Madam,

The Barmouth branch of the Royal British Legion is at a critical point. Whether it will continue to succeed as a branch, providing support and administration for local service and ex-service personnel, their families, along with other members of the community, is now in serious doubt. The branch has only a few members attending the bi-monthly meetings and those that do attend find it more and more difficult to deliver the service that should be available for the community of Barmouth and the surrounding villages and towns.

The RBL national membership may be holding steady, but the same cannot be said for local branch membership. The ability to come along to a local branch for an evening, once a month or every second month, to discuss a variety of issues, subjects and points raised by the North Wales Regional Office, or the national headquarters or through the branch members or just a couple of drinks and a chit-chat, is now at the point of being unsustainable. The decline in local town branches has continued during the past two decades to the point where one of the only branches still in existence in Meirionnydd is the Barmouth branch.

The Barmouth Branch of the Royal British Legion desperately needs new young or older members to come to the annual general meeting and general meeting on Monday, 30 October at the Sailors’ Institute in Barmouth at 7pm. At the meeting there will be a need to appoint new officers to the positions of chairman and secretary, along with other key officers that allow a branch to function in a way that will hopefully increase the longevity of the branch.

I know that there are many, many ex-service personnel living in the area, some in their early 20s through to some slightly older people. We need your physical support to ensure that the Barmouth branch remains open and active. If you are from anywhere in Meirionnydd and would like to join the branch please attend the meeting before the branch is closed and lost forever.

Who will organise the Poppies for Remembrance Day? Who will organise the parades and ceremonies that take place in all the small villages? Who will be available when someone shouts for help?

We need your support for three hours, once a month or every two months. Together we can make this branch work.

Yours etc,

Graham Perch, Barmouth branch treasurer, Royal British Legion, Harlech.

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