Royal Club

Row over Clacton club's bid to split from Royal British Legion

WALTON Royal British Legion club could be set to abandon its links with the institution and become a private club – to the fury of some members.

The chairman and committee are considering not renewing its legion licence.

They declined to comment to the Gazette, but are to hold a special general meeting for members to discuss the proposed split.

In material advertising the meeting, concerns are raised over “new and unacceptable conditions’’ placed on the club.

One of the conditions is reportedly that the legion will not allow the club to raise money for other Armed Forces’ charities.

However, the breakaway proposal has infuriated some at the Vicarage Lane club.

Member Mary Peck, of Walton Road, Walton, has launched a petition, along with several other members, to fight the move.

She said: “They want to come away from the legion.

“But hundreds of members are part of this club just because it is a legion club.

“I am very angry, and a lot of people are very upset. We have already got more than 80 names on our petition. It is a very important issue.

“It is not just about the legion, it is about someone coming in and taking over this club, which belongs to all of us.’’ She added: “What annoys me as much as anything is that they haven’t told us anything about the alternative to being part of the legion, they just decided not to pay the fees.”

Hugh Phillips, head of clubs at the legion’s head office, said he was not aware of any attempt to separate from the legion, but that he would like to see the club stay on board.

He said: “It is a matter for the members and the committee to decide on.

“It is up to them if they want to remain with the legion. It is not for us to tell them what to do.

“And they have their own premises, so there is no question of taking a building back. But we would clearly wish to encourage them to remain with us.”

The special meeting will take place on Sunday, May 29, at 10.30am For more information ring 01255 674153.

Lees's Painting: The Next Chapter

Lots has happened in the intervening years, but I was encouraged by the attitude of Bruce Crawford when he took over as the Royal Club's CEO last year. Bruce was keen that the painting should be kept. After all, the national treasure - and it is such - is a major asset of the Club, and one we all have a stake in! The Chairman Willie Nicoll seemed to agree, a small committee was set up from the Area Standing Committee, and the campaign now to raise funds is one result. There is a cost of course, and the challenge is to raise £50,000 for restoration work and to cover insurance and moving the painting from store. All Royal Club members have received, or will receive, a leaflet about the campaign, with a form to accompany donations, which of course can be enhanced by a Gift Aid declaration, if you pay income tax. You can download this leaflet from here . Fundraising will not be easy. But for me, anything I CAN give, I WILL give, not just because I want to see this great painting on public view again (after all I own, as we all do, a small piece of it), but also in celebration of a victory. THEY (let's not name names) thought they could pull the wool over our eyes, the Club's members. They said the painting had been damaged. They said that the cost of restoration would be prohibitive, and there really was no other course of action than selling it. And they wanted to do this without even an independent assessment being made.

Signals

An account of the second commemoration of Shakspeare, celebrated at Stratford-upon-Avon, on Friday, the 23d of April, 1830, and three subsequent days, including full particulars of the various festivities given on that occasion ... Dedicated to the members of the Royal Shakspearean club

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Roving Commissions,no.29, Royal Cruising Club Journal For the 1988 Season

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