I'm afraid I haven't had the chance to post over the last week. I had a speaking engagement in Braemar for the WI and the Castleton Lady Dancers of Braemar, who gave the GWT an excellent cheque. Immediately afterwards I spent time talking to various BR engineers as the recent Halkirk Crossing train crash happened on my land (!) To cut a long story short BR want to do various works and need to use some of my land to effect them. Visions of pots of gold are not appropriate, but I daresay I will be able to afford a Lottery ticket.
M'learned friend and I were due to travel south on Sunday to Salisbury, but the trial he was due to preside over was moved back from Thursday to Wednesday, necessitating his travel by train.
BR had closed the line between Carlisle and Preston for works ( and almost certainly just to spite me ) which meant I would have taken 17 hours to get to Salisbury, so I stuck with Plan A and drove.
The reason for the GWT meeting was to update us on various matters, notably the bad publicity in the Daily Mail and Independent on the Gurkhas who have come over since the ruling last summer - Lumley's Law one might call it.
In fact, the numbers that have a problem is relatively small ( and mostly caused by GAESO's misinformation) whilst the vast majority who have done it properly for free through the GWS have been able to access help immediately on arrival if required.
Only some 150 have had to have real help, and that has been immediately organised through the GWT.
There are already some who are going back ( life here is not in the least much fun for them) and there will be lots more who come, but the Newspapers resolutely refuse to see the second chapter - the good news rather than the bad.
I believe there will be a ministerial statement soon and also a statement by JL.
Showing posts with label Gurka Welfare Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gurka Welfare Trust. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Friday, February 20, 2009
Why?
The Gurkha Welfare Trust , last year, paid 3500 Nepalee Rupees per month to it's pensioners. That was about £26. The Trust increases its payments to its pensioners in line with inflation, plus 5%, so this year the amount will be about 3700 NR.
But is this £27.03 I hear you cry.
No, it's not.
It's actually nearly £32.50 - or an extra £800,000 this year. The why, of course, is that despite Nepal being amongst the poorest countries* on earth, with more than 50% of the population unemployed, the Great British Pound ( better placed than anyone else... you know the rest) has fallen against the Nepali Rupee.
Read it and weep.
Or alternatively, make a donation here, however small.
* Nepali GDP per capita last year was about £350 cf UK per capita GDP of about £23,500 ( and compare that with the present £33,000 Brown's government has saddled us all with.
But is this £27.03 I hear you cry.
No, it's not.
It's actually nearly £32.50 - or an extra £800,000 this year. The why, of course, is that despite Nepal being amongst the poorest countries* on earth, with more than 50% of the population unemployed, the Great British Pound ( better placed than anyone else... you know the rest) has fallen against the Nepali Rupee.
Read it and weep.
Or alternatively, make a donation here, however small.
* Nepali GDP per capita last year was about £350 cf UK per capita GDP of about £23,500 ( and compare that with the present £33,000 Brown's government has saddled us all with.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Mayor's Son's Wedding and the Gurkha Welfare Trust
It is remiss of me I know but I simply haven't had the time to update the goings on since last week.
I've had two serious engagements - the first at the wedding of the Mayor of Mosna's son and the second a two day conference of the Regional Committees of the Gurkha Welfare Trust. I think I averaged about 4 hours sleep a night for the last week.
I drove to Luton and stayed the night as I needed to check in about 4am on last Friday. I can never sleep properly when I know I have to be up early - I tend to doze.
By the time Alin collected me at Cluj airport and got me to Medias the wedding party was already at the BinderBubi waiting for us. The party was already starting and ended up about 3am. It was in the best Lear traditions of doing everything BEFORE the official do - much more fun.
8am saw us in our wedding clothes and walking into the Mayor's house in Mosna, to have liqueurs and wine pressed into our hands and cakes of all sorts. The photographer was there too, and took enough pictures to fill several albums, along with a solid video which, by the time he finished will run for something like 28 hours. There's a nice touch in that the under-priest, if such a thing exists, gives a blessing to the parents of the groom and their house, and reminds the groom he should thank his mother and father for all they have done for him. We all trooped to the bride's parents house, where the scene was repeated. As part of tradition, the bride is prevented from leaving by children and the path can only be cleared by throwing money for them to scrabble for.
