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The main event organised by the DDNF is the Annual Reunion Weekend, held in Portsmouth on the Saturday and Sunday nearest to the anniversary of D-Day.
Annual Dinner The DDNF Annual Dinner for 2011 was held at the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea on Saturday, 4 June. The Royal Beach Hotel is a very appropriate venue for the dinner as it looks out on South Parade Pier, from which many men embarked for Normandy in the summer of 1944, and it is close to the D-Day Memorial Stone unveiled by Field Marshal Montgomery in 1948. There was a welcome increase in the number of members and guests attending in comparison with last year, including the usual excellent turnout from the Birmingham branch. At the end of a most enjoyable evening the younger members present stood to drink the traditional toast to ‘The Veterans’. Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance The Fellowship’s 2011 Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance at Portsmouth Cathedral took place on Sunday, 5 June, the eve of the 67th anniversary of D-Day. The Deputy Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, the Second Sea Lord and a number of other dignitaries were present. There was the usual excellent contribution from the Cathedral Choir, arranged by Dr David Price, the Cathedral Organist and Master of the Choristers, who is a member of the Fellowship’s Committee. After the entry of the choir and clergy, one of the Fellowship’s Books of Remembrance, which are kept at the Cathedral and contain the names of all past and present members, was taken up to the table before the altar by Ron Plater, the Fellowship’s retiring Treasurer. The Address was given by the Venerable Martin Poll, RN QHC, Archdeacon for the Royal Navy. At the end of the Service members and others attending gathered for refreshments in the Nave of the Cathedral. |
Annual Dinner 
Refreshments in the nave |