The Royal British Legion is a charity that supports the serving and ex-Service community, and their families, as well as being one of the country’s largest membership organisations. You do not need to be ex service to be a member of The Royal British Legion, just agree to the Aims and Objectives of the Legion.

Each year the nation expresses its unequivocal support for our work through its generous support of the Poppy Appeal raising almost £25 million which goes towards our vital welfare work. Over €16,000.00 was donated by the expat community in the Torrevieja Area last year (2007/8) during Poppy Appeal. The total raised for District North of Spain was in excess of €74,000.00 ALL of which was used for Welfare work here on the Costa Blanca.

We are the nation’s de facto custodian of Remberance , ensuring that people remember those who have given their lives for the freedom we enjoy. We are responsible for the Two Minute Silence on Remembrance Sunday and 11th November. The Torrevieja Branch Annually hold a Service of Remembrance on 11th November in San Luis Church.

The first official Legion Poppy Day was held in Britain on 11 November 1921, inspired by the poem In Flanders’ Fields written by John McCrae. Since then the Poppy Appeal has been a key annual event in the nation’s calendar. Some of the bloodiest fighting of World War One took place in the Flanders and Picardy regions of Belgium and Northern France. The poppy was the only thing which grew in the aftermath of the complete devastation. McCrae, a doctor serving there with the Canadian Armed Forces, deeply inspired and moved by what he saw, wrote these verses:

In Flanders’ Fields John McCrae, 1915

In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders’ fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high, If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders’ Fields.

More information regarding the Branch and The Royal British Legion can be found on our website www.torreviejalegion.info