Since the Royal British Legion was founded in 1921, our members, staff, volunteers and partners have dedicated their time and effort to supporting the Armed Forces community and remembering their sacrifice.
To mark our 100th birthday, we launched the Reward and Recognition scheme where everyone across the RBL family was invited to nominate people who deserved to be recognised for their significant contributions to our work.
The awards recognise the outstanding actions of individuals in five categories; service, collaboration, passion, excellence and valuing our people.
From the moment we launched the scheme, the nominations came flooding in and after a robust check on the quality and standard of submissions, we were left with over 400 tales of inspiration and determination from groups and individuals across the organisation, all of whom are equally deserving of recognition in our Centenary year.
Here we celebrate the contributions of our amazing RBL People who have helped to make our organisation the fantastic place that it is. Search by name or use the filters below to explore the nominees.
Dennis Woolons
Dennis Woolons
Lockdown meant an increased demand for support through the RBL Telephone Buddy scheme. At 94, recently widowed and self-isolating, Dennis would have been a candidate for support himself, but instead he volunteered to become a Telephone Buddy, undertaking the challenge of online training. He is now in regular contact with two D-Day veterans and a younger veteran suffering from dementia, and has also featured on TV, radio and social media, raising awareness of the scheme.
Mark Collins
Mark Collins
Throughout the strategic changes made in 2019 Mark worked collaboratively with the HR team helping to ensure that all those directly affected were supported and that their views were heard and respected. Mark is a great team player, always concerned for the wellbeing of his colleagues around him, and his kind, empathetic and professional approach is much appreciated by his peers.
Jo-Anne Wilson
Jo-Anne Wilson
Jo-Anne is the Registered Manager at Galanos House. She and the other care home managers have shown exceptional leadership during the pandemic, doing whatever was necessary to keep residents as safe as possible. They have dealt with the impact of COVID-19 including significant staff shortages, providing nursing care personally and staying in the homes themselves. They established innovative ways of maintaining contact between residents and loved ones, providing reassurance in the most difficult of times.
Wayne Pearce
Wayne Pearce
With a genuine passion for supporting vulnerable people, Wayne thrives in his role as Outreach Officer. He has developed close relationships with partner agencies and works with them to achieve a successful outcome. If someone needs extensive one-to-one support, he will go out of his way to help them – even completing a round trip of 250 miles so that someone could view a property – and his dedication makes a real difference to people’s lives.
Margaret Scarlett
Margaret Scarlett
Margaret has been Cheshire County Treasurer since 2016 and has worked tirelessly in the role, liaising closely with the finance department and others to address historical issues and bring the LOMAS accounting system back into use to ensure compliance. She has also supported branches with their finances; played a pivotal role in training courses, workshops and seminars; and has been proactive in addressing issues with dormant branches and bank accounts.
Jude Tree
Jude Tree
Jude is a Case Officer who has gone above and beyond for many members of the Armed Forces community. She recently supported a veteran who was frequently contemplating suicide, working to ensure he had appropriate mental-health support and wraparound services in place, even turning to art therapy as an alternative means of therapeutic support. Jude speaks to him weekly and continues to help him and his family with their ongoing mental-health issues, and he now feels more positive about his future.
James Pitman
James Pitman
Support Analyst James is enthusiastic and reliable, dedicated to resolving even the most complex technical problems. He has also achieved the highest volume of resolved service-desk tickets almost every month since he started at the RBL. James is constantly seeking to provide a better service to our people and ensures that he has the right knowledge and skills to achieve this. He is undeniably a great asset to the RBL.
Veronica Eames
Veronica Eames
Veronica is a Registered Nurse who has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and Covid-19 outbreak at Maurice House, providing care to residents and reassurance to relatives in the most difficult circumstances. She also supported the rest of the team, taking on extra shifts and offering Covid-secure lifts to enable other staff to get to work safely. Her exceptional commitment was commendable and critical in a time of crisis.
