£150,000 grant approved for work on Bognor Regis RAFA headquarters

The money from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust will be used to upgrade facilities at the club, as well as significant improve its catering facilities to allow it to provide bar food on a daily basis, more substantial lunches at the weekends and themed nights.

Branch chairman Cliff Mewett said: “When the works are completed we will have an RAF Association Branch Club second to none, which will provide facilities that will better support veterans from all branches of the services, provide a good standard of catering and we will have a building in which we can enjoy, with the community, all the social activities we have enjoyed in the past.

“Veterans’ Breakfasts, which we started in March, will continue and we will be able to provide military style dining-in nights for veterans and serving personnel.

“We also look forward to sharing our facilities with the community for national and local events, festivals and as a place for local businesses and groups to meet, to hold seminars and for training.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented immense challenges for the club, and Cliff said the rates grant and furlough support for staff had been a great help in getting the branch through this difficult period.

He said: “We are also immensely grateful to those loyal members who have continued to pay their membership subscriptions, even adding significant donations in some cases.”

“A core of dedicated and committed volunteers have been keeping things going, contacting our members and providing support to those in need. Whether it was for shopping for groceries, delivery of medicines, even emergency repairs to their homes or just a friendly voice on the end of a telephone, our volunteers have been there for them. Some have been raising much needed funds through the sale of books and plants, making face masks and keeping our spirits high with running open mic’s and quizzes.”

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