Royal British Legion | Billericay Lions

At our meeting on Monday 25th November 2024, Derek Prior gave us an fascinating talk entitled “The History and Formation of The British Legion Over The Last 100 Years”

Derek, who is also one of our Lions members, has been the branch secretary of the Billericay branch of the Royal British Legion for eight years.

The British Legion was formed in 1921 after the First World War to offer various forms of support for veterans and their families.

Following the war in which 6 million served, 886,000 never returned, 1.6 million received disabled pensions and 2 million were unemployed.

Membership reached its peak in 1954 at 3 million members and today is 180,000 worldwide.

They are best known for the annual poppy appeal which started in France and is now present in many countries, some of whom have slightly different designs of the poppy.

The Billericay branch of the Legion meet in the Chantry Centre, Billericay on the last Wednesday of the month.