League Secretary's Notes.
THE YPRES TIMES
121
TO OUR NEW MEMBERS.
It is always a pleasant duty to welcome new-
members and this quarter has been specially
encouraging by reason of the numbers who
have joined.
I want you to realize that the duration of the
league's life must be ultimately determined by
the length of its membership roll, and that
your individual effort and support are important
factors in its upward or downward trend. Do
not be satisfied by merely becoming a member.
Promote our objects among your circle get
others to join and mention the beautiful scroll
certificate designed by Sir Bernard Partridge,
which is issued to those members who served
in the Salient or whose relatives and friends
died in its defence.
The first aim of the League is, as you are
aware, to commemorate the heroism and
sacrifice of the men who through four long years
held Ypres against the attacks of a ruthless foe.
We desire to keep the events of these years from
passing altogether from men's minds to-day
and to capture the interest of youth in deeds
which have added a glorious page to the annals
of the history of our Empire.
At this season of the year our thoughts go
back to Passchendaele in the autumn of 1917
that autumn of mud and toil which strained
men's power of endurance almost to breaking
point and to the crowning victory of the
autumn of 1918 which was the outcome of that
spirit of indomitable courage, for which those
who fought and fell in the defence of Ypres
will be for ever renowned.
These are the things on which the Ypres
League fc cusses attention these the things for
which it inscribes an undying gratitude. We
need the help of each one of our members to
extend the work, of which the foundation was
laid eight years ago. Our ambition is to build
for all time.
TO BRANCH SECRETARIES AND
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
Before I proceed to give a short account of
the League's activities during the past three
months, I have a request to make which I hope
may not prove too exacting to be granted.
At our last Annual General Meeting held on
June 25th of the present year a strong desire
to become more closely acquainted with your
work was expressed, and it was suggested that
I should approach you on the subject with
a view to obtaining such reports as you might be
kind enough to furnish over a period of, say,
two years, where branches have been in
existence for several years this to apply also
in the case of Corresponding Members. In
cases where the branches are younger (the same
to apply to Corresponding Members) the period
covered by the report may be left to the
discretion of those responsible. Such reports
should reach Headquarters not later than
January, 1929, and as early in the month as
may be possible.
We are looking forward to further expansion
in Canada, where it is hoped that the nucleus
of a new Branch will be formed at Magog,
Quebec, by ten members of the First Company
Canadian Rangers," who have applied for
membership and at the same time intimated
their desire to form a Branch. Their interest
in our Association was aroused by an excellent
article on the work of the League which
appeared in the Montreal Star through the
kind instrumentality of its London representative,
Mr. J. E. Poole, to whom we are greatly indebted.
We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Briggs (late
Corresponding Member at Harrogate) very
heartily as joint Corresponding Member with
Mr. C. E. King, Broadstairs, she having kindly
consented to fill this office since the publication
of my last letter, when the matter was still in
abeyance.
We are grateful to all for their continued help
and support. Our special thanks are due to
Capt. R. Henderson-Bland for promoting the
League's interests in New York and sending us
members to Mrs. Lindesay Kelsall (Melrose)
for her never-failing energy and many acts of
kindness, of which we have recently had still
further proof to Capt. P. W. Burgess (Madrid)
who loyally upholds our cause in Spain to
Major Cardinal-Harford who continues to send
us members and to our Gateshead Branch for
the same valuable contribution.
The high-water mark of new members reached
in the quarter ending April 1st has been consider
ably exceeded this quarter. This is largely to
be attributed to the number of pilgrims who
have applied for membership. The many letters
received bear testimony to the general satisfac
tion with our travel arrangements and to the
consolation which such pilgrimages are the
means of bringing to aching hearts, whose
grief is partially assuaged by the sight of the
carefully tended resting place of a loved one.
The letters are often very touching in their
gratitude, falteringly and simply expressed.
In another page appear the respective
accounts of our Free Pilgrimage to the Menin
Gate and Tyne Cot Memorials on June 30th
and the Bank Holiday Pilgrimage to Ypres in
August, so that I will not treat them in detail
here. But before leaving the subject of travel
I think my readers may be interested in the
