OLD SOLDIERS, young Scouts and
cadets marched in step to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Royal
British Legion in Christchurch.
Eight decades of loyal service by
and for generations of former servicemen and women was marked with
a parade and band concert on the quay. Legion standards which had
led the previous day's Falklands anniversary parade were unfurled
again for Sunday's afternoon of military pomp and ceremony.
Led by the Christchurch Legion branch's own band formed only last
year the parade of veterans and uniformed youth groups marched from
the Priory to the Quay.
At the bandstand a large crowd including Mayor Cllr Josephine Spencer
and local Legion top brass was entertained with an afternoon of music
from the RBL branch band and Christchurch Scout Band.
Branch committee member Gordon Crisp said: "It's a good advert for
the Legion, which we could do with, because we need more members."
Among the audience was the last
surviving founder member of the Christchurch Legion branch, long-time
Bargates barber Cyril Clapp. Now in his 90s Mr Clapp was already
a Territorial when World War II broke out and he later served in
the Far East theatre of the conflict.
Christchurch is among the longest-established
Royal British Legion branches in the country. Members first met in
the town's Scout headquarters before moving to the Legion hall in
the former Rialto cinema.