Today ,as Chairman of the Somme Association, I attended a meeting of the Patronages of HRH The Duke of Gloucester KC, GCVO Working within the Veterans, Disabled and Healthcare Sector in The Yellow Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace.

Between 1847 and 1850, when Blore was building the new east wing of Buckingham Palace, fittings were used from the Brighton Pavilion. As a result, many of the rooms in the new wing have a distinctly oriental atmosphere. The red and blue Chinese Luncheon Room is made up from parts of the Brighton banqueting and music rooms, but has a chimney piece designed by W.M. Feetham. The Yellow Drawing Room,where we met, has wall paper which had been supplied in 1817 for the Brighton Saloon, and the chimney piece in this room is a European vision of what the Chinese equivalent would look like, complete with nodding mandarins in niches and fearsome winged dragons designed by Robert Jones.

                                                       AGENDA

1.Apologies

2.Welcome

3.Brief Introductions

4.Opportunities for Co-operation inlight of Big Society

5.Challenges  within sector

6.What additional support can be found from The Office of HRH The Duke of Gloucester

7.AOB

List of Patronages attending

Architects Benevolent Society, British Homeopathic Association, BLESMA, Cancer Research UK, Canine Partners, Friends of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Grange Centre (Surrey), Guild of the Royal Hospital of St Barts(League of Friends), Japenese Embassy, LEPRA, Middlesex Association for the Blind, RABI, RAMC, Royal Blind and the Scottish National Institute for the WarBlinded, Scottish Veterans’Rwsidences, The Somme Association, St George’s Society of New ork, The Order of St John, Worcester University.