A charity that supports hundreds of serving and ex-RAF personnel and their families is trying to raise awareness of friendly social meetings held every month in Littlemore.
The RAF Association puts on social events, welfare visits and provides financial support to ensure RAF personnel and their families does not end in poverty, suffering or loneliness. The Oxford and District branch of the charity, which will be celebrating it’s 67th year in 2012, has 40 to 50 attendees to each of its monthly meetings and wants to grow the meetings even more.
George Shrimpton, who was an RAF mechanic in the 1950s and is the club secretary, said: “The meetings have a very friendly atmosphere. We all sit round the tables when we’re having the meeting and chat, there’s always a bit of laughter that goes on.
“It’s very good company, most of our members are in their mid-50s up to people in their 90s. We make them all feel at home. We try to do as much as we can to enroll new people and new RAF personnel.
“There’s no snobbishness or anything like that. We do have high-ranking officers that commanded a post over other gentlemen during the war and they mix with the ordinary Tom, Dick and Harry. Some of our members may have lost their wives and husbands so we try to support them.”
Meeting often revolve around a speech from a guest speaker or a trip to an RAF base or function. The charity has 190 volunteers across the county who organize fundraisers such as raffles, cycle rides, walks, secondhand sales and provide care and support to members in their homes, such as help with cooking, cleaning, shopping and gardening.
“We try to help serving members of the RAF and ex-members in family affairs, health and various things like that," said George. "A lot of them are very old people now who do need nursing care and also need somebody to come along and help them with little jobs around the house such as gardening and even mending clothes. We have plenty of volunteers who are willing to give up a couple of hours a week to help people like that.”
The group hold their meeting on the first Tuesday of every month. The next meeting will be from 12pm to 3pm on February 7 at the Royal British Legion Hall, in Lakefield Road, Littlemore. For more information, call George Shrimpton on 01844 212106.