11 am saw us at the Medias town hall for the official wedding, and 12:30 at the Medias Romanian Orthodox Cathedral for the blessing. I was one of the candle bearers ( prestigious appointment) but I was somewhat discomfited by the fact that my candle broke and drooped. No one seemed too bothered.
So by 2pm we were on parade at the BinderBubi again, and waiting for the guests. You may say surely they would all be with us - but no. The wedding party itself is largely immediate family and friends, in this case about 20 people, with a further 200 odd for the lunch. Champagne was drunk and glasses smashed to drive away the evil spirits.
I say lunch, but most of the people didn't appear until 4 and the eating and drinking went on until past midnight. There were Romanian songs and dances, and some of the best dancers could only be described as hugely overweight, yet twirled and whirled like dervishes.
The menu was the same as it always is, with the obligatory chicken noodle soup, but in this case two extra courses - Poire Belle Helene and an extra meat and potato course at midnight.
Fortunately, the Mayor and his wife were sitting quite far from me as I was on the top table, and the parents of both sides sit in the main guest area, so I was able to avoid most of the alcohol.
The thing I enjoyed the most was that there were so many people there I knew - many more than I would have known at a wedding in Glasgow - from senators and deputies, various mayors and chiefs of police, but also the town hall cleaner and local farmer.In the strangest way it was totally egalitarian, yet each level having respect for each other and entirely as it should be.
The bride was stolen and I ransomed her for 2 bottles of whisky and a crate of beer - cheap in the circumstances - and then the envelopes with the cash started coming.
I have no idea how much was gathered in, but at a guess well over £25,000. There were a lot of very well connected people there.
The next morning Alin and I managed to do some business before the after lunch lunch started at 1pm in Mosna village hall. I had to leave by 4 pm to drive back to Cluj to catch the early flight to Luton, and again hardly slept as I had to be up around 3 am. It was a wonderful couple of days and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
I drove from Luton to Salisbury, and checked in to the White Hart hotel. They took the money off my credit card. There were 17 delegates and they did the same for everyone.
Except the Trust had already paid for the rooms and where horrified when I told them about it later.
The Trust did us proud with excellent food and drink ( elderflower cordial in my case) for the next two days. Despite getting into bed by 11 pm each night, we all had homework and position papers to read for questions the next day, hence the lack of sleep.
Two particular things struck me.
Firstly, DFID has been partnering the GWT in a water project in Nepal on a £ for £ basis, to the tune of £1.4million each annually. DFID announced they were pulling out of it last month, for the year starting 1st April. The Trust, because they are slightly more honourable than the Government, have decided to shoulder the whole cost, as it is a good for the whole community. The second was the method whereby the MOD always paid all the costs of GWT operations ( as opposed to charity) in Nepal, and this is written in a legal document governing the recruitment and medical requirements of Gurkhas throughout their lives. At the same time as scrapping the water project, they cut their contribution to these operations by 25%. Really honourable people,the MOD. Naturally, the GWT has taken on these extra expenses.
At the conference,Nepalese curries were consumed with great gusto, and much good work was done. One of the most interesting lectures was a series of slides showing Nepal ten years ago and now - the most obvious changes were the gigantic mud and mountain landslides that change the geography and destroy man's puny efforts.
I left about 2pm on Wednesday and went to visit my old Maths teacher who lives just outside Salisbury. We spent a happy hour chatting ( I wish I could say we swopped mental arithmetic problems and giggled furiously at them) and then I set off for the long slog back.
And of course I couldn't sleep when I got to bed just before 1am...
I've had two serious engagements - the first at the wedding of the Mayor of Mosna's son and the second a two day conference of the Regional Committees of the Gurkha Welfare Trust. I think I averaged about 4 hours sleep a night for the last week.
I drove to Luton and stayed the night as I needed to check in about 4am on last Friday. I can never sleep properly when I know I have to be up early - I tend to doze.
By the time Alin collected me at Cluj airport and got me to Medias the wedding party was already at the BinderBubi waiting for us. The party was already starting and ended up about 3am. It was in the best Lear traditions of doing everything BEFORE the official do - much more fun.
