The new venue, The Bridge at Dumfries, was a fantastic place for us to come together and Dumfries Council welcomed us and helped to support parts of the programme for delegates. In total, more than 150 people attended the conference, including 72 delegates representing 46 branches, as well as guests from the Royal British Legion, Royal Canadian Legion, Poppyscotland, the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL) and the War Widows Association.

Key moments in the programme included updates from the National President, National Chair and CEO, with presentations from the Armed Forces, Scottish Veterans Commissioner and RCEL. There was a strong focus on the strategic work being done across the organisation, with presentations from two members of the Strategic Transformation Committee, Keenon Hawkins (National Vice Chair) and Simon Middlemas OBE.  These presentations, along with the CEO’s address, have been recorded to share with branches.

Dr Claire Armstrong OBE added, “Delegate participation in the strategic round table was excellent and we got some fantastic feedback to work on ahead of the full consultation going out to all of the members.”

Outside the main programmed events, there were plenty of opportunities for comradeship and catching up with old friends at the social mixer on the Thursday evening and Conference Dinner on the Friday.

We were unfortunately unable to announce the results for the election of National Chair and the motion on the membership fee increase as the original vote had to be declared null and void. Please see the website for further information on how these votes will now progress.

The venue for next year is still to be confirmed, and further updates will be released via the month end reports sent to branches.