To the memory of the fallen

and the future of the living

Welcome to

The Royal British Legion 

Wiltshire

We are to administer and support the delivery of welfare services and the membership and fundraising activities of the Legion's branches and clubs throughout Wiltshire.

Membership of The Royal British Legion is available to all adults, not just members or ex-members of the forces and we always welcome new members. Drop into your local branch or click here to find out how you can join.

Friends of Lydiard Park (Swindon) Talk.

Next Tuesday evening ( 16^th April) the Friends of Lydiard Park are hosting a talk titled "The Viscount who Fought as a Tommy. The WW1 story of Vernon Henry St John" with the military historian and author, Christopher Jary. More details and how to get tickets can be found here by following this link

Guest speaker, the military historian and author Christopher Jary joins Lydiard Friends’ Chair, Sarah Finch-Crisp, to reveal Vernon St.John’s wartime story; fighting with the 6th Dorsets at Passchendaele through the grim autumn of 1917 and facing the German spring offensive on the Somme in 1918.

Drawing on Christopher Jary’s expertise alongside photographs and documents in The Lydiard Archives, ‘The Viscount who fought as a Tommy’ will be of particular interest to anyone interested in World War I and social history of the time.

One moment the young Lord Bolingbroke was celebrating his coming of age at Lydiard Park, the next he was set on a path for the battlefields of France. Vernon’s health paid a price for enduring a year of some of the fiercest battles and harshest conditions ever faced by British infantry. Evacuated from the battlefield, he was discharged from the Army on 6th November 1918 on the grounds of shell shock.

Ticket prices include a complimentary glass of wine or a soft drink if preferred. The hotel bar will also be open.

St Georges Day Concert.

Please see attached poster for details of a fundraising concert in the Salisbury Cathedral with funds raised in aid of the RBL

Membership Handbook

The revised Membership Handbook is now available on MAP or can be requested from your Membership Engagement Officer (MEO). A summary of changes made is also available to view on MAP.

MEO Weekly Bulletin.

Each week our MEO, Will Dommett, sends out a roundup of the weeks happenings and news from around Wiltshire and Dorset. They will be available to read here and various parts such as events coming up across the Wiltshire county will be on the County Events Calendar on the left. All sorts of info to check out so be sure to take a look. A new one will replace the old one as we receive them.

Occassionally there will also be a Membership E-Newsletter.That can be viewed here.

The latest Central News Letter can be seen here. 

D-Day 80. Remembering D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

The D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 was the largest seaborne invasion in history. Along with the associated airborne operations, it marked the beginning of the liberation of France and western Europe.
Lots of information can be found by following this link

https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/remembrance-events/d-day

Standard Bearer Training Photos.

Follow the link below to a few photos from a recent training day. All coming together very well in my humble opinion. Click a pic to open in a larger warts an all format !!

PHOTOS

Seend Branch Annual Lecture

Do you have a few minutes as a Veteran to complete a survey?

BSW Research Hub in the University of Bath and the Integrated Care Board for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire have been commissioned by NHS England to carry out a survey to understand military communities’ thoughts about health and social care research. This is with a view to make health research more inclusive so people serving and their families, or ex-service folk can participate and potentially benefit from being a part of research. 

If you have a moment to distribute the survey amongst ex and current military friends/colleagues/families within the region it would be most appreciated.

Link to survey:

https://forms.office.com/e/viYmc5J81k

Stratton Branch Mural Unveiled

Stratton ST Margaret Branch unveiled thier Remembrance Mural on friday 10th of November. A report in the Swindon Advertiser can be seen by following this LINK:

Here are a couple of photos. Impressive is an understatement. Great work by all involved.

Shrewton Branch Airmans Cross Memorial

Shrewton and District Branch held its Annual Remembrance Service at Stonehenge on Saturday 4th November for the 3 airmen commemorated on the 2 memorials. 

Captain Eustace Loraine, Staff Sergeant Richard Wilson and Major Alexander Hewetson.

There were nine standards from across the county and County Parade Marshalls were in attendance

The Airmans Cross commemorates the death of the three men named aboved following accidents during training at the then Larkhill Airfield. The two memorials were erected originally in 1912 and 1913.

Airman’s Cross was moved to its new position from the centre of the nearby traffic junction as part of the Stonehenge visitor centre project, and was rededicated by the Earl and Countess of Wessex on 1 May 2014.

                     

Swindon Veterans Support

A new page has been set up for VA Swindon.

Volunteering with the RBL

Details of how to volunteer can be seen on the attached POSTER just click the link.

