The Oswestry Branch of the Royal British Legion is pleased to announce that Oswestry Cricket Club has agreed for the Branch to use its Morda Road facilities as its new permanent address.

The Royal British Legion is one of the country’s best-known Charities and provides lifelong financial, social and emotional support to serving members of the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force, together with Veterans and their families. It also remembers those who lost their lives on active service in all conflicts; from the beginning of the First World War, right up to the present day, with its famous Poppy Appeal.

The Royal British Legion was originally founded on the 15th of May 1921 and just six months later the Oswestry Branch was formed, on November 22nd that year. Sadly, the branch officially  closed in October 1961 but was reformed in January 1979 and meetings where held initially in the former Conservative Club, more recently The Tankard, but it has been supporting the community ever since with events such as a Remembrance Concert held at St Oswald’s Church which included guest Choirs and the Porthywaen Band

Neil Lawrenson, Chair of the Oswestry Branch said, “We are really pleased to be able to call Oswestry Cricket Club our new home, and hope that this will be the springboard for us to re-establish ourselves as a driving force within the local community”. “We are very grateful to Steve Adams, Chair of the Cricket Club, its committee, and membership for pro-actively working with us to be able to call their club our “home”” Neil added.

The Branch membership is currently 62 and it is hoped that this new permanent residence will help the membership grow into three-figures and beyond. Membership is currently just £18 and opens a host of benefits to new members. A full schedule of meetings and events will be published soon.

The goals of the Branch are to increase its membership, raise funds through various events, participate fully in the Towns Remembrance Services and the annual Poppy Appeal, but most importantly to provide financial and emotional support to current Forces Members, Veterans, and their families in Oswestry.

Steve Adams, Chair of Oswestry Cricket Club commented “We are privileged to have been able to help the local Branch of the Royal British Legion. They are clearly an important part of the local community, and I would like to think that there is great synergy with our own role. As a Club, we already fully respect the part that our Service Personnel play in our lives, we are a Bronze Award holder under the Armed Forces Covenant Employee Recognition Scheme, and also host an Armed Forces and Veterans “Drop-in” morning every Tuesday at 10am for Forces personnel. We have a wonderful Clubhouse which is already used for the 12 months of the year, but we felt important that we go further and open our doors to Neil and his team.”

To celebrate the new location with its first event, The Royal British Legion will be hosting a concert, where The Pen-Y-Bont Fawr Male Voice Choir will be performing at the Cricket Club on Saturday April 15th at 7pm.

Tickets are available via the Eventbrite website at http://bit.ly/3U2Dh7c

Pictured: (L to R) Steve Adams, Chair of Oswestry Cricket Club with Neil Lawrenson, Chair of the Oswestry Branch of RBL.