Princess Marina House

RAFBF Crest

David Batchelor of Divine Art & Craft Ltd. continues to work from dawn til dusk on the PMH commemorative window. The window depicting 70 years of RAF aircraft is mid stage with all the images coming to life by the hour. Firing takes places twice a day as each section is handcrafted and they will fit together like a jigsaw to create what will be a stunning work of art. The General Manager Shirley Steeples was accompanied by her deputy to view progress and they were delighted to see the detail in every piece.

Shirley Steeples visited the workshop at Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre where David Batchelor of Divine Art & Craft Ltd. is busy working on the PMH commemorative window. The window depicts 70 years of RAF aircraft and will be situated at the entrance of Princess Marina House. David is on time for the target date of 24th September when the window will be unveiled at a cocktail party to commemmorate the  70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The appeal, hoping to raise funds of £7000 for the window was launched in April 2010 and stands at £6200.

http://www.divineart.co.uk/about.html

http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/index.htm

The RAF Benevolent Fund invited the Friends of PMH as guests to the The Battle of Britain Air Show at Biggin Hill Airfield on the 26th June 2010 .

www.bigginhillairfair.co.uk

The Friends have raised over £5350 in 2009 by organising sales, raffles and tombolas and running their monthly coffee mornings in the Beach Pavilion at the Princess Marina House welfare centre on the last Sunday of every month. In recognition of their tremendous support to Princess Marina House they were awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Controller of the RAFBF, Sir Rob Wright at the recent garden party. 

Other supporters of the House, joined senior staff of the Fund on the 8th July at the Annual Garden Party. The weather was superb  and the gardens, which had won the Rustington in bloom prize for commercial gardens, were at their best.

Amongst the guests were Mrs Elizabeth Barker High Sherrif of West Sussex,  who kindly gave up her time to mingle with the residents and guests staying at PMH.

On the 9th July,  from as far away as Scotland and RAF Wittering in Peterborough,  the home counties  and the south, they got up early and following a breakfast of bacon butties, the golf  supporters of the RAFBF took up their stations at the tees of Littlehampton Golf Club awaiting the claxon that signalled the start of a fierce competition.   At 0900hrs precisely, the horn was blown and they made their weary way around the course in pursuit of the little white ball emblazoned with the RAFBF logo. They chipped and putted, sliced and drove, into bunkers and rough on greens and fairways  and sometimes into the holes until they arrived back where they started from.  The sun shone  and their were smiles and laughter, sighs and oohs! Whilst all this was happening the car park was flooded   as volunteers from the Littlehampton Body Shop washed and waxed the players cars. Eventually hot, weary  and footsore they arrived back at the clubhouse for an excellent meal, followed by the prize giving ceremony.   First Prize was presented by the Controller of the RAFBF Sir Rob Wright, to the worthy winners  ‘Littlehampton Welding’ .   www.littlehamptongolf.co.uk

Please click on the photo of winning team (left) to see more photos. 

Why you might ask  did they do it ? They do it to support  Princess Marina House and to raise funds  for the commemorative window appeal.  The event raised  £3,200 with sponsorship from BAE Sytems, Yeomans Honda and a generous donation of £800.00 from RAF Wittering Mobile Catering Squadron. We thank you all for your support and we hope to see you all back again  next year to do it all over again . .

To have a good and a quiet relaxing holiday

A place by a lake measures up to it in every way.

You could choose Lands End, it had a good hotel

It was a good choice as you know well.

A lake was on your doorstep, that’s the trick

It was large and known as the Atlantic.

Then another place was suggested along the coast

Without the gaudy trappings for it to boast.

A place to relax and to have good food

The staff to attend to you whatever your mood.

Where is this place that you have picked upon?

The name of the place is Rustington.

The place was the ‘Princess Marina Home’.

While you were there you didn’t want to roam.

There were opportunities to chat and to rest.

To be entertained or do what you thought best.

Every afternoon you had the chance to look for Ester.

For from two o’clock was the time for siesta.

But when 4 o’clock comes round

You stop everything, as it is now time for tea.

The next two hours flowed quickly by

Like a twinkle of the eye

And to be ready for the evening meal

Which was prepared and served with their usual zeal.

Alas, this feeling of euphoria and being on cloud nine

And a pleasant memory of that time and feeling fine.

So it was back home once more and at the kitchen sink.

Back home once more and with plenty of time to think.

To think and plan another visit could be fun.

To the Princes Marina Home in Rustington.

(more…)

The Princess Marina House commemorative window has now reached its final design stage and it is stunning!

