viii The President’s Dispatch Admiral Sir Jonathon Band Connected as I am to a good number of organisations, charities, societies and clubs, I receive a large number of journals. I am therefore able to compare the quality of editorship, presentation and content of them. So I can tell you that we are amazingly well served by ours. It is, therefore, an honour to be invited to pass on some thoughts from my position as your President. One of our strengths is the range of events and activities in which our members are involved. This reflects initiative, energy, imagination and plain hard work and they are key ingredients for success as we take the Club forward. As our future course is plotted it will be important to continue our strategy of visiting and maintaining the graves of the admirals and captains. This is not just because this activity is our core object but also because it will, if properly promoted, give us regional publicity. This is vital if we are to maintain, and if possible, increase our UK membership. Strong membership is crucial for the long-term viability of the Club and I believe ours should be bigger and not just at home but also abroad. In view of the interest in our period of naval history in both the USA and Canada we should be attracting new members from these countries. Let’s see if you can help. Continuing on the theme of relevance and membership, I am pleased to hear that we are continuing to engage in a strong educational theme. The schools programme is vital in this regard as we must endeavour to sow early the seed of maritime understanding. The continuation of the Colin White Memorial lecture is very good news and I am personally delighted with the lectures initiative at Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth. As many of you know, one of my personal crusades, and you might say hardly surprising for a former First Sea Lord, is helping to promote maritime understanding. That is why I am so keen for our Club to play its part, which I must say it does. Indeed, I would say we punch above our weight. This year I have been supporting the Battle of Atlantic 70 commemorations in London and Liverpool. May 1943 was the month when the campaign turned in our favour and so May was chosen as the month to hold events. The main focus was Liverpool, which of course was the key port for the import of food, supplies and war material. It also provided the Naval Headquarters. Surprisingly the weather was on our side and huge crowds
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