8am saw us in our wedding clothes and walking into the Mayor's house in Mosna, to have liqueurs and wine pressed into our hands and cakes of all sorts. The photographer was there too, and took enough pictures to fill several albums, along with a solid video which, by the time he finished will run for something like 28 hours. There's a nice touch in that the under-priest, if such a thing exists, gives a blessing to the parents of the groom and their house, and reminds the groom he should thank his mother and father for all they have done for him. We all trooped to the bride's parents house, where the scene was repeated. As part of tradition, the bride is prevented from leaving by children and the path can only be cleared by throwing money for them to scrabble for.
11 am saw us at the Medias town hall for the official wedding, and 12:30 at the Medias Romanian Orthodox Cathedral for the blessing. I was one of the candle bearers ( prestigious appointment) but I was somewhat discomfited by the fact that my candle broke and drooped. No one seemed too bothered.
So by 2pm we were on parade at the BinderBubi again, and waiting for the guests. You may say surely they would all be with us - but no. The wedding party itself is largely immediate family and friends, in this case about 20 people, with a further 200 odd for the lunch. Champagne was drunk and glasses smashed to drive away the evil spirits.
I say lunch, but most of the people didn't appear until 4 and the eating and drinking went on until past midnight. There were Romanian songs and dances, and some of the best dancers could only be described as hugely overweight, yet twirled and whirled like dervishes.
The menu was the same as it always is, with the obligatory chicken noodle soup, but in this case two extra courses - Poire Belle Helene and an extra meat and potato course at midnight.
Fortunately, the Mayor and his wife were sitting quite far from me as I was on the top table, and the parents of both sides sit in the main guest area, so I was able to avoid most of the alcohol.
The thing I enjoyed the most was that there were so many people there I knew - many more than I would have known at a wedding in Glasgow - from senators and deputies, various mayors and chiefs of police, but also the town hall cleaner and local farmer.In the strangest way it was totally egalitarian, yet each level having respect for each other and entirely as it should be.
The bride was stolen and I ransomed her for 2 bottles of whisky and a crate of beer - cheap in the circumstances - and then the envelopes with the cash started coming.
I have no idea how much was gathered in, but at a guess well over £25,000. There were a lot of very well connected people there.
The next morning Alin and I managed to do some business before the after lunch lunch started at 1pm in Mosna village hall. I had to leave by 4 pm to drive back to Cluj to catch the early flight to Luton, and again hardly slept as I had to be up around 3 am. It was a wonderful couple of days and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
I drove from Luton to Salisbury, and checked in to the White Hart hotel. They took the money off my credit card. There were 17 delegates and they did the same for everyone.
Except the Trust had already paid for the rooms and where horrified when I told them about it later.
The Trust did us proud with excellent food and drink ( elderflower cordial in my case) for the next two days. Despite getting into bed by 11 pm each night, we all had homework and position papers to read for questions the next day, hence the lack of sleep.
Two particular things struck me.
Firstly, DFID has been partnering the GWT in a water project in Nepal on a £ for £ basis, to the tune of £1.4million each annually. DFID announced they were pulling out of it last month, for the year starting 1st April. The Trust, because they are slightly more honourable than the Government, have decided to shoulder the whole cost, as it is a good for the whole community. The second was the method whereby the MOD always paid all the costs of GWT operations ( as opposed to charity) in Nepal, and this is written in a legal document governing the recruitment and medical requirements of Gurkhas throughout their lives. At the same time as scrapping the water project, they cut their contribution to these operations by 25%. Really honourable people,the MOD. Naturally, the GWT has taken on these extra expenses.
At the conference,Nepalese curries were consumed with great gusto, and much good work was done. One of the most interesting lectures was a series of slides showing Nepal ten years ago and now - the most obvious changes were the gigantic mud and mountain landslides that change the geography and destroy man's puny efforts.
I left about 2pm on Wednesday and went to visit my old Maths teacher who lives just outside Salisbury. We spent a happy hour chatting ( I wish I could say we swopped mental arithmetic problems and giggled furiously at them) and then I set off for the long slog back.
And of course I couldn't sleep when I got to bed just before 1am...
Monday, February 02, 2009
How to win friends and influence people..
