Grandalf Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 This Sunday is Remembrance Sunday. I do a hell of a lot of work for the Royal British Legion all year round but am especially busy at this time of year. We are a small (72 members) rural branch but we visit three schools to give talks about the poppy emblem and remembrance in general. This year the emphasis is on the First World War. The numbers that died from these small country villages is truly shocking. Often two or three from the same family. Then we do similar visits to the scouts and other village organisations. Last evening we had the rehearsal for the CofE church service where 7 standards are paraded and our Branch Trumpeter plays last post and reveille. The names from the war memorials of our six local villages are read and we then have a wreath laying ceremony at our village memorial. We can expect the churches, we have two, to be packed to standing room only and about 400 people will attend the wreath laying. Ours is just a small Suffolk village but the support that the RBL receives from the locals is truly staggering. How is it in your area? Are you a member of the RBL? Is there any chance of you joining? Remember that anyone can join the Legion. You don't have to be male or ex-service. You just need to support the charity work that we do in anyway that you can. Grandalf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFC Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I'm ex-RAF and I've had support from RBL and I donate by monthly DD. My grandaughter visited France on a WW1 project and, when she realised the enormity of what had happened , she broke down in tears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I too am Ex Royal Air Force and have had help and guidance from the Royal British Legion. I commend your efforts Grandalf and those of your fellow members. I wear my Poppy with pride and ensure the whole family have them. I am not a member, but will now look at possibly joining and helping in some way. We SHALL remember them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiffy Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 i have never served but wear my poppy with pride, not just now but year round and last year we (local community/parish council) working with the legion brought back thr parade to our village and where we thought we may have 20 or 30 ealk, we had about 150-200 what an amazing turnout... shocked us all but shows the support we have for those who served Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I tried to get the names of 35 RAF Aircrew (who died whilst based at an Airfield within our parish boundaries) added to the RBL War Memorial in our High Street-I even offered a thousand pounds towards the cost but my request was flatly refused as "those men were not local and have nothing to do with our Town". I attend the remembrance day parade every year but I will not support the RBL in our Town . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 Thanks " Grandalf " for telling us about the good work you and your fellow members do. I am ex R N and touch wood I haven't needed any help from the R B L , but I know they are there if needed and I always give generously to your good cause at this time of the year and wear my poppy with pride . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 My villages RBL club was closed about 18 monts ago , though they are a "non profit" organisation the clubs are very much run as a bussiness and if they are losing money they get the chop. I am not knocking that as of course they are swallwing funds that can be better spent elsewhere . The poppy appeal is one of the few that I give a healthy donation too as we have so much to thank our service / ex service men for.. The RBL was also very helpful towards my Inlaws when my late father in law suffered several strokes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 My dad was in the army during the war( the very end) but other than that, i have no connection. I just give my time to sell the poppies as as many days/hours i can spare in the run up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harpoonlouis Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 RBL and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are two organisations that I have a lot of respect for. I took my father to the battlesfields in France a few years before his death and I was reduced to tears a few times epecially by the dignity and the beauty of the graves in their care. Saw plenty of young visitors at Vimy and even out in some far flung littlegraves like Flat Iron Copse and they really get it, don't need telling they just read the headstones with younsters details and they act very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 What i found quite strange was after visiting both WWI and WW2 sites in Europe and noticed the solemnity, I visited Pearl Harbour and it was like a theme park... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshwarrior Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) RBL do great work and have my respect and thanks, shame some people are forgetting the point of Remembrance Sunday had 3 annoying stories retold to me by the wife that unfortunately makes me think people are forgetting. 1 SNCO "I don't see why I have to attend a religious padre" 2 Senior RAF officer "I won't be at the padre as I commute at the weekends so will watch it all on TV" 3 Senior officer (more than 1 star) his HQ is in the camp "Sorry I didn't know it was happening I've got other plans that weekend" With leadership like that know wander service men and women feel let down. I for one will attend the padre in my suit and regimental tie with medal and poppy worn with pride as I remember those friends we buried from Iraq Afganistan and all the other servicemen and woman who made the ultimate sacrifice. Sorry for the rant I feel quite passionate about the subject. Edited November 5, 2014 by welshwarrior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) Not a rant, It's a valid point. Edited November 5, 2014 by keg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I am ex Army and RBL helped me sort out a claim for damaged ankles and hearing,i am a member also. Our town closes off the road and there is a parade to the memorial, each year it seems to get bigger with all the scouting associations and other groups marching to the band we also are lucky to have Castlemartin tank ranges close by so a group from the visiting Army unit also attend and march.Our Royal Engineer Association has quite a few of the older "chaps" in it and they will be there with shoes polished and berets on.I was our Standard bearer but with work commitments handed it over to a friend,I will probably lay our wreath on behalf of our association as usual this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted November 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) Nice to know that a lot of PW members have nice things to say about the legion. We do try. Bruno22rf - You