LEAGUE SECRETARY'S NOTES.
The Ypres Times.
169
TO OUR NEW MEMBERS.
We have no more pleasant duty to perform each
quarter than that of extending a very hearty
welcome to our new members.
1927 has certainly started well, and the number
of new members recruited in J anuary and February
has been above the average, which is encouraging.
We are looking forward to a prosperous year to
make up for the losses suffered during the long
period of strikes in 1926, and we appeal to you for
your co-operation in helping us in your turn to
increase our membership.
The league's great aim is to perpetuate the
spirit of Ypres. Let it not be said of any of us
who served in the old Salient and saw how our
comrades fought and died that we are allowing
their sacrifice to be forgotten in the press and
hurry of our busy and often over-full lives. It is
our duty to keep such a commemoration alive,
and the League offers us one of the best and most
fitting opportunities for so doing.
We shall be glad to send you pamphlets and
application forms for membership by return of
post. As you are aware, life membership is
/2 10s., and annual membership 5s. Those who
have not actually served in the SaUent, nor lost
relatives there, can become members if they are
in sympathy with our objects, but they do not
receive the scroll certificate.
Make it your aim to recruit at least one member
between now and next quarter and thereby earn,
not only the gratitude of Headquarters, but enjoy
the satisfaction of knowing that you too have
done your bit."
TO BRANCH SECRETARIES AND
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
Before giving a short account of the work of
the last quarter I am pleased to report the
formation of a new branch at I'urley by Major
H. G. Harris (Chairman), whom we welcome very
heartily to our ranks, together with three new
Corresponding Members, namely, Mr. A. Mickle-
burgh (Norwich), Mr. A. C. Tomlinson (Llanrwst)
and Mr. S. Hook (Yeovil).
During the past quarter our membership has
increased steadily, and in this connection it may
interest my readers to hear that in consequence
of strong efforts made by Headquarters we were
successful in regaining 153 lapsed members in
1926. I have also very great pleasure in placing
on record the fine performance of Mr. Duncan
Arthur (Congleton), who in one month has sent
us 60 members. Mr. Duncan Arthur is responsible
for recruiting 104 members in two years.
The Ypres Times continues to have a good
circulation, but we are in need of more contribu
tions, especially those dealing with battle actions.
Some of you may, perhaps, be able to supply
articles for submission to the Editor. MSS. would
be gratefully received and every care taken to
return them to readers in the event of their not
being suitable for publication.
The League lantern-slide lecture has been much
in request lately and has been given with success
to interested audiences in different parts of the
country.
Our travel season has now begun and various
Regimental Associations have asked us to make
arrangements for their members to visit the
battlefields in France and Belgium in large parties.
In addition to the Easter Pilgrimage, which at the
time of going to press numbers 50 persons, we
hope to conduct a pilgrimage to the Somme at
Whitsuntide and another to Ypres for the August
Bank Holiday. We expect also to arrange for
a pilgrimage to Ypres on the occasion of the
unveiling of the Menin Gate Memorial, when the
date of this ceremony is officially announced.
May I ask you to help us again this season, as
you have been kind enough to do in the past, by
interesting your local Press in our pilgrimages,
and by distributing our prospectuses and travel-
guides in your area We shall be very pleased to
send a supply on application.
The numbers of the J uuior Division have again
been considerably augmented through the instru
mentality of our energetic and enthusiastic
supporter, Mrs. Briggs, Corresponding Member at
Harrogate, who has recently recruited eighty
more bovs at Pannal Ash College. This makes a
grand total of 155 boys from that school alone,
an achievement on which we heartily congratulate
her.
In closing this necessarily brief enumeration of
our activities we wish you a very happy Easter,
and ask you to follow us in thought as we make
our pilgrimage to a spot which is for ever sacred
to England's sons and daughters.
THE YPRES LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS
AT YPRES-
Members are cordially invited during their stay
at Ypres to visit our Headquarters at No. 19,
Rue Surmont de Volsberghe, where they will
receive a hearty welcome from our representative
(Captain P. D. Parminter).
Here, too, they will find an excellent library
comprising the majority of the war and divisional
histories, which are available for the use of all
visitors.
