Epping Forest MP, Eleanor Laing, is keen to encourage people to become members of The British Legion. In the week of 11th November and following a very busy Remembrance Day on Sunday, in which hundreds of people throughout Epping Forest participated, Mrs Laing said,

“The Royal British Legion is an invaluable organisation and I would like to encourage people to become members of it.

Since its foundation in 1921, the Royal British Legion has supported past and present Service personnel and their families, for example by helping to fight nearly 36,000 ongoing War Disablement Pension cases for veterans and making around 300,000 welfare and friendship visits every year. The Legion also continues its work in assisting former Servicemen and women to find gainful employment and adequate housing upon leaving the Forces.

Last year’s Poppy Appeal raised almost £30 million, a figure which directly supports the Service community, crucial work on which the Legion spent over £88 million in 2007.

Membership of the Royal British Legion is no longer limited to current and former members of the Armed Forces but is now open to all. It is one of the country's largest membership organisations, with over 450,000 members nationwide and a further 11,000 members overseas.

The Legion now has a Single Membership, giving all members equal rights to participate in Branch, County and National decision-making processes of the organisation which can be contacted at the following address:

Membership Services and Development Dept
The Royal British Legion
48 Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5JY

This is not a charity that concerns itself with only the veterans of World Wars. More than 16,500 British Armed Forces Personnel have been killed or injured on active service since 1945 in conflicts up to the present day, including Bosnia, the Falklands, Afghanistan and Iraq. At present, the Royal British Legion believe there to be a Service community of an estimated 10.5 million eligible for help.”

Mrs Laing laid a wreath at St. John's Church in Buckhurst Hill and attended other wreath laying ceremonies and services at Chigwell, Loughton and Epping.

Photo: She is photographed with Mr Ron Braybrook, representative of the Royal British Legion Buckhurst Hill and Valerie Metcalfe, prospective County Council candidate for Buckhurst Hill and Loughton South.