League Secretary's Notes.
THE YPRES TIMES
219
TO OUR NEW MEMBERS.
We look forward in each edition of the
Ypres Times to welcome those who have joined
the League during the last quarter.
Since April we are glad to report a steady flow
of new members who have come to our assistance
from all parts of the world but there are still
many thousands with tender memories of the
old days in Flanders who ought to belong to the
Ypres League, and we make a strong appeal to
all new members „to get in touch with your
ex-service friends, and persuade them to come
forward and share the work of keeping alive the
great deeds, sacrifices, and fellowship of the war.
We ask you all to make yourselves well
acquainted with the aims and objects of our
Association, and we shall always be delighted
to supply you with membership forms at your
kind request.
We would like you to remind your friends
that a Scroll Certificate is given as a record of
service to all who sèrved in the Ypres Salient, and
to those whose relatives died in its Immortal
Defence. You will earn our deepest gratitude
by doing all in your power to support us in our
work of commemoration.
We request that you give as much publicity as
possible to our pilgrimages to the Ypres Salient.
These tours are always conducted by the
Secretary, and by this means we are able to
come in personal contact with members and
their friends.
TO BRANCH SECRETARIES AND
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
It is a pleasure to announce that we have
been fortunate to secure the services of Mr. O. G.
Johnson and Mr. W. H. Taylor, who have
kindly consented to act as our Corresponding
Members for Loughton, and Colchester
respectively, and we wish them every success in
their future efforts in furthering the aims and
objects of the League.
We thank all who have given valuable help
in recruiting during the past three months.
Special thanks are due to our Purley Branch,
who have added so considerably to our member
ship as a result of their re-union Dinner, held
on April 17th, particulars of which will be found
on page 218. We heartily congratulate this
Branch, under the able direction of Major H. G.
Harris (Chairman) and Major Graham Carr
(Hon. Secretary), and in addition we are very
grateful for the support of Capt. E. Featherstone,
the former Branch Secretary. We trust that
Purley's good example will be followed by other
provincial branches.
Mr. L. E. P. Foot (Conn., U.S.A.), Capt.
Wilkinson (Sheffield), Mrs. R. H. Hill (Birming
ham), Capt. Maslin (New York), and London
County Committee have also deserved our
grateful thanks for their continued work in
recruiting.
Good news comes from Colonel E. G. Crouch,
our Corresponding Member for Gateshead. He
has lately been giving addresses on the objects
of the League to the Newcastle Limbless
Ex-Servicemen's Association, and to the Felling
and District National Disabled Ex-Servicemen's
Association. We have received a letter from
Mr. J. T. Miller (Hon. Secretary of the Felling
Association) to the effect that the members were
giving serious consideration to forming a branch
of the League in the near future. We hope to
be able to say more about the prospects of this
coming branch in the next October Ypres
Times.
It has been a great pleasure for us at Head
quarters to have had welcome visits from
Colonel G. J. Henderson, now home from
Kenya Colony. He arrived in time to attend
our Annual Dinner, which was a very successful
re-union, thanks to the excellent arrangements
made by our London County Committee (see
page 217).
Our Easter pilgrimage to Ypres was favoured
with beautiful weather, and the party spent
their week-end visiting the cemeteries and old
battle haunts.
At Whitsuntide we organized our usual
pilgrimage to Ypres, and in addition a party
of forty-five members of the South Wales
Borderers travelled under our auspices to unveil
their Memorial at Gheluvelt, an account of
which appears on page 200. Also at Whitsuntide
we defrayed the entire expenses of a party of
poor pilgrims from their homes in Halifax to
the cemeteries around Amiens.
On July 6th, we are organizing another free
pilgrimage for the purpose of visiting graves
situated in the Ypres Salient. Our August
Bank Holiday pilgrimage to Ypres will take
place from August 3rd6th.
The latest League publication, Ypres,
Outpost of the Channel Ports," is now on sale
at Headquarters, and may also be obtained
from our representative at Ypres, Capt.
Parminter, 19 Rue Surmont de Volsberg, and
from his Ostend headquarters, 16 Galerie James
Ensor. All those wishing to revisit the present-
day battlefields of the Salient should buy a copy,
price 2s. 6d., post free 2S. iod.
In conclusion, it is our desire to ask Branch
Secretaries and Corresponding Members to
make their best endeavours to increase the
interest of the League, and we feel confident in
your kind support.