Remembrance Sunday 2023

On Sunday 12th November there will be a full parade, service and silence followed by the laying of wreaths at the War Memorial in Market Square.

The service will start promptly at 10.50 am so be sure to arrive in good time or follow the procession from the High Street.

Being situated in Market Square our doors will be open as usual for refreshments to the public as well as members, and a shelter in case of rain.

According to the Spelthorne Borough Council website, the Remembrance Sunday itinerary will be as follows:

• 10.15 am Public and uniform groups to convene opposite the Elmsleigh Centre, Staines High Street
• 10.40 am All to process through to Market Square
• 10.50 am Assemble at the War Memorial for a short service conducted by Bev Bradbury, Staines Chaplain
• 11.00 am The Silence
• 11.02 am Laying of wreaths

Our doors will be open from 10.30 am with tea and coffee available from the bar.

A full bar service will be available following the service, along with a hot and cold buffet.

All are welcome to pop in and make use of our facilities, meet up with friends and family, and maybe join in the sing-along to some of our best loved tunes from the era.

Elvis Tribute Live!

Everyone loves a good tribute act, and they don’t come much better than this one!

Older members might remember the Abba Stars evening where the club was at full capacity.

This time it’s the return of Elvis, a tribute act performed by none other than the third place winner of the European Elvis Championships, Steve Knight!

You can check out his Facebook profile HERE

Dust off your blue suede shoes and come early (we suggest before 7pm) as once we are full there will be no admittance.

Free to members and just £3.00 for visitors including the usual guest fee.

Back in the day Allan was a much revered manager of football teams in the local leagues, elevating some players to greater heights and top flight careers, while creating fond memories of their adventures together which have stood the test of time. 

[See image gallery at stainesconservativeclub.co.uk]

On Sunday 13th November there will be a full parade, service and silence followed by the laying of wreaths at the War Memorial in Market Square.

There are also rumours of a Spitfire display on Sunday 6th November at the Two Rivers site to promote awareness and raise money for the poppy appeal, a week before the main event.

According to the Spelthorne Borough Council website, the Remembrance Sunday itinerary will be as follows:

• 10.15 am Public and uniform groups to convene opposite the Elmsleigh Centre, Staines High Street
• 10.40 am All to process through to Market Square
• 10.50 am Assemble at the War Memorial for a short service conducted by Bev Bradbury, Staines Chaplain
• 11.00 am The Silence
• 11.02 am Laying of wreaths

Our doors will be open from 10.30 am with tea and coffee available from the bar.

A full bar service will be available following the service, along with a hot and cold buffet.

All are welcome to pop in and make use of our facilities, meet up with friends and family, and maybe join in the sing-along to some of our best loved tunes from the era.

With so many events competing for your attention, we will be keeping it simple. Raise a glass or two in honour of our Queen and take advantage of our Happy Hour each day where drinks will be half price!

Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th June 17:00 to 18:00

Sunday 5th June 15:00 to 16:00

Wear something patriotic for a chance to win a spot prize!

All your favourite events for the festive season return this December, starting with a Christmas warm-up party on 11th and concluding with live music on New Year’s eve.

No expense has been incurred with the decorations as we recycle the barely used ones from 2020, the bar is fully stocked, and we have some real Christmas crackers for you – events that is!

Christmas celebrations last year might have passed you by or left you underwhelmed due to the constantly changing restrictions, so this year we are making extra effort to bring you more than just mistletoe and wine.

The season starts Saturday 11^th December with a Christmas Warm Up Party to help shake off the winter blues and get you in a festive mood, with 70’s and 80’s dance music brought to you by a live DJ and spot prizes on the night for those who embrace the vibe of the night in the most impressive style.

The full calendar of events for December is as follows:

Saturday 11th December – Live DJ with dance music from the 70’s and 80’s, and spot prizes on the night

Friday 17th December – Christmas carol sing-along followed by the Christmas Raffle draw – raffle tickets available from the bar

Friday 24th December – Christmas Eve live music with Lee Rivers, well known 50’s and 60’s rock ‘n’ roll covers from 9pm

Saturday 25th December – Christmas Day opening 12.00 to 3.00 pm

Friday 31st December – New Year’s Eve live music with Freeze Frame – see in the new year with more 80’s faves and an extension to 1.00 am. Tickets £5.00 members and £8.00 non members, available from the bar

Every Thursday – our very popular Quiz night and meat raffle

For updates please see our EVENTS PAGE

In between, have a break from the Christmas shopping and take advantage of our special offer meal deals between 12pm and 4pm Tuesday to Friday weekly. New additions to the bar include Doom Bar and Doom Bar Zero by the bottle, a variety of gins, plus we have a wide selection of wines from single serve to premium 70cl bottles.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you at one or more of our upcoming events!

