Nation Chairman Peter Cleminson's Speech
It is very good to be here to support such a vibrant County, a County that was one of the first to have a County Plan, way back in 1994, titled 2010 and Beyond. Well, we have now arrived at that year and you should be proud to have had such a vision, with many targets achieved. Poppy total now at £690,000 from £230K in 1993. Wonderful support by the Lord Lieutenant and his Cadets. Increased Welfare work and a good pool of Caseworkers aided by your Awareness Seminars. Your list of significant events last year totals 80, an achievement for which you all should be very proud. I congratulate you on behalf of the Trustees and more importantly, on behalf of our beneficiaries.
Poppy Calls is going from strength to strength and we plan to increase the number of vans operating around the country to 28 in the next two years.
We’re expanding the Benefits and Money Advice service with over 30 CAB projects in place now and a further 10 planned in the year ahead.
We made a £1.8 million grant to Combat Stress to support the establishment of three regional outreach teams to provide residential treatment to those who have left the Forces but may be suffering with mental health issues.
Other campaigning successes include a commitment to rebranding Council Tax Benefit to a Rebate promised in the Govt’s Welfare Reform bill; independent support being provided for bereaved families and mandatory training for Coroners on the Armed Forces in thus year’s Coroners Bill.
We also successfully brought forward an independent review of The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and hope to see some major improvements agreed before the General Election.
With a General Election coming up, we launched our own Manifesto and took it to the three major political parties’ conferences, urging them to pledge in their own election campaigns to look after the whole Armed Forces family. So far over 340 election candidates have committed to ‘do their bit’. You can help by contacting all candidates at this year’s election and asking them ‘have they signed up to the Legion’s Manifesto?’ So far 340 MP’s had signed up.
The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire continues to see a phenomenal rise in visitors, since the Armed Forces Memorial was dedicated in 2007. His Royal Highness Prince William leant his support to a new £8m appeal in the spring, to raise money for improved facilities and a new visitor centre to cope with the extra visitors. Now to have RBL Sign to show our ownership.
We marked the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in June with events in Normandy and Portsmouth. Sadly during 2009, the last three remaining veterans of WWI passed away. In remembering them our thoughts during the year were on those currently serving particularly those in Afghanistan. The “Afghan Generation” was the focus of this year’s Poppy Appeal to remind the nation that we are also there for those on active service right now.
That message was reinforced at the launch by the appearance of Dame Vera Lynn and Hayley Westenra. The current Poppy Appeal looks to have been a phenomenal success. We sold out of the small wooden crosses for the Garden of Remembrance raising £1M+ from donations.
2009 has been another good year. We’ve continued to raise our profile and increase our welfare services and we’ve continued to push the powers that be to take better care of those who serve their country. We have focused our efforts on emphasising the work the Legion does to help younger Service people – especially the Afghan generation of the Armed Forces and their families – today and for the rest of their lives.
We have drawn the public’s attention to facts such as:
a. Since 2003, we have helped 10,000 veterans of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan with direct financial assistance
b. We represent more than one-third of the appeals that have been lodged for higher compensation by British Armed Forces wounded in Afghanistan
c. We have increased the numbers of serving personnel that we’ve helped, through our Civvystreet service and family breaks and by campaigning for improvements to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
d. Indeed, our campaigns have resulted in £7.5 million additional compensation paid to our most seriously injured heroes from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Board of Trustees have agreed “in principle”, to provide up to £20 million over the next 10 years to help fund a number of new Army Recovery Centres being created for seriously injured Armed Forces personnel. It is intended that each centre will be tri-Service with a capacity of 20 residents and 40 day care clients. We are now awaiting detailed business plans from the MoD.
Under the banner of “Honour the Covenant” we campaigned for an Independent Legal Advice Service for bereaved Service families to provide assistance and support during inquests - an often confusing time for grieving families. As a result of detailed “behind the scenes” discussions by our Policy Team, the MoD has now agreed to partner with us to deliver a pilot service. In order to ensure the independence of the new service, the Legion will lead and Trustees have agreed to fund 60% of the costs over the next two years. With the number of deaths in Service ranging from 137 to 204 per year between 1999 and 2008 this is a much needed service for Armed Forces families.
Poppy Travel has taken 11,000 Army Training recruits on tour and 1,500 school children over to Ypres and the battlefields of the WW1 and has been invited by the MOD to provide £.5m of special tour business.
Our Schools programme continues to grow and we have produced 65,000 packs which have been sent out to schools across the world – our programme of One Day Schools’ Conferences involved over 35 schools and 1200 pupils. This year we introduced postcards for children to send to messages to both veterans and serving soldiers and these proved so popular that we had to reprint them twice due to demand. All these resources are provided free of charge and are available all year round.
It’s also been a year in which the Legion has had to make some tough decisions. Trustees of the Legion, have a duty to make the most of the money raised for our beneficiaries. That’s why they very reluctantly decided to sell Crosfield House and to withdraw from the New Legion Club programme. The decisions were not taken lightly - but the Charity’s ultimate responsibility to our beneficiaries is paramount and sometimes difficult decisions must be made to safeguard their interests.
Following the strengthening of the Commercial department the Trustees now have a list of all properties that are owned by the Legion. We are now looking at their value and how they are presented in the Annual Accounts.
More than 500 branches are now taking part in the Branch funds Initiative. The branches have deposited a total of over £6 million and are very happy with the service provided. Please do consider joining this ongoing scheme.
We are now entering 2010. We have a fabulous platform to go forward. In 18 months time the Legion will be 90 years young. This is a marvellous opportunity to raise our profile even further, to help even more people in need in the Armed Forces Family, and to encourage more people to join us in our work.
As we enter our 90th year there is a pride in our Armed Forces that I last saw as a schoolboy in Liverpool during WW11. It was then that we put our differences aside and united in the common cause, thus ensuring we remained free. He then went on and gave a short story which was well received by the delegates.
Una and I have represented you World Wide in 2009, Speaking at the American Legion and Australia RSL Conferences, leading a Remembrance Tour to Imphal and Kohima, Chairing meetings at the RCEL Conference in Ghana with the Duke of Edinburgh, the RCEL Grand President, sitting in on one of my sessions; a daunting experience! We have also visited as many Branches as possible, Branches are vital to our work and it is important to ensure that they are not forgotten and that National Officers are available to listen to their concerns and be transparent and accountable to the Members. I never come away from these visits disappointed and have learnt much.
I hand over to my successor next May and I leave the Legion in good heart and good hands, your hands. Long may you all continue to serve our cause so well. Thank you.
