Samui Ex Servicemen August 2010 Get Together

The July 2010 gathering of the Samui Ex Servicemen was at the Samui Dojo where everybody who attended had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, drinking the fridge dry and eating some top quality tofu sausage hot dogs. Geoff, our host, sadly is no longer with us. Let us all hope he is looking down on us from the great Dojo in the sky. May he Rest In Peace.

The August 2010 Get Together will be at The Elephant and Castle in Bang Rak this coming Tuesday  the 3rd of August from 4:30 pm onwards this is also Mark's birthday.

Food will be served for us at about 5:30 pm however if you are are unable to get there until later there will be a finger food buffet in the evening.

Looking forward to seeing everybody again on Tuesday.

Samui Ex Servicemen

Samui Ex Servicemens May 2010 Get Together

Thanks to everybody who could make the last gathering at The Red Fox in Lamai and thanks to Alan for hosting the event a success as ever. As you will now notice it was decided to change from the last Tuesday in the month to the first Tuesday of the Month for all subsequent get togethers.

The next time we meet will be on the 4th May at The Elephant and Castle in Bangrak from 4:30 pm onwards.

Looking forward to seeing everybody there.

Samui Ex Servicemen

Samui Ex Servicemen December 2009 Get Together

Merry Christmas to One and All.

Thank you to Mark and Oh at The Elephant and Castle for hosting the November get together, great food as always and good company, welcome to the new guys who made it along.

The next time we meet will be on Tuesday the 29th December, 4:30 pm onwards at the Red Fox in Lamai, as most of you know we usually do not get together in December due to most peoples busy schedules at this time of year, however Alan kindly offered to host Decembers gathering.

Terry Le Long, ex RAF, who is a will writer, will be coming along, so he may be able to answer any queries you may have regarding wills.

Hope to see as many as possible on Tuesday.

Here is a little festive item, guess the Santa:

Guess Who????

Here is the Official receipt from the Royal British Legion from this years Poppy Appeal on Koh Samui:

Cheers,

Samui Ex Servicemen

Samui Ex Servicemen November 2009 Get Together

Thanks to Geof at the Samui Dojo for hosting October's gathering, although not too many people could make it, a good time was had by all. Alan from Island Insurance Services came along and discussed Health Insurance options, an e-mail was sent to everybody regarding these options, if you need further infomation please feel free to e-mail Alan by clicking here

The Next time we get together will be the 24th November, 4:30 pm, at The Elephant and Castle in Bang Rak, this will be the last one of the year.

Thanks to all who could attend the first Samui Remebrance Service, the poppy appeal boxes are now been collected and thanks to all who donated.

Looking froward to seeing you all on Tuesday.

Samui Ex Servicemen

January 2009 Get Together at The Elephant and Castle

Thank you to everbody who could make it to The Elephant and Castle for January's get together.

Our appreciation goes to Mark, John and Oh of the Elephant and Castle for hosting the January get together where as well as there usual hospitality we also enjoyed a very tasty chilli con carne.

I hope every body had a good time and can make it along to the next meeting which will be, for the first time, at The Samui Dojo Resort. For those unsure of it's location a map can be found on the home page by clicking on Here . As usual 4:30pm on the last Tuesday of the month the 24th February which also is Shrove Tuesday.



Shrove Tuesday traditions particular to the United Kingdom

On Pancake Day, pancake races are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom. In 1634 William Fennor wrote in his Palinodia:"And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne."

But the tradition of pancake racing had started long before that. The most famous pancake race, at Olney in Buckinghamshire, has been held since 1445. The contestants, traditionally women, carry a frying pan and race to the finishing line tossing the pancakes as they go. As the pancakes are thin, skill is required to toss them successfully while running. The winner is the first to cross the line having tossed the pancake a certain number of times.

The tradition is said to have originated when a housewife from Olney was so busy making pancakes, that she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. She raced out of the house to church while still carrying her frying pan and pancake.

Since 1950 the people of Liberal, Kansas, and Olney have held the "International Pancake Day" race between the two towns. The two towns' competitors race along an agreed-upon course, and the times of all of the two towns' competitors are compared, to determine a winner. After the 2000 race, Liberal was leading with 26 wins to Olney's 24.