This Sunday 14th November there will be a service and silence followed by the laying of wreaths at the War Memorial in Market Square.

So no parade as such, but the occasion will be closer to what we have become accustomed to in the past.

According to the Spelthorne Borough Council website, the itinerary will be as follows:

• 10.15 am Cadet and uniform groups assemble at the War Memorial, Market Square
• 10.45 am Service conducted by Bev Bradbury, Chaplain
• 11.00 am The Silence
• 11.02 am Laying of wreaths

Our doors will be open from 10.30 am with tea and coffee available from the bar.

A full bar service will be available following the service, along with a hot and cold buffet including allotment soup and Gurkha curry.

All are welcome to pop in and make use of our facilities, meet up with friends and family, and maybe join in the sing-along to some of our best loved tunes from the era.

Cashback Or Donations?

If you regularly shop online you might already be aware of the cashback options from sites like Topcashback and Cently that will credit a few pennies to your account when you use their app or browser extension when you make purchases.

There are drawbacks to using these sites as you have to build up credit beyond a set threshold before you can transfer the money back to your account, and in my experience it doesn’t always show up in any case.

Free Donations When You Shop

Rather than clawing back a few pence here and a pound there, have you ever considered that charity organisations can benefit greatly from the combined power of shoppers all over the world? Simply selecting a charity with a few clicks will ensure they receive a set percentage from your purchases automatically.

Amazon Smile

When you smile, the whole world smiles with you. The whole Amazon world that is. Yes, you can now shop on Amazon and have 0.5% of your purchases donated to a charity of your choice. Once you have made your selection all you need to do is to remember to use the Amazon Smile link before browsing and shopping.

The site is essentially the same as the familiar site, with the same products and prices. Amazon do not pay to advertise Smile which is how they are able to cover the donations without increasing any prices. This is also why it is important to get the word out to a wider audience.

Easyfundraising

For almost everything else there is Easyfundraising.org, a site that a considerable number of retailers are signed up to (over 5,000), with more being added weekly.

It was originally conceived as a platform for lesser known charities to raise donations, and if you are involved with a local charity you can easily register and use their campaign templates to get the message to your followers.

With a few clicks you can add the app extension to your browser (no technical skill required), and it will alert you when you visit a site that is registered with them. All you have to do is confirm that you want the retailer to make a donation on your behalf, to the charity you have chosen, when you checkout.

All the instructions are on the site and you can start making a difference straight away.

Support the Royal British Legion Centenary Poppy Appeal and buy your poppies and merchandise direct from their online Poppy Shop.

Many businesses have benefited from the move to online sales and for some it has been a welcome lifeline during the pandemic.

You may remember that last year’s Poppy Appeal was severely disrupted, and services across Britain on Remembrance Day held remotely.

The Royal British Legion were forced to come up with some innovative ways of raising funds without relying on the usual collection boxes, and so they created Poppies In The Post as a way for people to order poppies for themselves and to distribute to family and friends.

It was a logical progression therefore to create an online shop where anyone could purchase Poppy Pins along with other merchandise. The RBL are now in their centenary year and have extended their range to include Centenary items, a Vera Lynn collection and rugby and football team pins.

Captain Sir Tom Poppy Pin

Dame Vera Lynn Collection

100 percent of the profits go to the Royal British Legion charity to help support serving and ex-serving Armed Forces personnel.

Visit the RBL Poppy Shop Now!

Do you remember the year the Rubik’s Cube was invented? It was the same year Abba won the Eurovision song contest in Brighton, Leeds topped the first division while Manchester United were relegated. David Essex topped the charts with “Gonna Make You A Star”, Ceefax was launched, Bagpuss was first aired and a pint of beer was around 22p. It was also around the time that Lord Lucan disappeared, although Jeanie says he has now stopped sending her postcards.

That year was 1974.

According to our sources it was 47 years ago that Jeanie first graced us with her bar skills and has therefore had to endure a few bar stewards in her time. Despite her small stature she was regularly seen in tow behind a vacuum cleaner and she was an expert with a mop, which many of us saw the wrong end of when caught being cheeky.

Jeanie’s service spans across six decades, nine prime ministers (Harold Wilson to Boris Johnson), and more than 12,000 episodes of Coronation Street. Only the carpet has served longer, and it doesn’t scrub up as well.

Although Jeanie will no longer be a regular member of staff you will be pleased to know that on Thursday 19th August she was awarded an honorary membership at a low-key ceremony, and we all hope she makes good use of it from now on so we can continue to enjoy her wit, wisdom and anecdotes.

If you have any favourite moments you would like to share, post them in the comments below!