(Outgoing) Speaker Secretary Ian Rutter reports (for the last time!) :
On January 9th, we welcome as our speaker, Brian Cumming MBE GCStG, a pensioner from The Royal Hospital, Chelsea. A native of Plymouth, Brian was educated at Plympton Grammar School and enlisted into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1950 at the age of 18.
He had met Patricia three years earlier and they were married just a few days before he was posted to Egypt, leaving her behind in Devon. He did not return until he was 21, but after that, Patricia accompanied him on all his missions. Brian served for 33 years in the Royal Corps and then spent 14 years in welfare work at the Ministry of Defence, for which he was awarded an MBE.
Following the death of Patricia in 2009, his application to enter the Royal Hospital was accepted. “The moment I arrived, I knew that it was the place for me”, he will tell us. Apart from his work as a tour guide at the Hospital, Brian is an excellent and entertaining speaker. He will present an overview of life in a Grade One listed residence for Army veterans, which was built in 1682, on the command of King Charles II, under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren.
It promises to be a presentation, which is not to be missed.
Oh yes! Brian is also one of us, as he is a Past-Chairman of the Drake Probus Club, (now merged with the Plymouth City Probus Club).
