Minutes of the Toddington Branch of The Royal British Legion

Committee Meeting 19:30hrs

Tuesday 14^th October 2025

1. Present 

John Wood, Lee Stone, Debbie Gibbons, Pippa Brazier, Lynda Bryant, Graeme Kelly, Bil Levinson, Glen Gadsden. Melanie Parker (PAO), Rev Ian

Smith.

2. Apologies

Linda Washington, Nigel 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 16th September 2025

Proposed – Bil Levinson

Seconded – Lynda Bryant

6. Chairmans Report

Branch Secretary

Kelly has decided to resign as our Branch Secretary with immediate effect due to family and work reasons. We would like to thank her for supporting the Branch for the past number of years.

Coffee Morning

We agreed to set up at the Methodist Hall from 8.30am. The Committee agreed to provide the following:

John – coffee / tea / sugar / cake / paper plates

Lee – Victoria sponge / Chocolate cake / step ladder / money float / cling film

Lynda – Fruit cake

Graeme – Sausage Rolls

Glen – Cake

Debbie – Cake & milk

Pippa – Biscuits

Melanie – Poppy Appeal merchandise / bunting

Air Commodore Gordon Moulds CBE

The Deputy Lord Lieutenant has confirmed he will be attending the Remembrance service on 9th November to lay a wreath on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.

Reverand Ian Smith

John welcomed Rev Ian to the meeting, who asked to be kept informed of any 2026 events we were planning so that he could prepare to support / attend as and when required.

Remembrance Sunday 9th November

• John explained the format and role that other church leaders had previously had, and gave Rev Ian Smith five of our booklets to help him prepare with the other church leaders and to become familiar with the Order of Service.
• We will ask St George’s Church to kindly provide chairs again for the seated section of the Green (12 chairs) and the Toddington Town Band (action: John).
• Road Closures – Glen along with his team helping with the road closures will meet at the Club at 8.30am, along with the rest of the Committee who are able to make it.
• Melanie confirmed that Blake Stephenson MP would be laying a wreath this year. 
• We will also be having a short service at Chalgrave Church and attending the service organised by Tebworth & Wingfield Parish Council at their Memorial Hall.
• We would discuss matters in more detail at our next meeting on Tuesday 4th November. Armistice Day 11th November
• We will hold a short service on the green to start about 10:45am, gathering from 10.30am then we will be attending Thorn Springs Care home at 2pm for a second short service for the residents.

7. Reports 

7.1 Treasurer

Debbie Gibbons

7.2 Membership Secretaries Report – Bil Levinson 

From the latest membership list on 4th of October 2025, we have 63 members. This is the same count as last month!

Web Site Report

The web site is up to date as far as I can tell, including the September Minutes.

7.3 Poppy Appeal Update – Melanie Parker

2024/2025 Poppy Appeal Update

The closing figures for the year have not changed since the last meeting and are as follows:

 Local figure - £15,830.17

 Luton schools - £17,036.22

 Overall total - £32,866.39

The count would take place on Friday 21st November.

7.4 Standard Bearer – Pippa Brazier

I have not attended any events since our last meeting, but I have been invited to the following:

Poppy Prom – Leighton Buzzard 

Drum Head Service - Woburn 

Rev Ian Smith’s Installation? – Toddington 

Concert & Parade – Southwark Cathedral 

Parade - St Paul’s Cathedral  Bedford Poppy Appeal Launch

Ajex Parade – The Cenotaph 

I will also organise the placing of the wreaths on the war graves in the cemetery during the week commencing 27th October.

7.5 Branch Community Support – Lee Stone

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

BSC Training – I have completed two mandatory training modules regarding safeguarding and data protection.

7.6 Branch Facebook Page – Graeme Kelly.

Our Facebook page is Royal British Legion Toddington.

Graeme showed us our Facebook page on his laptop. 

The page is compliant with guidelines recently received from Haig House regarding  branches use of Facebook pages.

The page displays, amongst other things, reminders of future events and significant days.

Graeme shared some statistics of the number of views / interactions we have had for the period 15th September to 12th October.

8. Correspondence

No relevant correspondence has been received since our last meeting.

9. Future Events – Memorable Dates

25th October (Saturday) – RBL Coffee Morning – Toddington Methodist Hall. 

9th November (Sunday) – Remembrance Sunday

11th November (Tuesday) – Armistice Day 

29th November (Saturday – Branch AGM – Moved from 22nd November 

20th June 2026 (Saturday) – Toddington Village Fete. 

10. Any other Business.

We would be setting up our Christmas Tree in St George’s Church for the annual Festival on Friday 5th December.

AGM – Graeme & John would be putting together a presentation. 

Graeme has mentioned to Lee that the VE Day flag on the St George’s Church flagpole was starting to become tatty and that we should take it down (action: Lee).

11. Next Meeting

The next meeting will be at 19:30hrs on Tuesday 4th November 2025.

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

The meeting was closed at 20:50 hrs.