In North Somercotes in Lincolnshire in eastern England, a race takes place every year in the village. There are three categories - adults, children from 11 to 16, and under 11s. Each person receives a frying pan and has to race from one end of a field to the other, tossing their pancake at least once every few seconds on the way. As in the Buckinghamshire race, the winner is the first to cross the line, having tossed their pancake several times and with the pancake still intact.
Also, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the foreshore road (beach) is closed off, schools close early and all residents are invited to skip in the road.

A Festy cock in Scotland is a ball of extra finely ground meal, wetted until it could be patted and rolled into a round shape, then roasted in the hot ashes from a mill kiln, etc. It was eaten at Shrovetide.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday


Samui Ex Servicemen

January 2009 Get Together

Happy New Year to all readers of the Samui Ex-Servicemen Blog, hope you had a good one and are ready for the year ahead.

Thanks to Alan at The Red Fox in Lamai for hosting the final meet up of 2008, Alan once again did everybody proud with some excellent Cumberland sausage and accompaniments. This was enjoyed by all present, anybody in the Lamai area is welcome at the Red Fox anytime also home to the Koh Samui Hash House Harriers.

As the November get together was postponed due to heavy rain by one week and the next meeting would be in between Christmas and New Year it was decided to hold the next get together of the Samui Ex Servicemen in January. Hence we will be meeting next on the 27th January 2009 at The Elephant and Castle in Bang Rak at 4:30 pm for our 1st anniversary get together.

Hope to see everybody there old and new members alike.

Samui Ex-Servicemen

Samui Ex Servicemen's July Get Together

Tuesday, July the 29th at 4:30 pm will see the next get together of the Samui Ex-Servicemen. We will be meeting at the Elephant & Castle Restaurant and Bar in Bang Rak on Koh Samui. Any Ex-Servicemen or currently serving members of Her Majesty's Services are welcome to come along, have a few drinks, something to eat and chat about days gone by and what is happening now.

Hope to see you there.

Samui Ex-Servicemen

Samui Ex-Servicemen June Meet Up

Hope all who attended the June Samui Ex-Servicemen meet up at The Red Fox in Lamai had an enjoyable afternoon. Thanks to Alan our host for the excellent stew, a real taste of home. As usual a few topics were discussed and a few beers consumed.

If you are ever in Hong Kong, a recommendation for a cheap pint, was the Mariners Club just over the road from the Star Ferry terminal.

For July's get together it was decided to return to our original venue The Elephant and Castle in Bang Rak on the 29th July at 4:30 pm. Hope to see everybody there.

Here is some information that may be of interest to some of us:

Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced changes to the personal allowance in a bid to defuse the 10p tax row.

The move was intended to compensate the 5.3 million households who lost out when the 10p tax rate was abolished.

It will mean more money for several million people paying the basic tax rate, but administrative work for some businesses.

So how will it affect you?

How did this come about?

A series of tax changes came in at the start of the financial year, on 6 April. They had been announced in Gordon Brown's final Budget as chancellor in 2007 and in the later pre-Budget report.

The changes saw the 10% starter rate of income tax abolished, except on savings income for people who are low paid. The basic tax rate came down to 20% from 22%.

When 5.3 million people realised this meant less money in their pocket, many spoke out leading to a backbench rebellion by Labour MPs.

What changes have now been announced by the chancellor?

Alistair Darling said he wanted to compensate the people who lost out.

He is borrowing £2.7bn to raise personal tax allowance by £600 to £6,035.

This means anyone earning up to about £40,835 will gain £120 this year.

Mr Darling said 4.2 million of those households which lost out previously will receive as much or more than they lost when the 10p starting rate of tax was axed, and the remaining 1.1m households will see their loss at least halved.

The biggest losers, experts say, would be some of the very lowest earners who do not have families and do not work enough hours to claim tax credits.

What is my personal allowance?

The personal allowance means you earn a certain amount of income without paying any tax at all. Income tax starts being paid on earnings above this amount.

Personal allowances are amended each year in the Budget, and usually they go up with inflation.

In the current tax year 2008/2009 the basic personal allowance was set at £5,435 (up from £5,225 the previous year) but has now gone up by £600, a rise backdated until 6 April.

People can expect a £60 lump sum in September pay packets, followed by a £10 monthly increase until the end of the year.

The chancellor's announcement was extremely unusual as it made changes to the tax system after the Budget - a move not seen by a chancellor for around 15 years.

Won't the better off gain too?

Around 17 million middle-income earners, who did not lose out when the 10p rate was axed, will gain from what the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) described as a "simple and expensive option".

