Minutes of the Toddington Branch of The Royal British Legion

Committee Meeting 19:30hrs

Tuesday 15^th April 2025

1.Present

 John Wood , Lee Stone, Lynda Bryant, Debbie Gibbons, Graeme Kelly, Bil Levinson,

2. Apologies

Pippa Brazier, Kelly Grumoli, Nigel Washington, Linda Washington.

3. Silent Tribute.

4. Exhortation

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

we will remember them.

5. Previous Meeting – Committee Meeting 18^th March 2025

The minutes having been previously circulated were agreed to be a true record of the last full committee meeting. 

Proposed – Graeme Kelly

Seconded – Lynda Bryant

Chairmans Report

John had received communications from Ellie Nellis, our new Membership Engagement Officer (MEO) for Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.  She had been invited to our meeting and accepted, but had been unable to attend at late notice due to unforeseen transport issues.

The Branch had attended the Toddington Parish Council meeting of Tuesday 8^th April, where our Treasurer had gratefully collected our grant award of £350.

7. Future Events – Memorable Dates

•  8th May (Thursday) – VE Day Commemoration and Beacon Lighting.
• Lee ran through the order of events and the stores list. Amendments were made, and a revised list would be circulated as soon as possible.
• Lee would contact Dee Curtis regarding access to the church tower for the 9.00am flag raising.
• 10^th May (Saturday) – VE Day Commemoration Celebration Evening 6.30pm-9:00pm
  • Lee ran through the order of events and the stores list.
  • Kelly would be requested to check the proposed set times with Alice, and to ask for an invoice from her so that we can pay her for her time.
  • For the Raffle, Committee members were asked to please consider donating a prize.
  • Malcolm Curtis from Toddington St George’s Church would be approached by Lee to see if he would like to be involved in conducting the short services on both the 8^th May & 10^th
  • Dee Curtis would be contacted by Lee to see if tables were available from the Wilkinson Hall.
  • We had received an offer of support from “Sax’s Cool Band”. Lee would contact them to see if they were available to play at 6.30pm after the initial opening, and again at 9.35pm as the event was closing.
  • a revised plan would be circulated as soon as possible
• 21^st June (Saturday) – Toddington Village Fete
• 13^th July (Sunday) – Wingfield Car Show
• 15^th August (Friday) – VJ Day Commemoration and Beacon Lighting
  • Graeme had worked on a poster for the Village Magazine, with options for different graphics. A version was chosen.  Since we were yet to decide how we would mark the event, the poster would be “watch this space”.
• 25^th October (Saturday) – RBL Coffee Morning – Toddington Methodist Hall.
• 9^th November (Sunday) – Remembrance Sunday
• 11^th November (Tuesday) – Armistice Day

8. Reports

 8.1 Treasurer – Debbie Gibbons

Plus, we have the £350.00 to come from the Parish Council which would take the total funds available to £3,655.12 .

8.2 Poppy Appeal Update – Melanie Parker

 £47.61 has been collected from the pot at Childs Bakers, making the current totals:-

• Local £15,033.97
• Luton schools £17,036.22
• Overall £32,070.19

The Bedfordshire total stands at £414,670.86 (£373,359.13 for 2023/24).

 VE Day and VJ Day wreaths have also been received along with a small number of VE pins.

8.3 Membership Secretaries Report – Bil Levinson

There are currently 57 members which is 1 higher than last month.

Web Site Report

The site is currently up to date.

8.4 Standard Bearer – Pippa Brazier

• 6^th April – attended the Mayor of Houghton Regis’ Civic Service.
• 9^th April – attended the funeral of Michael Bowers at Steppingley Crematorium.
• 13^th April – attended the RAFA parade at St Clement Danes Church, London.

Invited to:

• 26^th April – St George’s Parade at the Cenotaph, London.
• 27^th April – Anzac Day at Walton on Thames.

Pippa also reported that standard bearers will require replacement cap badges, slings & ties to replace the Queen’s crown on them with the King’s crown.

• Branch Community Support

 BSC Training – No requests for assistance have been received, however a member of our community is going to be checked upon. 

9. Correspondence

 We had received an email from the County Chairman floating the idea of a Chairmans’ symposium for Branches, aimed at Chairs, Secretaries and Treasurers. It would be a Saturday morning with lunch. John would canvass interest and reply to the request.

10. Any other Business.

• Gazebo – Lee confirmed this had been ordered since the last meeting, and had been delivered to his home. It would be checked over whilst in use at our VE Day event on Saturday 10^th
•  The silent soldiers would be taken down after the VJ Day celebration, repaired, and put back up again.
•  On 26^th April, Toddington Town Band would be playing at St George’s Church. There would be an entrance fee payable.  Details are on Facebook. 

11. Next Meeting

The next meeting will be at 19:30hrs on Tuesday 20^th May 2025

If any member would like to attend a committee meeting, please contact John Wood or Kelly Grumoli and we can send you the details.

 The meeting was closed at 21:19 hrs.