Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Forces and veterans club donate Easter Eggs to children’s ward at Dr Gray’s

The club will be delivering the Easter Eggs to Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin this weekend.

Tracie and Dougie France of Elgin and Lossie Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club. Image:  Jason Hedges/DC Thomson
Tracie and Dougie France of Elgin and Lossie Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

The children’s ward at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin will be receiving a tasty treat from local veterans this Easter.

Elgin and Lossie Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club held a collection of Easter Eggs.

Members wanted to pass them on to people who might not be expecting any this weekend.

Husband and wife Dougie and Tracie France founded the club last year. Dougie served in the army with the Royal Engineers for 16 years.

‘Letting the kids know they aren’t forgotten about.’

Tracie said: “We were trying to decide where to send them. A lot of people were suggesting food banks. But food banks get a lot of support from supermarkets these days.

“I think hospitals and other places like that, which used to get things sent in, get forgotten about.

“It’s just letting the kids in hospital know they aren’t forgotten about.

Alasdair Pattinson, general manager for Dr Gray’s Hospital said the were “so pleased” to be welcoming the club.

He added: “This is a lovely gesture and we very much appreciate the efforts of all involved.”

Dr Gray's maternity services
Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin. Image: Jason Hedges/ DC Thomson.

During the pandemic, an Elgin army captain completed a year of pizza deliveries to frontline health staff at Dr Gray’s.

Elgin and Lossie Armed Forces and Breakfast Club meets every other Sunday at 10.30am.

The venue is Millers Cafe in Decora, Bridge Street, Elgin.

Tracie said: “We ran one in Cumbria. When we moved up here we started one here.”

Numbers of attendees varies. There are only 17 last week because so many people were ill. But they often get up to 35 participants.

New Elgin and Lossie Branch encourages everyone to come along

They organise other social events too. A quiz night will take place at Elgin Ex-Serviceman’s Club on May 13 at 7.30pm.

And the breakfast club will be taking part in Armed Forces day in June.

Tracie added: “We are just finding our feet really. We started in February last year and were absolutely inundated. The first meeting, we filled all the space they set aside for us. Douglas Ross MSP came along with his children.

“There were 30 or 40 people at the first one, which is absolutely amazing.

The club meets in Millers Cafe at Decora on Bridge Street, Elgin. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

“We get a lot in our area from RAF Lossiemouth who moved up here with the RAF, retired and stayed here. There are also a few who come up from the army barracks at Kinloss.

“We have serving forces members, veterans and family members. This is a very family oriented club. We encourage family to come along too. Anyone really.”

There are more than 420 Official Armed Forces and Veterans Clubs in 14 different countries.

The purpose is to help veterans and serving forces personnel to meet face-to-face, for breakfast and banter. This is to help combat loneliness and encourage veterans to “return to the tribe”.

Are you interested in all the latest news and updates from Elgin? If so, why not join our new Facebook group.

Conversation