Seend Branch Sponsored Poppies

Eachyear Seend branch coax local business and individual in to sponsoring a poppy for the Popy Appeal. This year so far it has raised over £700. Have a look at the results of this effort by clicking the link below.

https://fb.watch/nZe5xEfAX5/

Wiltshires Legion Superstars

Many of you may know about the recent Invictus Games that took place in September. The games were supported in the UK solely by the RBL and Wiltshire had  a very special reason to celebrate. Our very own Poppy Appeal Manager Peter Saunders took part in the Seated Volley Ball where the team came fourth and he also took part in the long Jump where he was very successful in winning GOLD ! Peter bought the medal along to a recent county commitee meeting and its an impressive piece of ironwork !! Congratulations Peter and heres to a successful return at the next games. Some pictures below from the trip can be opened in larger versions by clicking the picture. And here are a couple of links to interviews from Peter with Points West and the RBL.
https://fb.watch/nCqu7ovLTo/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-66783844

New!!! Training Availability and whats involved

We have set up a page giving a brief overview of the training available in the county and who to contact along with whats involved. We are working on dates for courses and they will be listed as we confirm availability. Follow this Yellow Brick Road for information

Cenotaph Taxis

Details on where and how to get to the Centotaph on 12th November with FREE Taxis. CLICK for more info

Exciting New Stuff!!

Well maybe not but we need to get your attention. There are TWO new Forms in the RBL Forms page. Follow the LINK

A NEW PAGE specifically for Branch Community Support has been put together and will grow as we get more branches and info on where to find support. Its on the LEFT or just click HERE

Devizes Last Post 

The Wharf Theatre, Devizes has a production by the Hobgoblin Theatre Company being run on the 11th November. Details can be found here https://www.wharftheatre.co.uk/show/the-last-post/ 

It's an adaptation of a novel by Keith Campion related to the father and son correspondance during WW1.

Well worth a trip.

Trowbridge Festival Of Rememberance

Other News

The Office for Veterans Affairs has published a 6monthly report which can be found here. Please take time to read it.

In the National Conference page a link can be found for the Resolutions Booklet released by head office.

Devon County are planning a trip to Normandy in June 2024. More details and a booking form can be found here and here.

Latest Training Bulletin

Training within the new rules of the RBL is now really important. With that in mind we have produced a Training Bulletin which we will keep up to date with courses for various roles within the branches. Please take a little time to have a read and if you would like to sign up for a course get in touch with Nicola or Keith

Training Bulletin Link

Armed Forces Day 

The recent National Armed Forces Day was held in Falmouth this year. A full report on that can be seen here

New Page

As stated in the MEO Bulletin #42 the Membership Mangement handbook has been updated. This link will take you to the page with all the info on what is new and what was amended.

Branch News Pages Updates

Salisbury City Band have released some dates for music in the Old George Mall. Details can be found here

East Knoyle branch have sent in their latest news letter and a couple of photos from a recent trip to the REME Museum at Lyneham. Click the link.

Bratton Branch Talk

Bratton branch will be holding a talk on the Sinai conflict. More details available here 

Opportunities To Retrain

A newly formed Swindon company, PC Group, are offering a discounted course in plastering for Veterans. The four day course will cover all aspects of becoming a plasterer or micro cement work specialist. A printable poster with contact details are available HERE.  If you are looking to swap your job or not certain what you would like to do PCG are also offering taster days. Contact them for more details.

Branch News Page.

We have recently changed the way in which we load news pages for the branches. In the past we have had a seperate link to each branch that sent in any info but it made the navigation bar a bit congested. So there is now a "Branch News Pages" section on the left where all the branches are grouped together. If there is a RED link in the section there is either fresh news or a link to the branches webpage. Dont forget if you have news to share then send it to either Nicola or myself please.

RBL Warm Spaces Scheme

As mentioned in the MEO Bulletin HERE is the Information

RBL Cost of Living Help

The RBL have released details on their plans to help members with the cost of living. More information can be found HERE 

New Section Added

UPDATED

I have for ease added a new section on the left called RBL Forms. Currently it has the new MS1 versions in the folder but more will be added as required

Contact Details

Some branch officers and members have in the past used their own personal email addresses for contact between both our MSO Nicola Burand and Head Office. As part of the requirements of GDPR the RBL have STOPPED using these email addresses and do not accept emails from them. That means you may have missed important news or requests. If you are a Branch Officer, i.e. Chairman, secretary etc you are able to get a new email address for the post. All you need to do is contact either Nicola or Keith and we will arrange for an rbl.community address to be supplied. 
Please keep in touch and lets keep moving the Wiltshire branches forward.

CALENDAR UPDATES Click to go direct to page

National Conference Resolutions and
Q & A 

Each year at National Conference the various Resolutions and Questions are recorded and sent out a booklets. Click the links below for more information.

Messages 

Each year the president and chairman leave a message to the county membership. For various reasons these have not been visible on this website. However you can now view them both by following the two links to the pages on the left. 

County President

County Chairman

Wiltshire Riders Branch

Malcolm ( Mal ) McPhail, who now runs the Wiltshire Riders Branch, has asked me to let you  know that he is very happy to give a presentation about the Riders Branch to your Branch Meetings. 
You can contract Mal via the County Office email address or follow this link Mal sent this email to us :

"My name is Malcolm (Mal) McPhail and I am now the Wiltshire Rep for the Royal British Legion Riders. Basically I took the position on last year during COVID and I am now trying to make contacts across the county.

Currently we are planning our collections for the Poppy Appeal and will be covering Tesco at Swindon and Tidworth, Waitrose at Swindon and Devizes Town Centre(in conjunction with Franklin Richmond).  Consequently, we are very thin on the ground and any local support would be much appreciated.