Melvyn Bailey
Melvyn Bailey
Melvyn has been involved with the RBL for 40+ years, including 20+ as a Caseworker. After retiring due to ill health, Melvyn joined Epworth Branch, where he is an active, enthusiastic and valued member and has helped to raise thousands for the Poppy Appeal. In 2018, he secured sponsorship from local businesses to purchase a trailer for promoting and fundraising for the RBL – this has proved invaluable at 15 events so far.
Chris Tuckwell
Chris Tuckwell
Maintaining the small-but-active Puttenham & Wanborough Branch in Surrey and keeping the rural community engaged is a challenge given the lack of a focal point of a hall or social club, but Chris as Chairman has a gift for raising the RBL profile beyond that of just the Poppy Appeal, organising additional fundraising activities each year, encouraging younger members to join and personally providing compassionate assistance and support to members in their final years.
Jillian Hurst
Jillian Hurst
Since joining the RBL in 1974, Jillian has been an active member of numerous branches. She has served in many roles, most recently as a County Standard Bearer Trainer, Judge and Parade Marshal, where she has shared her invaluable wealth of knowledge and experience. She was awarded the 15-year poppy brooch for her work on the Poppy Appeal and remains Poppy Appeal Organiser for Sandbanks in Dorset; she is also a trained Caseworker.
Derek Coulter
Derek Coulter
Derek is the contact for the Glasgow and Lanarkshire Army Cadet Force, and coordinates Poppy Appeal collections across the region every year. In 2020, Covid-19 restrictions meant he was unable to provide the usual manpower for the Appeal; however, he motivated the battalion to support Poppyscotland by setting up Just Giving pages and challenging the Cadets in each Platoon to come up with their own ‘home fundraising’. In this way, the team raised almost £2,500.
David Millen
David Millen
A member of Fleet, Crookham and District Branch in Hampshire, David relaunched the local Remembrance parade in 2009 and has organised it every year since – including in 2018, when he did all the work remotely from Somalia, where he was serving as a British Army Reservist. His dedication has ensured the parade is now an established part of Fleet’s civic life and is growing organically, with 50 local organisations, including the youth and Army, involved.
Peter Hereford
Peter Hereford
RAF veteran Peter became Secretary of Weobley Branch in Herefordshire in 2008 and is currently County Vice-President. He coordinates the popular annual Remembrance parade, ceremony and service and often carries the Branch Standard. In his County roles, he has organised five Rallies, involving a parade, Hereford Cathedral service and reception; two concerts in aid of military charities; and five annual Battle of Britain services and parades. His colleagues describe him as meticulous, energetic and committed.
Vera Parnaby
Vera Parnaby
Vera has dedicated 75 years of her life to the RBL, after her father was killed in the Second World War. Her mother helped to re-form the Consett and District Women’s Section; Vera is a long-standing member and has held many positions. Nicknamed ‘Mrs Poppy’, she has been the area’s Poppy Appeal Organiser since 1998, but has collected since she was five, and it’s estimated she has raised more than £1 million in her time.
Debbie Harding
Debbie Harding
In 2019, the RBL took more than 200 veterans to Normandy to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Debbie, Area Manager in Yorkshire, was part of the support team and was on call 24/7 to ensure the veterans and their carers were comfortable, safe and looked after. Debbie’s passion for being personally involved shone through and was praised by veterans.
Alexis Abson-Walker
Alexis Abson-Walker
Alexis has been the Wales Advice and Information Team Leader since 2016, developing and nurturing the welfare team to help them perform at their best. Staff morale and wellbeing are always at the forefront of her mind. She happily picks up tasks that sit outside her normal job description, such as supporting the Poppy Appeal and Wales Membership events, setting an excellent example to others.
Elaine Marston
Elaine Marston
Elaine has been a Case Officer for some years, recently acting up as Team Leader. Straight away she was dealing with working from home, management responsibilities, furloughed staff and IT issues, but she has met every challenge. Caring and thoughtful, she brought staff together with virtual coffee mornings where they could talk about any concerns. She identifies each individual’s strengths, encourages and acknowledges their efforts, making for a strong and united team.