A MEETING is to be held in one last desperate attempt to raise a new committee and save a community's Royal British Legion branch from closure.

Membership of the Legion is declining, and the Bridport branch - which also runs a community hall and used to raise tens of thousands of pounds for the RBL for the welfare of ex-servicemen each year - was able to carry on through the commitment of a few members.

However, the Bridport branch has been put under county administration after the long-standing office holders wanted to retire - and with no volunteers for chairman and treasurer the group says the branch cannot legally operate.

This also means that the RBL hall in Victoria Grove, which is used by local groups, organisations and charities for fundraising events, could close without a group to run it.

In one last bid to save the branch, a meeting is being organised at the hall on Saturday, April 2 at 11am, which hopes to raise a new committee and prevent the branch's closure.

Dorset County Chairman of the Royal British Legion, Ian Jarvis, said: "The Bridport Branch, is in crisis and at risk of closure unless we can form a committee. It has been in county administration since the branch officers stood down, but I am proposing one last meeting to try and prevent closure.

"I am holding a meeting with the hope of raising a committee at the Branch Hall in Victoria Grove on Saturday the 2nd of April at 11am. Should I fail then I will have no option but to start the closure process, and the Royal British Legion will have to sell the hall.

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"I am forever hopeful that the people of Bridport who support the charity so well will not want to lose their branch."

The RBL has approximately 7,000 Legion members across the county, with around 30 branches, which are supported by 15 RBL Clubs.

The charity was formed in the aftermath of the First World War to fight for the rights of those who had given so much and come back to so little. Today, the RBL continues to provide life-changing help and support to the Armed Forces community and challenge injustices on their behalf.