Final Design 70 Years of RAF Aircraft

Retired flight engineer receives honour from The Queen for his
commitment to ex-Halton ‘Brats’ and his tireless charity work.

Bill Kelley a Friend of Princess Marina House and long time supporter of the RAF Benevolent Fund has been awarded an MBE for his services to the RAF Halton Apprentices Association. Bill Kelley has spent the past 25 years editing the bi-annual RAF Halton Apprentice Association magazine that is distributed to nearly 4000 members in 27 countries around the world.
Association colleagues have described Bill as’ a stalwart of the Association’.

Lord Trenchard formed the Apprentice scheme with the No. 1 School of Technical Training in 1918 to establish a cadre of highly trained Service personnel.

They trained for 3 years and from around 40,000 so called ‘Trenchard Brats’ nearly 7,000 were commissioned. The scheme ran until 1993.

Bill said “I went to Halton as an apprentice on the 55th entry in 1947 and was trained as an airframe fitter. I went on to become a flight engineer and worked on Sunderland aircraft.”

He travelled to the Far East and served with 209 Sqn during the Korean War and the campaign in Malaysia. He moved on to Hastings and Hercules aircraft and was commissioned before leaving the RAF in 1976.

Bill was a drummer in the RAF Halton Apprentice Pipe Band and still plays as part of the Golden Oldies, the ex-Apprentices pipe band.
When he retired from the Royal Air Force Bill and his wife Audrey became the club stewards at the Adref club in Princess Marina House. Tirelessly for ten years they provided entertainment to its residents and respite guests. In their spare time they supported the Littlehampton branch of the RAFA, helping to raise funds to support its welfare work.

On retirement from PMH they continued to support its fundraising , running tombola’s at its annual fete and assisting the Adref Club in its entertainment programme .
In 2003 the Adref Club was closed and The Friends of PMH formed. Bill and Audrey were founder members and have continued to work in support of PMH. The Friends of PMH have raised £15000 in 7 years and Bill and Audrey have been involved in each event, including the monthly coffee mornings where they run the jewellery stall.
In addition they both support the social events at PMH Bill being ‘honest bill’ the bookies at our horseracing events and also stand in bingo caller and quiz master

Bill went to Buckingham Palace on April with Audrey, his wife of 58 years, and their 2 daughters to receive his MBE from Prince Charles

Association member Denis O’Brien said “Bill is a real stalwart of the Association and in the other work he does with the Benevolent Fund and his contribution to the band as a drummer. It’s the first MBE for the Association so it has put us on the map. We want to say thank you to Bill.”
We at Princess Marina House are proud and privileged to have such a dedicated supporter in our group of Friends and congratulate him on a well deserved award.

On  May 13th  2010 The Friends of PMH will launch the Princess Marina House commemorative window  appeal with a table sale at PMH.  The aim is to raise £7000 for a commemorative window depicting 70 years of RAF aircraft in commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.  The window, designed by David Batchelor, a local artist of Sussex, will depict  aircraft  in action from 1940 to the present time.  It will be on display at the entrance of Princess Marina House for the pleasure of all visitors and guests  from September  2010. 

One major fundraising event will be the annual charity golf day on the 9th July 2010 at Littlehampton Golf Club when players from the local community and the RAF family will compete to win the team prize.

Anyone wishing to donate please contact Shirley steeples at: shirley.steeples@rafbf.org.uk or telephone 01903 784044.  We look forward to  your support.

STOP PRESS!!! We have now raised £1,000 towards our total!  Thank you everyone!

Staff and residents at Princess Marina House celebrated the arrival of a brand new minibus this week.  The minibus was the product of a recent fundraising appeal by Princess Marina House, the RAF Benevolent Fund welfare break centre, which provides short breaks for all members of the RAF family.

Shirley Steeples, Manager of Princess Marina House said:

“I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks to the Sussex community for helping to bring this great new minibus to Princess Marina House, which will make a real difference to the services we can offer our guests. The fact that we managed to raise £47,000 shows a fantastic level of support from local people for the work we do here with RAF veterans and family members.”

Join us for a Golf Day in aid of Princess Marina House on 9th July 2010 at Littlehampton Golf Course.

The charity golf day for teams of four includes 18 holes on this challenging links golf course, buffet lunch and the chance to win fabulous prizes.

Cost: £45 per person                        
First tee-off 09:30     Buffet lunch 13.45
Prize giving  15.00     Depart by      16.00

Download the format for the day

Download your car wash ticket

Download the Golf Day application form

To secure your team’s place please contact

shirley.steeples@rafbf.org.uk

or call 01903 788 971.

We require a non-refundable deposit of £45 per team