THE first meeting of the 2008/9 season was held on Monday 21st April. The speaker was Henry Williams who spoke on the work of the Royal British Legion.

His talk began with "The Homage", which is used at all Legion meetings. We were interested to learn about the origins of the legion which was founded in 1921 by former officers to help men who had fought in the First World War when no government help was available.

Henry explained the various tiers of structure from our local Kinver and Enville Branch to Head Office in Pall Mall, London, and the various training courses necessary to hold the administrative functions.

The many and varied types of help available to forces personnel were outlined and the continuing need for their services and donations.

Much of the income is achieved through the annual Poppy Day appeal, considerable funds are raised in this area by the volunteer poppy sellers in the Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

The Branch Standard was displayed and the significance of the elements explained. Henry had brought in printed Legion publicity information which gave many more facts and figures.

The Chairman, Gill Tibbetts thanked Henry for his interesting talk and a donation was made to legion funds. Members were reminded of Kinver Country Fayre on May 10th when we will have a stall and contributions were requested for the Hamper Prize for our Treasure Hunt and helpers to man the stall.

Our next meeting will be held on Monday May 19th 7:30pm at Edgecliff School 6th Form Centre. Our topic for next month will be "The Stourbridge Glass Industry", the talk will be given by a representative from Broadfield House Glass Museum at Kingswinford.

New members and visitors are always welcome, please come to the venue or for more information about the Society please contact David Tibbetts on 01384 872066.