8/3/2019 Newsletter Dec Issue 2 2011

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December 2011 Issue #2

Service Families Support

Group.The Service Families Support Group is a small group of

people which exists to promote the welfare of service

personnel deployed on operations worldwide, and to

provide a place where their families can meet up via

Facebook. The group also provides support for various

projects through private contributions, and will send

welfare parcels to deployed personnel who are on

operations where requested. The group is not acharity and no donations are accepted. If you have any

comments or questions or if you wish further info or

want to join the group feel free to contact us

www.sfsginfo.co.uk

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  …A Big Thank You … 

James did a quick tally & thanks to all of our members notified Ricky

Coleman and the admin team that “ we're near close to sending 500

boxes a month to the troops ..”. Well done to all of you for making

our group the success that it is. 

We have had a message from the sands that there is a problem

with mice …so if possible when we resume sending could we

include plastic containers & traps so the little critters don’t get to

the goodies first!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE & ALL … From all of the Admin crew to our fantastic members

around the world may we wish you all a Very Merry

Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We’d like to welcome to the Admin team Natasha Smith as

our QRH Liaison, Karen Wood in Registrations and on Social

Steve Curtis, Louise Brown & Kate Ashby.

In our short time we have achieved a great deal – having over

100 members who have sent out numerous parcels to

serving personnel. Supporting the WWII tea party &

Halloween. Aiding the schools projects and what’s on the

agenda for 2012 … all will be revealed! 

We’ve had media coverage by MK News, adverts in an MK

Dons program, the Macmillan Midlands centenary dinner

program & advertising by the Pirates down in the South West.

Onwards and upwards, ladies and gents

While we’re all sitting down to our turkey dinners and Xmas

pudding accompanying the Queen’s speech, let us spare a

thought for our brave warriors over the way. Hopefully,they’ve received our parcels tied up with paper & string, full

of sweeties, crackers & little goodies and know that for you

& I the smile that flits across their faces is all the thanks we

need.

I for one would like to think that Santa hasn’t forgotten to

visit them, and that the spirit of Christmas reaches even

those dusty parts of the world where instead of a comfy

sofa there is a cot bed and rather than the 50” plasma TV, if

they’re lucky, there’ll be a shared laptop.  

So to all of our brave boys & girls, fathers, mothers,

sons, daughters, aunties & uncles – our SFSG family

would like to wish you all a Very Peaceful Christmas

and a Safe & Happy New Year.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE, IN A

ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY, WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE

AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,

NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND, ON

THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,

CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER, NOT

HOW I PICTURED A GREAT BRITISH SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?

CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,

OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO

FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,

AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,

BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,

ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,

I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,

"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,

MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, AND MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,

I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL

AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT, AND THISGUARDIAN OF HONOUR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND

PURE, WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA, its CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL

IS SECURE."ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

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With thanks to Owen Phillips from Support the Queens

Royal Hussars for letting us share this picture.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Clair Minshall

for making a donation to provide some banners to help

with PR & advertising work. These have been

distributed to your admin team in various areas who

can pass these on to any member who requires them for 

raising awareness of the group by way of car boot sales,

table top sales, fates & fair’s.

… and now for something completely different … Dear Santa, when I asked for something that would leave me hot, breathless, shaking and moaning I did not mean a

bloody cold!

Snow is like sex, you don’t know when you’re going to get it, how much you’re going to get or how long it will last !!!

If someone really annoys me, I'm going to give their number to a bunch of over hyper kids and tell them that it's Santa

Clauses hot-line....

Santa must be the bravest man around. Who else would let a bunch of deer pull them around in a sleigh during hunting

season...

Christmas trees are like boobs. Fake ones are nice to look at, but real ones are better...

… Quick Quiz … Name all 9 of Santa’s reindeer … Do you know the names of the seven dwarves in Snow White?

In Scrooge name the four ghosts …  Name the 12 days of Xmas… 

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G H Y J K D W B M A F Y H K L O P F D B

V D G B N M D W P U D D I N G N M C G M

B S L E D G E N K L K U Y G A D D F G W

N C F N Q E A N D E C E M B E R N M Y U

M N M B H J Y I O P K L M D C A R O L S

H J L M S M H N D S R J M Q W E A S H J

I G H D A B M N S F G Y J F K L F G N M

K T T I N S E L A L K N J A L J G E R M

L K L N T X J I Y M N N G I F T U A E B

P K N M A H M N N B X O L R K H J S I H

R O J J N T S I K O V O E Y B H K R N I

E J E K L D Q H G R N U K L M O L D D L

S R S S O A E K A T H J L M S T F F E J

E E U T C J H O L L Y J F S G O G T E H

N D S G K H L Y X A T L D H N C B G R D

T A L J P E E P E U F D Y H I K Y U C E

S Z Y E K R U T H O K U E F I L U J E K

B J R E D A H V N A S H L S N O W P L F

G C R A C K E R S R S L T N I D E M N G

S D H E O P S L J K S D R E H P E H S D

D G E S L H P O K J H U E S N P H D S H

T R F A E D B R U D O L F W N J D K L S

T O Q W G F P L H D S E M I M O T N A P

CAROLS/CRACKERS/DECEMBER/FAIRY/HOLLY/JESUS/NOEL/PANTOMIMES/PRESENTS/PUDDING

REINDEER/RUDOLF/SANTA/SHEPHERDS/SLEDGE/SNOW/STOCKING/TINSEL/TREE/TURKEY

Word search by: Vincent Carl John Warburton