City of Westminster Branch

History

The City of Westminster Branch of The Royal Society of St. George was formed in 1988, by past Chairman, Robert Sewell and another nine people. The first President to be elected was Vice Admiral Sir James Weatherall KCVO, KBE. Sir James was the Queen’s Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps. The Immediate Past President is Vice Admiral Sir Neville Purvis KCB, who served in the submarine service and was Fourth Sea Lord. The current President is Ian Adams, a former Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster.

Bob died in office in June 2014 having developed the branch to nearly 300 members. He had a gift for negotiating favourable terms for the many functions he arranged. He was succeeded by Stan Sadler, who had been the stalwart Secretary for many years. Stan died in March 2018 having stood down as chairman in November 2016 in favour of Alan Broomhead, who was Vice Chairman. Stan had acted as both chairman and secretary and handed over the latter role to Annabelle Emney.

During the past 35 Years the growth of the Branch has progressed steadily until today the membership stands at 225, resulting in good turnouts for its events.

A distinctive feature of the Branch has been its regular contributions to charities having given away thousands of pounds to a variety of organisations. Recent beneficiaries include the RNLI and Dame Vera Lynn’s Children’s Charity. The branch makes annual donations to its related organisations.

Related Organisations

Sea Cadets

The Branch has a long association with the Sea Cadets with units providing carpet guards at our dinners, particularly on Trafalgar Day. The Branch is formally affiliated with the Western District of the London Area Sea Cadets. Western District comprises 12 units and supports the Branch with a standard bearer to carry the branch standard at the Cenotaph and National Standards services. The standard bearer is selected annually at the London Area Drill Competition. Carpet guards are provided at all appropriate events. As Bob Sewell was a Sea Cadet, he is commemorated with an annual donation of £1000 to provide bursaries for Sea Cadets to sail on TS ROYALIST, the Sea Cadet flagship. In 2023 a donation of £500 was made to help repair the fire damaged Sunbury Unit. A donation of £500 helped Western District purchase a defibrillator. This was matched funded by the RSSG Charitable Trust.

Royal Hospital Chelsea

The Branch has been associated with the Royal Hospital since its earliest days. As a consequence, members have been privileged to attend the Governor’s Review Parade in June. The Branch makes an annual donation of £500 to the Hospital thus making it a corporate sponsor entitling members to attend Friends lectures and events. In 2023 the RSSG Charitable Trust matched the donation thereby making it up £1000.