I spent a delightful weekend up north at Drumnadrochit by Loch Ness. I was there because I was collecting a cheque for the Gurkha Welfare Trust from Nairn Royal British Legion.
Friends invited us for the night before, which culminated in my breaking my " I only drink abroad" rule, because our host, a larger than life character in every sense of the words, produced an exceptional dessert wine at perfect temperature and really choccie profiteroles.
What can a chap do? His wife and I drank most of it as the other side of the table was busy lashing into the rather good red ( I'm told) and we got through the pudding wine before they had much chance to object.
Sunday dawned as only Scotland can in the winter - fantastic light, sun low and glinting off the loch. The frost lay all around and the sheep surrounded us when we went for a walk and watched the dog, who kept his distance.
I collected the cheque and was told the following tale.
The RBL at Nairn was built in the late 20's on land given by the "big hoose" and built by ex-servicemen with donations and their bare hands. It now has two of it's facades listed, one A grade the other B grade.
A few years ago, as with many of these things, the older members were dying off, and no new ones were coming on. There was great discussion about continuing, and one or two members thought it should close - one being particularly vociferous.
Quite by chance, a member who had lived in Nairn all his life, apart from his Naval service and his oil-rig work, but was a virtual non-attender, happened to be in Inverness one day and spotted the vociferous member going into Inverness Council offices. Intrigued, he followed at a distance and saw him going into the planning department.
After the vociferous one left, he sauntered in and said " Oh, Mr. So-and-so was just in here - he asked me to pop back and pick up a copy of the plans"
Which were produced.
And which turned out to be of the RBL,Nairn.
So our Naval Friend attended the next general meeting and brought the matter up, and suddenly found himself voted in as Secretary.
Being a mere stripling of 62, he quickly got to work rounding up lapsed members, and approached the huge airbase at Kinloss. Retiring troops were contacted on their return to the area, and events were welcomed into the building, such as dances, bingo nights, weddings and the like.
The overall result is that three years later RBL Nairn is a vibrant thrusting community which goes its own way to secure its future.
Of course, the members are fiercely loyal to themselves, their country and those still serving.
If only others were as strong in their loyalty.
PS
I forgot to mention that Mrs. Lear insisted on a stop on the way down at House of Bruar
Friends invited us for the night before, which culminated in my breaking my " I only drink abroad" rule, because our host, a larger than life character in every sense of the words, produced an exceptional dessert wine at perfect temperature and really choccie profiteroles.
What can a chap do? His wife and I drank most of it as the other side of the table was busy lashing into the rather good red ( I'm told) and we got through the pudding wine before they had much chance to object.
Sunday dawned as only Scotland can in the winter - fantastic light, sun low and glinting off the loch. The frost lay all around and the sheep surrounded us when we went for a walk and watched the dog, who kept his distance.
I collected the cheque and was told the following tale.
The RBL at Nairn was built in the late 20's on land given by the "big hoose" and built by ex-servicemen with donations and their bare hands. It now has two of it's facades listed, one A grade the other B grade.
A few years ago, as with many of these things, the older members were dying off, and no new ones were coming on. There was great discussion about continuing, and one or two members thought it should close - one being particularly vociferous.
Quite by chance, a member who had lived in Nairn all his life, apart from his Naval service and his oil-rig work, but was a virtual non-attender, happened to be in Inverness one day and spotted the vociferous member going into Inverness Council offices. Intrigued, he followed at a distance and saw him going into the planning department.
After the vociferous one left, he sauntered in and said " Oh, Mr. So-and-so was just in here - he asked me to pop back and pick up a copy of the plans"
Which were produced.
And which turned out to be of the RBL,Nairn.
So our Naval Friend attended the next general meeting and brought the matter up, and suddenly found himself voted in as Secretary.
Being a mere stripling of 62, he quickly got to work rounding up lapsed members, and approached the huge airbase at Kinloss. Retiring troops were contacted on their return to the area, and events were welcomed into the building, such as dances, bingo nights, weddings and the like.
The overall result is that three years later RBL Nairn is a vibrant thrusting community which goes its own way to secure its future.
Of course, the members are fiercely loyal to themselves, their country and those still serving.
If only others were as strong in their loyalty.
PS
I forgot to mention that Mrs. Lear insisted on a stop on the way down at House of Bruar
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