By Lesley Walsh
THE ROYAL British Legion’s social club has closed at its central Bangor hall, but it is business as usual for the branch, it has been confirmed.
Senior committee members have confirmed that though the Bangor Royal British Legion Club Ltd has closed, with insolvency procedures underway, the business of the branch will ‘continue as before’ at its Hamilton Road premises.
That business includes the branch’s welfare services to armed forces veterans and Remembrance services, parades and related events, which will still go ahead, unchanged.
The local branch’s Poppy Appeal has been relocated to a site behind the Somme Heritage Centre where its annual fundraising campaign will also continue.
And though the branch’s committee is considering looking for smaller premises to continue its work, it is not thought this will include any resumption of the club, which was operated independently of the RBL charity.
It is understood the Legion’s ageing membership and dwindling number of patrons has contributed to the demise of the club, in the face of rising costs to run the hall and club rooms.
There are currently 174 members of the Bangor branch of the Royal British Legion.
Branch chairman, Harry Ferran confirmed: “The social club has closed but the branch is still operating, is not affected by this and is still carrying on just as normal.”
The legion club, a registered society with Companies House, ran two bars within the premises, on the upper and lower floors, before winding up.
The branch’s regular day to day business will continue from an office within the Hamilton Road property which was opened on July 1st, 1933, by Viscount Bangor, with Lady Clanmorris adding a foundation stone earlier that year.
It was established as the Earl Haig Memorial Hall, in honour of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, a senior officer in the British Army who commanded the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of the war
Club secretary Jack Harper confirmed an insolvency practitioner from McAleer Jackson had been appointed to wind up the club’s financial affairs and pay what is owed to club’s creditors.
“The Legion has not changed whatsoever,” he reiterated. “We may have to look for different premises,” he added.
Mr Harper said events planned for the future are continuing as scheduled, including VE Day events and other armed forces activities taking place next month.
He paid tribute to Bangor’s other ex-servicemen and women’s clubs dotted around the town which have assisted by offering their premises for social events attended by Legion members, including the Bangor Engineers and Trades Social Club, Bangor Ex-Services Club and Bangor Civil Defence Club.
Speaking the House of Commons last month, North Down MP Alex Easton contributed to a parliamentary debate on the Royal British Legion’s ‘critical support’ to members and former members of the Armed Forces when he addressed the closure.
“It is with a bit of sadness that I say that the Royal British Legion hall in Bangor, which is now a city, is set to close due to financial pressures,” he said.
He’d said it was an ‘organisation that exemplifies the values of service, sacrifice and solidarity — principles that are timeless yet often overlooked in our fast-paced world’.
A spokesperson for the Royal British Legion confirmed: “Royal British Legion Clubs are run as separate entities to the Royal British Legion charity. They are not part of the charity.
“In relation to the closure of the Bangor Royal British Legion Club, the RBL do not own the building which the Club leased. The branch in Bangor remains active and is looking to reestablish in other premises soon.”
