THE Westbury branch of the Royal British Legion celebrated two anniversaries on Sunday 20th February with a special service at All Saints Church.
The Rededication of the Standard was held to mark the 30th year of the Westbury branch and 90th anniversary of the national Royal British Legion. The service, led by the Rev Jonathan Burke and Rev Jennifer Totney, was attended by the Mayor of Westbury, cllr Christine Mitchell, members of the Westbury branch, and standard bearers from neighbouring branches as well as local people.
The service included the sounding of the Last Post, followed by the traditional silence, before the standard was rededicated.
30 years of the Westbury branch
Every year, members of the Westbury branch of the Royal British Legion are seen out in the town tirelessly collecting for the charity’s annual Poppy Appeal, and are also recognised for their work in the Remembrance Sunday parade and service in the town. In last year’s poppy appeal, the branch collected over £6,000 from the people of Westbury. However, the branch also works all year round to raise funds for local people.
The Westbury branch was originally formed in 1921, but disbanded in 1964. In 1981 the branch was reformed by Tom Knowles, who set up the current branch and became its first president.
Eddie Bridges, current president of the Westbury branch, explained why the branch has kept going for 30 years. “We work hard!” he said. “We are a small branch by comparison to others – Warminster has got about 200 and we’ve got 40. We work hard to raise funds for people in the local area who may need help. Any money we raise for the Poppy Appeal goes to a central branch in London, and goes towards things like respite homes. But we have to raise our own funds to help people locally.”
90 years of the Royal British Legion
The Royal British Legion provides welfare to the whole armed forces family – serving, ex-service, and their dependants. They also campaign on a range of issues affecting service people, are the custodians of Remembrance, and run the annual Poppy Appeal.
The Legion was founded in 1921 as a voice for the ex-service community and is now one of the UK’s largest membership organisations with over 380,000 members.
Show your support
As the branch marks their 30th anniversary, they are accompanying it with an invite to members of the community to join the them and help make a valuable contribution to those in need.
Eddie said, “We are now looking at a situation with Afghanistan and Iraq – people and ex-service personnel are always going to need help in some shape or form. With the Legion you can join and meet like-minded people, you don’t have to be ex-service, just feel included to help ex-service people.”
The branch meets on the first Monday of every month, at 7.30pm for 8.00pm, at the Conservative Club. For more information call Eddie on 01373 823 316.
