British legion helps royal Navy afloat!

(nearest camera) Chairman of the Cyprus Branch, Royal British Legion.

British legion helps keep royal navy afloat!

by Derek Tongs

The Cyprus Branch of the Royal British Legion recently presented the Cyprus Branch of the Royal Naval Association with an impressive model of a yacht as a gesture of goodwill between the two Associations.

Making the presentation, John Hewitt Chairman of the Cyprus Branch of the RBL welcomed Lt Cdr. “Nobby” Hall, Chairman of the local Branch of the RNA who assured him that the yacht would be kept shipshape and treasured whilst in the keeping of the Royal Naval Association. In thanking John Hewitt, Lt Cdr Hall said the presentation could not have come at a more appropriate time as he himself had only a few days before, returned from a two-week sailing trip off the east coast of America!

It took Tom Jones of Vasa, with the aid of his wife Gladys who made the sails, three years to complete the yacht. It was originally a model of a Norwegian yacht called the “Dragen” but, in its new role, has been more appropriately renamed the “Legionnaire”.

Lt Cdr “Nobby” Hall explaining the intricacies of sailing to John Hewitt,