Going forward, I would like to visit all RBL Branches in Wiltshire in 2022 and give a presentation on the Riders Branch and hopefully encourage and build relationships. I think it is vital that as we are all members of the RBL, we should be collaborative and work together as much as possible to ensure that we can give as much support to our members. We meet on the first Wednesday of every month at the Wyvern Club in Devizes SN10 3AA and new members always welcome."

Thanks Mal and good luck with the future efforts in the RBLR Branch for Wiltshire.

RBL Volunteer Support Project 

We want to let you know about our new project, Legion Links. 

In short, the Legion Links project intends to create a national network of social groups offering support to carers in the Armed Forces community. The programme aims to help Armed Forces carers feel less lonely and isolated because of their caring role, by supporting them to develop interests, friendships, and engage more with their communities. Each group will be co-ordinated by two newly created volunteer roles, Support Group Facilitator and Support Group Administrator. 

We are currently in the process of locating venues for our first ten support groups launching between August – October 2021. At the moment we have two confirmed locations, the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire and the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, Shropshire. We now have a Legion Links page on the main RBL website, as well as having our volunteer roles listed on the main volunteer page. We will also have Volunteer Roles on local and national recruitment sites. 

The Legion Links Team are particularly interested in working with RBL branches on this project, both as potential locations for groups and as a source of potential volunteers. If you feel you or your branch members may be able to help in this project contact the Legion Links Team for a chat 

For a detailed description of the project and roles involved contact the webmaster for more information.

We are really keen to hear from members who may be interested in the roles, please ask them to register their interest at: LegionLinks@britishlegion.org.uk.

Cant Find the OLD news?

Check the ARCHIVE HERE

County Contact Details

Further contact information for all Area Staff is available here

Public Liability Certificate 2021/22 Available HERE

Wiltshire Branches

View The Royal British Legion - Wiltshire Branches in a larger map.

Contact details for prospective members are available on each Branch.

Clean Up

Occassionally items on the front page of the website become out of date and not current. So in an attempt to keep the website tidy and easy to find your way around items need to be taken off but we appreciate they may still be relevant to various visitors. Dont worry. Anything that falls in to this area of the tidy up is moved to the Archives on the left hand menu near the bottom of the list. Check there first and if its not in there then drop me an email as I keep this on my computer and can send you the details.

Veterans Gateway Information 

NOW LIVE

Veterans’ Gateway is made up of a consortium of organisations and Armed Forces charities, including The Royal British Legion, SSAFA – the Armed Forces charity, Poppyscotland, Combat Stress and Connect Assist.

Their connection with additional key referral organisations – both within and outside the Armed Forces sector – means we can get you to the right organisation who can help.

Funded by The Armed Forces Covenant, this is the first time a group of this kind has come together formally to deliver a service to help the Armed Forces community.

Get in touch

You can speak to one of our team by phone or email.

They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to put you in touch with the help you need, or direct you to the information you are looking for.

Mark Collins

Assistant Director Veterans Gateway

 Branch Minutes and Newsletters

Warminster Branch minutes added to site here
Why not send yours to Keith for adding to the site?

WHAT WE DO. EVER WONDERED EXACTLY WHAT?

Well if you have we now have a list of what the RBL does in the Services community. Take a look HERE.

Armed Forces Covenant in Numbers Fact Sheet

Attached are some details of how and who is supporting the covenant and what has been achieved so far. The document is available HERE.

Volunteering to Help

If you would like to do some voluntary work with the Legion please have a look at the following link. VOLUNTEERING TO HELP.

View our News & Events calendar for more information on what's happening.

About The Royal British Legion

The Royal British Legion is the nation's leading Armed Forces charity providing care and support to all members of the British Armed Forces past and present and their families. It is also the national Custodian of Remembrance and safeguards the Military Covenant between the nation and its Armed Forces. It is best known for the annual Poppy Appeal and its emblem the red poppy.

Advice and Assistance

There are three ways for those needing our assistance to contact the RBL:

• The Knowledge Base which is accessed through the RBL website http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/can-we-help
• The Contact Centre (new free phone number: 0808 802 8080) which is open from 8 am to 8 pm seven days a week.
• Face to face meeting with a Caseworker or Case Officer.

If the Knowledge Base does not answer the query, or if the individual does not have access to a computer, then the next port of call is the Contact Centre. This Centre is now working 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm. If the Contact Centre is not able to resolve the issue then it passes the details of the case to the Area Advice and Information Team Leader (AITL). The AITL will then pass the case onto the local Case Officer (CO) and they will allocate the case to a caseworker who will arrange to meet the person making the enquiry.

There are a number of opportunities for Volunteering roles and we especially need more volunteer caseworkers.  If you are interested in volunteer work you can find a form of Expression of Interest at this link 

If you would like to volunteer for one of these roles please complete the form and send it to Fi Hedges whose address is at the bottom of the form.

Swindon Area Office, 

The Royal British Legion

104 Above Bar Street

Southampton

Hampshire

SO14 7DT

Thankyou for your co-operation.