Profile The Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion is 90 this year and has been active in Melbourn since it was founded in 1921, as a voice for the ex-Service community. The Legion has 2,500 branches around the country and overseas, providing support for people in their local communities and a meeting place for members to get together. Today over 360,000 members continue to ensure that this voice does not go unheard. In the early years, to qualify as a member of the Legion you had to have served in one of the armed forces, but nowadays anyone may become a member; and although there is still a Women’s Branch, women are encouraged to join the men in the British Legion. All they need to do is subscribe to the main tenet of the Legion, which is:
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Reflection – through Remembrance of past sacrifice in the cause of freedom Hope – by remembering the past, a younger generation has the chance of a better future Comradeship – through shared experience and mutual support Selflessness – by putting others first Service – to those in need and in support of the whole community.
The Royal British Legion is a UK charity that has been helping Service people past and present for 90 years, and sadly the need for their work is as vital as ever. They are committed to the welfare, interests and memory of the Service family – those who have made a unique commitment to their country and deserve to be rewarded for that with long term care. The Legion is probably best known for its role as the nation’s custodian of Remembrance and for the Poppy
Appeal, the annual fundraising campaign. But the Legion is not just about poppies in November, but caring for people all year round. The Legion provides welfare to the whole Armed Forces family – serving, ex-Service and their dependents, and also campaigns on a range of issues affecting Service people.
The Poppy During the First World War some of the bloodiest fighting took place in the Flanders and Picardy regions of Belgium and Northern France. Following the devastation of the countryside the poppy grew and flourished. The fields were awash with red and the analogy with the blood, shed on those fields, made the poppy an obvious symbol of that terrible time. This was further endorsed by John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, who was deeply moved by what he saw and was inspired to write these poignant verses in 1915 – In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders’ fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high, If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders’ Fields From the left: Betty Murphy, Ann Neaves, Pauline Parker, Molly Chamberlain, Sheila Gouldthorpe, Patrick Parker, Tom Hughes, Don Littlechild
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