LegionLive

This year’s Poppy Appeal was launched in style by girl group The Saturdays who first appeared on Daybreak wearing their fabulous Kleshna poppies before heading over to Colchester Garrison to perform at a concert for the families of 16 Air Assault Brigade.

The event was also opened by Jump4Heroes, the Legion’s extreme human flight display team, who landed a jump next to the site where the first Personnel Recovery Centre will be built. All attendees then enjoyed a barbeque before an exclusive concert in the Corporal Budd VC Gymnasium.

The launch day was a huge success and kicked off Remembrance fortnight just perfectly!

Nearly 300 cyclists took to their bikes to ride over 400km from London to Paris for The Royal British Legion’s annual Pedal to Paris charity bike ride.

In it’s 15th year, the cyclists were joined by former England football manager Graham Taylor and Legion President, Sir John Kiszely for the four day trip which raised an incredible half a million pounds!

Launched in January 2010, The Friends of the Forces Awards recognises people across the UK who have made an exceptional contribution to the well-being of HM Armed Forces and their families.

With support from Prince Harry, members of The Royal British Legion and the public were invited to nominate their friends, neighbours, family or colleagues who they thought had gone out of their way to help care, support, campaign or raise funds for any of Britain’s Service personnel and veterans. And this year we received an incredible 400 nominations!

Prince Harry attended our awards ceremony on the 13th July, and  presented the Youth Award to school boys Ben Coombes and Nathan Bull. Radio 1’s Fearne Cotton received the President’s award from Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup for the station’s link up with BFBS on May Bank Holiday.

Keep your eyes peeled in the New Year for details of the 2011 awards!

The Armed Forces Day event is an annual opportunity for the nation to come together to show their support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community - from currently serving troops to Service families, veterans and cadets. Up and down the country people and businesses alike were proudly demonstrating just how much they cared about the UK’s Armed Forces and their interests.

This year the National Event took place in Cardiff, and was an incredible success thanks to the 80,000 people who lined the streets in support. Veterans of World War Two, the Falklands War and soldiers who had seved in Afghanistan, marched side by side with members of the Legion’s Riders branch, led by His Royal Highness Prince Charles who took the salute on the gloriously sunny day.

VE Day (or ‘Victory in Europe Day’) celebrates 8th May 1945, when Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the World War II Allies.

As the country’s custodians of Remembrance, The Royal British Legion commemorated the 65th anniversary of the event with The Nation’s Greatest Ever Salute. It was a great opportunity for the whole country to come together to remember and honour the bravery of all those who fought and perhaps lost their lives to achieve victory.

A national service of commemoration was held at the Cenotaph in Whitehall (attended by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall), followed by a party in Horse Guards to celebrate the WWII heroes.

At a private reception organised by the Legion, HRH Prince Charles, David Cameron and Gordon Brown met with VE Day veterans, including George Broomhead, who was infamously photographed in 1945 on top of one of the lions in Trafalgar Square!

What an amazing year for the Legion! As 2010 draws to a close, and we look forward to 2011, I’m going to spend the next week looking back at my favourite highlights, fantastic achievements and great stories of the past year.

My first highlight is the London Marathon, which took place in April and involved 62 runners raising an incredible £100,000!  Runners included Pete Digby who completed the 26 mile race carrying a fridge and Stu Allen, who was more than a little visible in his specially-made Poppy Man outfit.

The official Royal British Legion ‘Cheering Station’ was a great way to welcome London Marathon supporters, with the team from the Legion at the Henry Addington pub all day!

If this inspires you, why not enter the event in 2011?

Merry Christmas to all of our LegionLive members, those men and women currently serving and their friends and families.  Here’s to a lucky and peaceful 2011!

Soldiers from 1st Battalion The Irish Guards have performed an alternative version of the Nativity play during their weekly Church parade. Male soldiers played all the roles in the light-hearted version of the Christmas story written by the battalion’s padre Captain Alexander Battey.

The traditional Christmas story included intelligence briefs, roadside bomb detection and patrol skills as well as more traditional carols. In the 1 IRISH Guards’ play, the three wise men followed “ISTAR”- Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance.

The Company Quartermaster played Mary and Baby Jesus was played by Irish Guard’s Welfare Mascot Paddy McBear.

The Irish Guards have been training the Afghan National Army since they were deployed to Afghanistan in September.

Captain Battey said: ‘After a little gentle coaxing the lads very quickly got into the roles - it’s good to see the Christmas message get a round of applause. Life can get be pretty stressful here and it’s good to find fun opportunities to let off steam.’

Merry Christmas to all our Armed Forces!

160 soldiers were treated to a surprise visit from Katherine Jenkins whilst they waited for their flight to leave for Afghanistan, where they will be stationed for Christmas. British Forces sweetheart Katherine and James Blunt were meant to fly out with the troops to entertain them and those already out there but their flight was cancelled.

They decided they would go and meet the soldiers who had been waiting on board to boost morale. Katherine posted pictures of her and James with some of the soldiers on her Twitter page before singing Silent Night for all of those on board.

Katherine, who is a strong support of the British Armed Forces and has performed for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has promised to return to Afghanistan next year to entertain the troops.

What a great surprise for the troops!

In the countdown to Christmas, there’s nothing better than events that raise awareness of British troops who will be spending Christmas away from their families. So, it was great to see Jump4Heroes, the Royal British Legion’s extreme human flight team, latest daredevil stunt in South Africa.

Dressed in red and white Father Christmas outfits, Major Alastair Macartney and Warrant Officer Class One Spencer Hogg leapt from the 216m Bloukrans bridge using red parachutes.

WO1 Hogg, who served in Afghanistan last year, said: ‘While many of us will be looking forward to a family Christmas, some aren’t so lucky. I hope that people will spare a thought for those deployed overseas at this time. The Royal British Legion spend over £1.4m a week supporting our soldiers and we hope to encourage the public to support them with some much needed donations.

You can see more pictures of their jump on the Daily Mail’s website