ONCE A GUNNER - ALWAYS A GUNNER

 

Automatic Membership of The Royal Artillery Association is given to those who are Retired or Serving Members of The Royal Regiment of Artillery and for their Families.  Please complete the Application Form from the link below and return it to the address either by post or email using the details shown at the top and we will get in touch with you.  

 

Branch Membership is open to all of the above and may be available for those who have not served in the Royal Regiment.

 

The Lewes Branch currently has more than 50 Branch Members and we meet on the last (or the second to last) Friday of every month. Our Meetings are held at St Mary's Supporters Club in Christie Road, Lewes, East Sussex. BN7 1PL at 1930 for 2000 start.

 

Our Meetings are very well attended and, although we follow a basic format for our Meetings, they are all very informal. This is of course with the exception of our Annual General Meeting which takes place on the last Friday of January each year where we dress in our Blazers and Regimental Ties.

We also organise two dinners each year. The first being around May time which is our Annual Dinner with our wives, partners and guests, along with Honoured Guests which have previously included Mayors of Lewes and the BC and BSMs from our supporting Regular Battery along with Members from other Branches & Associations such as the Royal British Legion, The Sussex Yeomanry Association and the Royal Sussex Regiment.

The second dinner is held in November which is our Annual Christmas Dinner.

During the year, dependent upon what's going on or coming up, we attend various Parades and Events. The most significant of these is the Remembrance Parade where our Members join the Parade either marching or standing in the side-lines. We also Parade our Standard and Lay Our Wreath of Remembrance.

Other Parades in Lewes have included VE Day, VJ Day and the Passchendaele Commemorations along with others such as the Annual Dieppe Raid Commemoration in Newhaven and the Annual Chattri Memorial Service in Pyecombe where Members Parade and we Parade our Standard.

 

Our Branch also try to organise an Annual Summer Day Trip which has previously included trips to Newhaven Fort, Fort Nelson and Trooping the Colour.

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We hold a Race Night each year and an Annual Branch BBQ in the Summer which are always very well attended.

 

Members also attend The Royal Artillery Service of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum, RA Gold Cup at Sandown Park, The Royal Artillery Assembly in Blackpool and Gunner Sunday and Founder's Day at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

We are affiliated to 43 Battery (Lloyd's Company) RA (47 Regt RA) who are based in Larkhill and are equipped with Watchkeeper – the only Regiment able to fly the Army's Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (TUAS) to find information at long ranges. We have received numerous visits from various Members of the Battery at our Meetings and Dinners including the BC, BSM and RSM.

We would love to welcome Serving or Ex-Serving Members of The Royal Artillery and other Regiments into the Home of Lewes Branch where our Meetings are a great opportunity to meet fellow Artillerymen, to pull up a sandbag, talk about old times and experiences, discuss the weather, put the world to rights and add a little chaos thrown in with a few Parades and a couple of Dinners each year with the opportunity to dress up in our Blazers and Ties and don our Berets and Medals once again.

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For an Application Form, please click here. Together with the Application Form, please complete and return the Consent Form here. This enables The Royal Artillery Charities & Funds (RAC) and RHQ Royal Artillery (RHQ RA) to process your data as detailed in our Privacy Notice. Please complete and return these Forms to the address on the form or to theraalewes@gmail.com. We will then contact you directly.

 

For more information, please contact our Secretary, Mark Harding, using the contact us page on this website or visit our Facebook page.

 

For more general information regarding the Royal Artillery Association, The Royal Artillery Charities (RAC) and RHQ Royal Artillery (RHQ RA), please visit us here.