What Does RAFA mean to those serving...and those who have served?
 

I'm just doing a little study on what the Royal Air Forces Association means to those who are serving and those who have served; indeed those who have never served, but have had a Royal Air Force connection.

As one with a long service history, I never felt I had the need to join, and viewed it as a drinking club (I know that's a wrong perception - nonetheless that was mine). Other thoughts or stories of where RAFA has influenced people in a positive way. Feel free to PM me or start an open debate.

NZWP

In Guernsey it was indeed a drinking club to get round the Sunday drinking rules, wonderful building with a specially commissioned RAFA carpet. Few members were ex RAF.

The other perception was RAFBF, officers from its remoteness and push for a regular annual contribution from pay and RAFA, NCO from its visibility on stations.

Never felt the draw- I'm a bit Groucho where clubs are concerned...

CG

When I left the RAF I found the RBL was very helpful. RAFA didn't stir... I have a Life Membership but I don't really support then anymore. Ive been out 18 yrs.

Left 10 years ago, and have never really felt inclined to join RAFA, RBL or anything else really.

Maybe when I'm a bit older....

S-D

My dad was a 'for the duration' airman and after discharge, was a member of RAFA. He was ill in the 1960s and was offered a place for a fortnight's convalescence at Richard Peck house which was at St Annes and now closed, I think. He was a very loyal member for the rest of his life.
Afterwards, I had a full career in the RAF but somehow, I never got the 'urge' to join. I have an RBL just round the corner and that hasn't interested me either, aside from making Poppy Day donations.

I've never got involved since leaving, they are very active locally but I feel I did my time and have moved on. That said, as a RAFALO I was hugely impressed with how much work they did behind the scenes and without publicising their efforts.

Interesting. For those of us 'on the fringe' (I work with Air Cadets, for example) who would you like us to support?

(RAFA to us mostly means flying scholarships, which are a darned sight better than the ACPS these days.)

Nothing have never gave it a thought.

Life member, ex RAFALO, ex Vice Chairman of a branch.
It has lost its way and I do not bother anymore.
A personal choice:sad:

Organisations such as RAFA had their heyday when there were literally millions of ex servicemen around in the post war years. Clubs were naturally very "top heavy" with ex WW2 guys, and those of a younger generation could feel somewhat out of it. I once was slightly taken aback when a WW2 Bomber Command nav asked me if I had ever been on Stirlings, and a contemporary of mine who was ex Para got sick of being asked if he had been at Arnhem! Our local RBL started to go downhill when they opened membership to all and sundry, ex service or not, as the core membership started dying off, and the club soon attracted the town drunks who were just looking for a cheap pint. It's now a private club and I don't think it has any connection with the RBL any more. I assume the RAFA clubs have suffered a similar fate. Like others on here I buy my poppy each November and my B of B sticker in September, but that's it these days.

Looked at it when demobbed in 1946 in Southport. Concluded then that it was a beer-swilling outfit and didn't bother.

I don't think my father was a member but he was very very proud of his RAF WW II service and his four gongs, wore his RAFVR tie and blazer badge, and the RAFA turned out a smart standard bearer for dad's funeral. My wreath for his coffin was a roundel.

Top marks for RAFA from a civvy.

I took out Life Membership when I retires, but that's it. Here in Jersey it seems to be a cheap place to drink by people with little or no RAF connections (much like our local RBL Club). The RAFA building was sold off to help keep funding the Jersey International Air Display, so they now meet upstairs in a pub out of town.

I was asked by a previous Lt Gov to take over as Chairman. Having looked under a few stones, I politely declined the offer :)

I mentioned the RAFA in Guernsey, well there is on in Grimsby and another in Spalding or Wisbech so they are property rich but presumably need membership to maintain the buildings.

My local RAFA meets in the Conservative Club, popped in there once, many moons ago. After a chat here and there realised there was a subtle pecking order, to be expected I suppose.. Never went back!

After 9 years retired I have joined RAFA and the RBL. I do not attend much as I live rurally, but both do a hell of a lot of good work and I feel they deserve support. I don't recognise the drinking club bit, at least for my local branches.

To be honest never felt the need to join (can't think why). Did look at joining the REA when I came out and will do so one day.

Like the rest of the Service/Corp/Regt associations they all do a pretty good job for the respective vets on the quiet but don't really advertise the fact.

As for the RAFA being a drinking club you haven't met the REA...

Don't think people feel the need to be part of a club like that these days. I'm ex RAF and never felt the desire to join.
Father in Law was a die hard RAFA man. Mrs Cruces and I were dragged down to the RAFA every time we went to visit. I can remember the time when if we weren't in by seven o'clock on a Saturday evening
there wouldn't be a seat. Last time we went up it was nearly empty even though opened to all and sundry.

TTN, nice to see you can still get a B of B sticker. I thought the Wings Appeal was over, haven't seen it on my patch for years.

I think it’s an organisation struggling for relevance amongst current serving personnel. I believe a large number are members (signed up during RTS/IOT) but take no active part and their membership lapses on leaving.

That said RAFA do some great welfare work and deserve more support for this alone.