Extra money for these people makes up around £2bn of the £2.7bn handout, the IFS says.

Mr Darling said he would lower the starting point at which the 40p tax band is paid by £600 to £40,835, so the most well-off would not gain more.

This will push 150,000 people into the higher 40p tax rate but the Treasury said that these people would still benefit from the extra £120 this year.

It remains to be seen what will happen next year, as all these changes are for this year only.

It also remains to be seen whether this move - which will give millions of people a little more spending power - will cut the chances of a fall in interest rates in the coming months.

What does it mean for people running small businesses?

While many low and middle income earners will gain, there are some issues to deal with for those who pay them.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Accountants, said businesses systems and processes will have to be updated halfway through the tax year in September.

"SMEs represent over 99% of UK businesses, and they will have to change their PAYE codes and tax systems," he said.

Ref: BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7399105.stm

April Samui Ex-Servicemen Get Together

A quick reminder 29th April 2008, 4:30 pm at Le Chablis in Chaweng, see the link in the left hand column of this blog for their website, Samui Ex-Servicemen get together for a few social drinks and a chat.

Also 23rd April St Georges day celebrations at the Elephant and Castle in Bang Rak, Free BBQ and Cut Price John Smiths Beer and Strongbow Cider on offer, sponsored by Bob the Towel and Fluid Asia Pacific.

Hope to See You There.

April The 23rd St George's Day

This month on the 23rd April sees St. George's day come around once more, the patron Saint of England, here on Samui, last year, the Elephant and Castle in Bang Rak, pub and restaurant, put on a splendid afternoon of all things English, yard of ale and all that and will be repeating the experience once again this year for all us Englishmen. Sponsored by Bob Keen and Fluid Asia Pacific suppliers of fine English Ale to Koh Samui and Thailand there will be plenty of activities all afternoon and evening so if you like a good English day out get down to the Elephant and Castle and enjoy the company of your fellow Englishmen and enjoy St. George's day.

St. George's Day in England

St. George wood carving.

St. George's Day is not celebrated as much in England as other National Days are around the world. The celebration of St. George's Day was once a major feast in England on a par with Christmas from the early 15th century. However, this tradition had waned by the end of the 18th century. In recent years the popularity of St. George's Day appears to be increasing gradually. BBC Radio 3 had a full programme of St. George's Day events in 2006, and Andrew Rosindell, MP for Romford, has been putting his argument forward in the House of Commons to try to make St. George's Day a public holiday.

A traditional custom at this time was to wear a red rose in one's lapel, though with changes in fashion this is not as widely done. Another custom is to fly or adorn the St. George's Cross flag in some way: pubs in particular can be seen on April 23 festooned with garlands of St. George's crosses. However, the modern association of the St. George's Cross with sports such as football, cricket and rugby means that this tradition too is losing popularity with people who do not associate themselves with those sports. It is customary for the hymn Jerusalem to be sung in cathedrals, churches and chapels on St. George's Day, or on the Sunday closest to it.

There is a growing reaction to the recent indifference to St. George's Day. Organizations such as the Royal Society of Saint George (a non-political English national society founded in 1894) have been joined by the more prominent St. George's Day Events company (founded in 2002), with the specific aim of encouraging celebrations. They seem to be having some effect. On the other hand, there have also been calls to replace St. George as patron saint of England, on the grounds that he was an obscure figure who had no direct connection with the country. However there is no obvious consensus as to whom to replace him with, though names suggested include St. Edmund, ^[2] St. Cuthbert, or St. Alban, with the latter having topped a BBC Radio 4 poll on the subject.^[3]

St. George is also the patron saint of the Scouting movement. Many Scout troops in the United Kingdom take part in a St. George's Day Parade on the nearest Sunday to April 23. A message from the Chief Scout is read out and the Scout Hymn is sung. A "renewal of promise" then takes place where the Scouts renew the Scout's Promise made at joining and at all Scout meetings. Many schools around the UK do allow students to wear their scouting uniforms in replace of their school uniforms for that one day.

St. George's Day is traditionally the occasion when the Queen announces new appointments to the Order of the Garter.

In 2007, Independent writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown condemned St. George’s Day celebrations for being too Anglo-Saxon and demanded that the day should celebrate the multicultural aspects of England today.^[4]

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George's_Day

Want to know what the weather is like on Koh Samui whilst you are away why not click here: Camille's Samui Weather Blogfor daily updates from a resident of Koh Samui.