Legion branch set to launch 90th anniversary celebrations (From Wharfedale Observer)

Legion branch set to launch 90th anniversary celebrations

11:30am Saturday 2nd June 2012 in Local news By Jim Jack

The national charity might have had its birthday last year but in Otley, 2012 will be the time to celebrate 90 years of the Royal British Legion.

The local branch of the organisation was formed on July 10, 1922 and has lined up two fundraising concerts and two sales to mark it reaching nine decades.

Secretary and honorary citizen Doris Gagen hopes the anniversary events, which will begin with a sale at Otley’s Buttercross, from 9am to noon, on Friday, June 8, will raise awareness of the branch’s work and boost its fundraising total.

The biggest event will be a concert by Otley Brass Band at All Saints Parish Church on Friday, July 6, but Mrs Gagen also expects a performance at the Methodist Church by the Otley Salvation Army Friendship Band, on Saturday, November 10, to be a hit.

She said: “We are a small branch but we were pleased to learn that we had the third highest increase in our fundraising total in the Leeds district last year.

“When one thinks of how small Otley must have been in 1918, and listens to the roll of honour in church on Remembrance Sunday, there could not have been a single family that did not lose one or more members. Hopefully, townspeople will turn out and support us at these 90th anniversary events so we may beat our £14,000 fundraising total of last year.”

Tickets for the Otley Brass Band concert, which starts at 7pm, cost £6, while admission to the 6.30pm Salvation Army show will cost £5.

A second stall at the Buttercross takes place from 9am to noon on the same day as the Salvation Army concert on November 10.

For tickets and more details, ring (01943) 465098 or (01943) 466874.