Warkworth War Memorials

LINC. REGT.

INDIVIDUAL MEMORIAL PLAQUES IN ST LAWRENCE'S CHURCH

WARKWORTH WWI
MEMORIAL HALL

BRANCH MEETING
Thurs 17 June 2010 at 7p.m.
Warkworth War Memorial Hall
British Legion room (upstairs)
Castle Street, Warkworth.

Come along as a visitor and find out about joining this worthy organisation, you will be warmly received, refreshments provided.

New programme of events planned
for 2010 to include:-
Guest Speakers, social evenings, day trips, conferences,
fund raising events.

You do not have to be ex service to join the
British Legion
Contact the secretary on 07785 753100
for more details

Come along and show your support for our armed forces

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Report on Warkworth with Amble Royal British Legion Charity Event

For Royal British Legion and SSAFA

Warkworth with Amble Branch members "D" Day veteran
George Skipper, Afganistan veteran Lyndsay Williamson with guest speaker Col Arthur W Charlton TD,DL

Col Arthur Charlton, (Deputy Lt of Co Durham) gave a fascinating talk on his specialist subject “History of the Iron Cross from Napoleon to the present day” at Warkworth Memorial Hall held on Friday 30 April.  He discussed the variety of German Iron Cross medals and the many leading figures from WW1 and WW2 who held them including Max Immelmann the WW1 fighter pilot.  He had a good command of his subject and showed photographs, medals and uniforms to demonstrate the changing pattern of the Iron Cross.  A question and answer session ensued with a lot of discussion. Arthur had purchased many of the medals in his collection and gave an insight as to the current value, rare items £800 plus, and described how he is able to distinguish between many of the fake medals in existence.  About 67 people turned up for the talk and thanks to donations for the raffle from businesses in Alnwick, Amble and Warkworth a net profit of £409 was achieved to be divided between SSAFA and The Royal British Legion. Arthur Charlton is also chairman of SSAFA in Durham and works tirelessly in his own free time to raise funds for the forces charity working during the day as Northern Director of the SaBRE Project in Durham City liaising with businesses to facilitate deployment of staff who are territorial reservists serving in Afganistan.  Photographs were taken  of our youngest veteran and member of Warkworth and Amble British Legion Lyndsay Williamson of Amble who has served in Afganistan pictured wearing her medals (which Arthur discussed) together with our oldest veteran George Skipper of Amble who is an 86 yr old “D” Day veteran.  Arthur kindly offered to re-mount George’s medals for him.  Members of Alnmouth branch of the British Legion were present as well as members of the Western Front Association.

Members Lyndsay and George

We are trying to raise the profile of Warkworth with Amble British Legion branch now having a re-furbished meeting room upstairs in Warkworth War Memorial Hall thanks to the help of grants from Warkworth Parish Council, Amble Town Council, Warkworth Village Trust and Northumberland County Council Community Trust. Members of the public who wish to consider joining will be made very welcome and they do not have to be ex service to do this.  The minimum that is asked is for a yearly £11 subscription to the Royal British Legion. Meetings are held every two months and events are organised throughout the year.  Opportunities exist to apply to visit the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Lottery grants are also available up to the end of 2010 for veterans and widows of veterans to visit Commonwealth war graves and a regular magazine gives updates on benefits to ex-service personnel and illustrates how money raised is being spent.  SSAFA and the British Legion both help target their funds to individuals although together they have recently provided 3 million to the Help for Heroes project based charity who are urgently building a new military ward attached to a hospital. Our members mainly come from Amble, Warkworth, Acklington, Broomhill and some live away from the area but keep their branch affiliation.  During the annual poppy collection the branch averages £2,000 in poppy sales therefore it is vital to keep our branch going to harvest this fantastic community effort which is sorely needed at the moment to help our troops and their families. The branch will celebrate its 90th birthday in 2011 and is proud of its continuous service in the community raising funds for the Royal British Legion. The County Chairman Mr Don Rutherford will open the re-furbished meeting room at our next meeting on June 17 at 7pm. If you wish to talk to someone about joining the British Legion a stall will be manned by members of the branch and county officials at Amble Lifeboat Day on Sun 29 Aug and Warkworth Show on Sat Aug 21 to recruit new members and poppy collectors.

Many thanks to everyone who gave their support on the night including Strands Hairdressers, Lloyds Bank, Tesco, Co-op, Harbour Fish Bar, Jaspers, Zecca, Fourways, Greggs the Bakers, Sainsburys, Homebase, The Greenhouse, The Jackdaw, Cabosse, Hermitage Inn. Boots the Chemist, Morrisons, and The Flower Centre Amble

 June Watson   Branch Secretary