Geoffrey Bromet on the other side of the table, and remembered being chided by Humphrey Edwardes-Jones, who said as he pulled out his notes that: 'We don't do those here, we speak straight from the heart!'.

There had been 120 people at that Dinner, in the Sovereign's Room at the RAF Club, and it had been the most sensational but awe-inspiring night. There had been no ladies at that time, it was entirely men from the Squadron, but that gave him an appropriate opportunity to thank all of the ladies who had attended this much smaller gathering for gracing our table with their very welcome presence, and for their continued loyal support, for which he was very grateful.

He noted the unique memorabilia on the table: the Medal Collection, Geoffrey Bromet's DSO Certificate and the Bromet Trophy. He thanked Neil & Cathy Meadows for their efforts in providing artwork, and table decorations to enhance the ambience of the Lunch, but suggested that Neil might add a model of the F-35 or Typhoon (to those of the Spitfire, Meteor, Hunter, Buccaneer and Hawk) to keep faith for a potential future, fingers crossed. He thanked the Secretary, Eugene Moriarty for his efforts in bringing the Reunion together, and Malcolm Ward and Neil Meadows for their outstanding work in producing the Newsletter and Website. As a result of a really excellent team effort, and in the absolutely superb way the room had been set up, notwithstanding the fact that there weren't 120 people at this gathering, there was exactly the same atmosphere.

The President referred to the wonderful poem read by the Chairman, in terms of keeping the Squadron 'aloft', which is what the Association had been doing in the last 10 - 15 years, through the Hawk era to the 100th Anniversary.

2023 Reunion - 03

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