Accepting the charitable work they do, the ground floor RAFA element seems largely to be ex-National Service enjoying free beer. Please forgive me if I don't want to spend my evenings down at the Club drinking and chatting with LAC Bloggs who last served in 1949 ;)

Distressing slightly, and touching on MPN's LAC, in the RAF Club I met a Wellington pilot who had served on ASW in the Gulf of Aden and a Hurricane pilot who had served in Murmansk.

Now they were fascinating.

OTOH RAFA Klingons do exist.

I would love to know what this is supposed to mean...

S-D

Joining the RAF as a boy entrant you paid a voluntary 6d per week,probably as part of your signing on process!!When the time came for some help from them they politly said ,sorry cannot help you.I had an interview with my grp captain and had my payment to them stopped ,three of my chums also stopped.Grp Capt was not at all pleased.

Oldpax, that confirms my view that even the RAF considered the RAF BF to be for officers and RAFA to be for OR. Immediately post war the bulk of the RAF would have been NS churning over every two years with a very small cadre of General List officers and a larger number of Supplementary List aircrew.

I have been a life member for 25 years, don't use the clubs for the same reason as many others but respect the work they do. Since retirement I now am the OC of the local ATC unit and my Cadets turn out every year to raise funds for RAFA each September and we do get true support from the local Club, from Flying Scholarships for both Gliding and Powered Flying, to support for projects etc. To be honest there isn't a club within 15/20 miles of home so that is probably the biggest hurdle to joining in.

The last time I saw my late father (a National Serviceman) he was in his wheel chair rattling a RAFA collecting box. He was his local area's top funds collector and he was given an award in recognition. In truth he probably needed help more than some of the ones receiving it from the same organisation but he was too proud to ask. I understand his branch no longer exists; it closed not long after his death.

I am a Life Member, and a proud Member of RAFA Sud Ouest France. We raise money to support RAFA's welfare work, we meet socially several times a year and we support the French community in their honouring of RAF aircrew and others lost in wartime(several of us were at one such event yesterday). The Branch supports veterans in need of welfare support, and in many cases provides a link between the Brits and the French community. I am a strong supporter. The "Ben Fund for officers and RAFA for other ranks is a wholly misguided view; in many welfare cases the two organisations work very closely together.

One aspect that bothers us both is how many beneficiaries tap RBL, and their single-Service charities, and other sources ... we have never seen any inter-agency coordination. The OH used to assist at RBL 'Beneficiary Day', and never saw any evidence of cross-checking.

Seeing as you're online MPN11 and reading the thread, any chance of answer to the question I raised?

S-D

Joined as a life member before I left as I was medically downgraded and wanted to have someone "in my corner" if I needed help when I left. I didn't need any help in the end. Likewise a few years later, I was applying for a war pension so joined the RBL just in case. Didn't need help for that either.

The RAFA don't have a club in my town so don't go to the clubs. I did visit one a couple of times but found it to be very unwelcoming. The local RBL meet once a month in a Weatherspoons. I haven't been either. The clubs I have been to around the country just seem to be filled with the local non-military drinking cheaper pints.

I agree, but contend that that was the perception. Why were officers persuaded to support the one and the men the other? Why two? Certainly Fund implies charity and Association implies club.

I used to use the RAFBF for insurance advice until the FSA stepped in.

When I joined the RAF as a 16 yr old Boy Entrant in Oct 1959 one of the first things we did was to sign a form allocating one day's pay per year to the RAFBF. The RAFA was never mentioned. Fortunately I've never needed the services of either organisation.

I'm fairly certain I too made a 'voluntary' contribution to the RAFBF when I joined as a direct entry. The one day's pay per year certainly rings a bell. Likewise never needed their services. I do get the occasional letter requesting a donation, it's written by a WO as I recall. From the letter they appear to do some good work helping the needy. I do make a donation now and then.

In the last few years I have had the opportunity to observe how both these organisations work to help ex-RAF members - my wife is a voluntary visitor for a charity which deals with people who have contracted a life ending illness, whilst a close friend is a SSAFA coordinator. Both have found the RAFBF excellent at coming to the assistance of RAF members, whether veterans or serving, of any rank but seemingly more for non-commissioned, and much more so than any of the other single service charities. However, for the Army the Regimental Associations sometimes can be much more helpful - IF you qualify.

Looks like a bit of memory loss on my part.Not the RAFA then but the benevolent fund,that then was what I opted out of.
Ricardian you were 35th entry then?

I was 38th entry Tel II (Oct 1959 to Apr 1961), was still paying one days per year to the RAFBF when I was demobbed in 1973 & joined GCHQ.
When we moved up here shortly after I retired in 2003 I joined the local RAFA which meets in the RBL on mainland Orkney, even though I live on Stronsay; I stopped paying my subs after a couple of years when the only contact the RAFA ever made with me was a letter every Christmas containing a book of raffle tickets for me to sell.

Oh, those bloody Raffle tickets! Straight into the recycling bin every time!

There always is, I joined as a "Life Member" during my last year of service, but when I first tried the local branch after demob I found that if you weren't a WW2 Air Gunner you hadn't really been in the RAF. I'd had enough of bullying ex-Air Gunners when I was a Brat so I haven't followed up.