Lynn: Legion gets set to go into battle again
LYNN and District branch of the Royal British Legion is looking to the future as it celebrates its 87th anniversary tomorrow (February 7) with an open day at its club in the town.
Times are changing fast and branch chairman Gerry Tann (70), who is also the Norfolk chairman, believes members must take a different approach and raise the Legion's profile if they are to continue providing welfare services to ex-servicemen and women and their dependants.
Lynn branch currently has 600 members, including a women's section, compared with about 50 members during the 1950s.
Mr Tann said it is "ticking over nicely" with fewer problems than many branches.
"No longer are we shown as elderly ex-servicemen sitting around the table in the Legion club playing cards or dominoes. The Legion has moved forward," he said.
CONFLICTS
"In today's modern world, with conflicts all over the globe, we play an important role in picking up the pieces when families are affected by war."
Mr Tann said the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the Legion bond closer with the Armed Forces, and volunteer welfare workers from Lynn branch are currently working on eight cases where help has been sought.
The branch can offer moral support in a crisis, such as a bereavement, and help in getting statutory benefits.
It can also provide general information on national or local welfare organisations and give direct financial assistance through using central benevolent funds.
People also seek its help in obtaining war disability pensions and war widows' pensions, short-term rest and convalescence or long-term sheltered accommodation, and, in some cases, training for employment, he said.
The branch's welfare committee can also arrange for electric-powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters to be provided through the Mobility Bureau, a company funded by the Legion, for those finding it difficult to get out and about.
CASE WORKERS
Mr Tann said: "We haven't got enough case workers.
"We could do with more and one or two younger ones as well as they can identify easier with younger servicemen and women needing our help."
Anyone interested in the Poppy Appeal and the Legion's welfare work is invited to call in and view the various displays at its club in Regent Way, between 11am and 3.30pm, tomorrow and talk to its team of welfare workers and members.
Last year, the Poppy Appeal in Lynn raised 31,459 but with its welfare casework increasing rapidly the pressure is on to keep up the fundraising.
Lynn and district branch was formed on February 6, 1922, at a meeting in the former United Services Institute Hall in St James Park, with Colonel G.G. Woodwark in the chair. Bill Taylor, from the newly-formed British Legion's headquarters, and its Norwich area organiser, Mr A.W.Votier, addressed the meeting before a unanimous vote was taken to form a Lynn and district branch.
Colonel Woodwark, a prominent figure in Lynn, was its first chairman and he was also the first president of the newly-elected county committee from 1923-25.
Mr Tann said it became apparent towards the end of the First World War that large numbers of men had lost their lives in the service of their country and many more would return home severely disabled.
"To ease the burden on towns, parishes and local communities, the Government of the day encouraged town mayors and civic dignitaries to begin fundraising to take care of these injured people and the families of servicemen," he said.
In Lynn, like many other boroughs, the Mayor launched the scheme and in 1917, with help from the Government, the United Services Fund was set up.
But it was not until after the war that families were able to apply for assistance and many ex-servicemen formed organisations such as the Ex-Servicemen's Association, Soldiers and Sailors Association and the United Services Association – and it was these bodies that came together to form the British Legion.
On November 11, 1922, the Lynn branch marked its first Remembrance Day by laying a wreath of poppies at the Tower Gardens War Memorial.
Princess Mary had unveiled the memorial the previous year.
The Legion's "royal" prefix was granted by the Queen in 1971, the organisation's golden jubilee year.
And in 1981, its Diamond Jubilee year, full membership was extended to serving members of the Armed Forces.
STANDARD
In 1998, Gaywood and district branch of the Legion became a sub-branch of Lynn and district, enabling it to carry on displaying its standard, after failing to find sufficient officers to continue on its own.
And in November that year, the Legion opened its club in Regent Way, where branch general meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month.
Mr Tann is the third Lynn branch chairman to have also become county chairman, following Harold Freeman in 1922-23 and Jim Anderson in 1980-82.
Email to a friend
Print this page - Popular
- Most comments
- Most shared
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Local pages
Looking for a...
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Kings Lynn
Sunday 01 August 2010
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
