On 15th November I gave my talk on The Battle of Fuengirola for the first time. This was to the Bexhill Hanoverian Study Group.

Many people may be aware of Fuengirola as a pretty Spanish holiday destination on the Costa del Sol. What they may not be aware of is that the castle at the end of the beach was the setting for a small, but ferocious, battle between unlikely opponents in 1810, with unexpected results. Th scene below is from the 2010 bicentennial re-enactment.

The talk went down very well and raised funds for the Disaster Emergencies Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

On 18th August I gave another talk to the Probus Club of Royal Tunbridge Wells. I am a member, and former President, of that club and this was my fourth talk to them. The subject this time was “The Story of a Medal” covering my Dad’s service as a Second Officer and Chief Officer in the Merchant Navy in World War II on Gibraltar Convoys, Atlantic Convoys, Russian Convoys and D-Day Landings.

The talk went down very well and I raised some funds for The Mission to Seafarers, which both my parents fundraised for.

On 4th July I gave another talk to the Ashdown Probus Club. This was my third talk to them and this time the subject was “Getting my Knees Brown” about my time in Aden in 1964/65 as a 21 year old Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers.

The talk went down well and I raised some funds for the Disaster Emergencies Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

On Tuesday 19th April I gave my talk on the Combat of the Coâ for the first time. This was to the Bexhill Hanoverian Study Group who specialise in the history of the King’s German Legion, who had their depot in Bexhill during the Napoleonic Wars.

When I first practiced the talk it was a bit short, but I included more details and brought it up to 40 minutes. The talk went down well and I again raised funds for the Disaster Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

On Monday 21st March I gave my talk on the Jacobite Rebellion for the first time. This was to the outstanding local Charity Rotherfield St Martin. I managed to get the talk down to 45 minutes, which was exactly what they wanted.

I normally give my talks to raise funds for military charities, but in the current circumstances, I gave the talk to raise funds for the Disaster Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. The talk went down well and I raised some money for that appeal.

On 29th November 2021, I gave another talk to the outstanding village charity Rotherfield St Martin. This time the talk was “Getting my Knees Brown” about my time in Aden and up-country from that in 1964/65 as a 21 year old 2nd Lieutenant.

Rotherfield St Martin have now heard all of my “modern” talks, but have said they might be interested in some of my historical ones.

I have now been booked for three talks in 2022:

Bexhill Hanoverian Study Group on 19th April (The Combat of the Coâ – 1810)

Probus Eastbourne on 3rd May (The Story of a Medal)

Probus Ashdown on 4th July (Getting my Knees Brown)

I have two more talks which were postponed from 2020 but dates have not yet been confirmed for 2022.

On 14th January 2020 I gave my Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal talk to the Rochester and District Probus (Professional & Business) Club.

It went down very well and raised money for the Felix Fund, which is a military charity supporting Bomb Disposal personnel (Army, Navy, Air Force and Metropolitan Police Bomb Squad) and their families. The Felix Fund is named after the Felix cartoon cat, with 9 lives, which was adopted as the badge of the Bomb Disposal teams in Northern Ireland.

On 14th October 2019 I gave my talk “The Story of of a Medal” to the outstanding village charity Rotherfield St Martin. The talk covers my father’s Merchant Navy service, including Gibraltar Convoys, Atlantic Convoys, Russian Convoys and D-Day landings during World War II.

In 2013 the Government belatedly issued the Arctic Star Medal for those who had served on the Russian Convoys, 68 years after the last convoy took place. My father had died in 1985, but the Government allowed families to claim medals, and since I had his other medals, I decided to claim this. The latter part of my talk therefore covers how I went about researching his Merchant Navy service at the National Archives and other sources, leading to my successfully claiming his medal.

This talk was given to raise funds for The Mission to Seamen, which both my parents supported.