County President:Lt Cmdr Bob Stevens

National Chairman, County Council Chairman, honoured guests, Delegates. Welcome to this years Annual conference of the Warwickshire County Royal British Legion so ably planned by our Conference Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr Chris Parnham.

I hope you have enjoyed the display in the foyer and I congratulate those who have put in the hard work to make it the success it is. It was very popular with those members of the County Council (officers and Staff) who visited yesterday.

 It gives me great pleasure today to welcome our guests and in particular the Chairman of the County Council Peter Barnes and his wife. I have known Peter for many years both as a councillor on Warwickshire County Council and on Stratford District Council. Peter represents the area of the County around Bidford on Avon and has a reputation for being both outspoken and passionate about the area he represents.

 Peter it gives me great pleasure to invite you to open our 2010 Conference. It is now 10 years into this century and the Royal British Legion’s presence in Warwickshire is as strong as ever. Although we have unfortunately had to close a few Branches we can also take pride in the new branch that has opened and I congratulate them on their success. The strength of the Royal British Legion lies very much on its Branches and the comradeship you create towards our fellow service men and women. Giving them an opportunity to relive their career’s in the armed services and exchange yarns regardless of when and how long they served.

The Royal British Legion must never loose sight of its aims which are to look after the welfare of ex service personnel when they come across hard times, illness or loneliness. We are first and foremost a charity which shows our gratitude towards all those ex service personnel who have served their country. The countries gratitude is expressed annually in the Poppy Appeal at Remembrance Tide and more recently in the welcoming home parades for our young soldiers when they returned from service in the war Zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. We have had 2 such Parades here in Warwick and I found them extremely moving- weren’t they young too!!?

 Our Branches and their Standard Bearers also played their part in the sad occasions when local servicemen were bought home to Warwickshire to be buried. I would also like to congratulate The County Women’s Section Standard Bearer Beth Slade on her, as always, impeccable performance when she represented the County at the Royal Albert Hall this year. 

Once again I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Conference of the County Women’s Section in Stratford on Avon. It was well and enthusiastically attended and their debates were wide ranging, their tea was as always excellent and not withstanding the comments at the end of their annual report they can be assured of their continued role that they proudly play under the umbrella of the Royal British Legion 

I cannot let this occasion pass without adding my thanks to the sterling work carried out for the Royal British Legion in Warwickshire by Alan Mallet during his 15 years with us in Warwickshire. At the same time I welcome our new County Manager Seb Hargreaves and Community Fundraiser Gail Collins to our ranks. They have both made their presence felt already and I am sure hoping to visit your Branch during the course of this year. During the inter regnum and subsequent handover David Tyler, as always, ably held the fort to deal with any problems that arose.