have to remember that a village war memorial is exactly that - a village memorial. We have one war grave in our churchyard - official War Graves Commission stone, etc - died 5th Nov 1918. He was a Royal Navy deckhand and married to a local lass. That is all we know, or think we know, of him. His name is not on the village war memorial so we presume he wasn't local. No idea what he died of. Could have been the 1918 flue epidemic or anything else. Maybe he was a colonial - we just don't know. (It has just been bought to my attention so it will become a project to find out). Our little country village has 28 names on it from the 1914 - 1918 nastiness. Four from one extended family. Horrible times. Edited November 5, 2014 by Grandalf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnythefox70 Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I for one wont be wearing a poppy on Sunday, Have got a lot of respect for the dead/casualties of ww1 and ww11 these men were true heroes, brave brave men but i certainly wont be giving my hard earned cash to the legion when their chief executive earns 100k plus expenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I for one wont be wearing a poppy on Sunday, Have got a lot of respect for the dead/casualties of ww1 and ww11 these men were true heroes, brave brave men but i certainly wont be giving my hard earned cash to the legion when their chief executive earns 100k plus expenses. Have a read,it is a huge organisation,providing an amazing amount of support. http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/media/3906923/AnnualReport2013.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted November 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 This may seem a huge amount of money but the organisation is huge and spread over the whole country and overseas as well. When compared to a medium size national corporation or manufacturing company I think the salaries are about comparable. 77p in the pound for a charity is a good average. Most don't get close to that figure. Most of us in the Legion are volunteers who never claim expenses etc but we do have to have some professional full-time people as well. They need salaries at the going rate for the responsibilities that they hold. They also need a career structure and a pension scheme just like anyone else. Got to live in the real world. If it was an ideal world then we wouldn't need charities at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psyxologos Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I for one wont be wearing a poppy on Sunday, Have got a lot of respect for the dead/casualties of ww1 and ww11 these men were true heroes, brave brave men but i certainly wont be giving my hard earned cash to the legion when their chief executive earns 100k plus expenses. For those of you wo will be wearing a poppy, PLEASE make sure you buy it from legitimate retailers and not these $£$% http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11207973/The-loathsome-Britain-First-are-trying-to-hijack-the-poppy-dont-let-them.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-first-accused-of-hijacking-the-poppy-ahead-of-remembrance-day-9841107.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshwarrior Posted November 6, 2014 Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 I did notice the RSPB are selling a poppy type pin at the minute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andypaint Posted November 6, 2014 Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 For those of you wo will be wearing a poppy, PLEASE make sure you buy it from legitimate retailers and not these $£$% http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11207973/The-loathsome-Britain-First-are-trying-to-hijack-the-poppy-dont-let-them.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-first-accused-of-hijacking-the-poppy-ahead-of-remembrance-day-9841107.html But at least "Britain First" are trying to do something to keep Britain for British. Most people just sit back and let our freedom and heritage dissappear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted November 6, 2014 Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 But at least "Britain First" are trying to do something to keep Britain for British. Most people just sit back and let our freedom and heritage dissappear. Can't believe you actually wrote the above and thought about it before posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest1957 Posted November 6, 2014 Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 But at least "Britain First" are trying to do something to keep Britain for British. Most people just sit back and let our freedom and heritage dissappear. Britain First is a neo-fascist organisation. It is everything people died to protect us from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harpoonlouis Posted November 6, 2014 Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 The first wolrd war resulted in the most part from a web of imperialistic and nationalistic treaties and obligations built up to protect a ruling elite from mostly paranoid fears of invasion by their european neighbours.Most men who died in that war died at the behest of their masters since virtually one of the non officer class had the vote and so their politicians were masters not elected representatives.The second world war sprang from the rise of various facist regimes that showed no sign of stopping of their own accord and had to be stopped by the sane.Seems we don't learn as UKIP is trying to stampede the horses to get the conservatives to dismanlte a peaceful but expensive european alliance while the right wing parties around the UK and europe seek to frighten the niave by shouting foreigners much as they shouted jacobites in days of old.Europe, including the UK, isn't perfect but it is propserous and peaceful by any historical standard and that prosperity and security was bought with a down payment by our soldiers, now stop complaining and keep up the payments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delburt0 Posted November 6, 2014 Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 Barnsley has a good turnout every year with servicemen past and present having a parade around the town then laying the wreaths at the fallen soldiers monument below the town hall steps, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted November 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 Most of my branch members wouldn't know how to march! 40% have never served in the forces and 50% of those are ladies. We leave the marching to our Standard Bearer (Ex Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer) and the local Scout troop who are affiliated to the RBL. We don't wear berets or anything more military than a regimental tie or two and medals on odd occasions. All we share is an interest in ex service personnel's welfare. (Well that and a social life that involves meeting in pubs, etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.