Worksop: Royal British Legion wants the whole town to come together and mark historic date

All members of the community are being urged to come together to help the Royal British Legion commemorate the start of World War I this year.

And in the process, they will also be helping the Guardian-backed campaign to help save the Worksop branch of the Legion from closure.

The first meeting for the project will be next Monday, 24th February and anyone from business to local Government and schools and community groups to the general public are invited to get involved and help.

Community fund-raiser for Notts, Elaine Hopkins, said: “I am currently in the process of trying to pull together a committee to ensure that Worksop is involved in commemorating the start of World War I.”

“The Royal British Legion is working with the chairman of Bassetlaw Council, Coun Sybil Fielding to revitalise the Worksop branch of the Legion.”

“Our main aim in this is to work with all groups across the community and all age groups.”

“We want the whole town to be part of this and in the process, we will hopefully find some new volunteers to join the Legion and help ensure the survival of the Worksop branch.”

In particular, the committee wants to establish a programme of events leading up to, and on the day of, 4th August when Britain officially entered the war when they and Belgium declared war on Germany in response to the German invasion of Belgium.

“The Legion wants to light a million candles across the country at 10pm that day,” continued Mrs Hopkins.

“Anyone who wants to be involved can be and we want to get ideas about what we can do in the town to mark this historical event.”

“We are holding our first meeting on 24th February at 7pm at St John’s School on Raymouth Lane in Worksop.

“We urge everyone to please support this initiative and help us to mark this special year with some fantastic events.”

The Guardian will be supporting the Legion throughout the year as its chosen charity for 2014 and is also campaigning to ensure the Worksop branch is saved.