Newsletter – April 2013

A belated happy New Year to you all! 2013 started with a bang, and we are having a fabulously busy season. After the drought of last summer, it was a great relief to have had very good summer rain. The bush is green and the game flourishing, with lots of young increasing the herds.

We were thrilled to welcome back many repeat guests during February and March – some for the 3rd time and another for the 8th, the ‘Raucous Drifters’ deserve a special mention for this being their 13th visit! True to their name, this visit was no quieter than the previous 12!

This year holds some exciting events:

Andrew is doing a series of lectures in England in late May/early June in aid of The David Rattray Foundation and a number of army charities. We look forward to seeing some familiar faces there.

Tuesday 28th May

Defence Academy, Shrivenham, Oxfordshire
Contact: Lt Col Nick Leadbetter atleadbetter184@btinternet.com or 01993 831571

Wednesday 29th May

Brecon Cathedral
Contact: Lt Col Mike Lewis at mlewis2@toucansurf.com or 07970 883605

Friday 31st May

Holy Cross Church, Newton Ferrers, Devon
Contact: Lesley Challacombe at singerEA@aol.com or 01752 872233

Saturday 1st June

Wyvern Barracks, Exeter
Contact: ABF The Soldiers’ Charity Regional Office, Exeter, at southwest@soldierscharity.orgor 01392 492650

Monday 3rd June

Cathedral School, Hereford
Contact: TBC

Tuesday 4th June

Cathedral School, Hereford (This is a private event)

Wednesday 5th June

North Devon (location TBC)
Contact: ABF The Soldiers’ Charity Regional Office, Exeter, at southwest@soldierscharity.orgor 01392 492650

Thursday 6th June

Plymouth College, Plymouth (This is a private event)

Friday 7th June

Plymouth College, Plymouth
Contact: ABF The Soldiers’ Charity Regional Office, Exeter, at southwest@soldierscharity.orgor 01392 492650

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Some of you may remember the Guide Book to the Anglo Zulu War that David and Adrian Greaves wrote which has been out of print for some years. It has been republished and will be available from the Lodge in the next few weeks.

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Some dates to remember:

14-17 June – Battlefields by Bike, join us for some exciting mountain biking to Isandlwana and back to Rorke’s Drift

19-21 July – The Rattrace, a fun filled weekend of mountain biking in aid of The David Rattray Foundation

Contactreservations@fugitivesdrift.com for information on the low rates we are offering for these weekends as well as our Winter special rate.

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Next week our gappers, Greg, Will and Harry, leave. The change in them is remarkable – from the lily-white boys who arrived 6 months ago, to the tanned mature young men (with calloused hands) who leave. We will miss them, and thank them for all their hard work.

We were pleased to have three young officers from the Royal Welsh Regiment (the successor Regiment to the 24th of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift fame) with us for the past month – Adam Aroskin, James Murgatroyd and Glen Pooley. They did a great job of keeping the regimental flag flying here by entertaining guests and taking walks, not to mention the odd bit of hard labour! In addition they volunteered to help The David Rattray Foundation collect the statistical data and exam results from each of the DRF schools which, among other things, provides input to some of our decisions. Last week we said our farewells as they returned to their regimental duties.

We do have a vacancy for one or two gappers from June/July onwards.
Contact nicky@fugitivesdrift.com

Thank you all for your support and we look forward to seeing you here soon.
With kind regards,
Nicky and the Team

PS Follow us on www.facebook.com/FugitivesDriftRorkesDrift