Presenting the Standard will be Lieutenant Colonel Simon Owen, Irish Guards, who is the British Army Liaison Officer at St Cyr – the French equivalent of RMA Sandhurst and will be at the service in full uniform. He is also the Branch President. Lt. Col. Owen will present the Standard to the Branch Standard Bearer Dave Ball who served in the British Army for six years and now lives in the Morbihan Department.

The Central Brittany Branch of The Royal British Legion was formed in late 2006 by a number of like-minded former servicemen who had identified the benefits of having a local Branch. Membership has now grown to over 80 with wives and friends swelling the numbers. Whilst there is no requirement for Members to have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, they all support the aims of the London based Legion.

The new Branch has ex-Guardsman Rodney Curtis as Chairman and he is keen that the Branch continues to raise money for the famous Poppy Appeal. Last year alone he and his wife Kate, as Appeal Organisers, saw the coffers collect over 4,000 € - all of which has gone to boost the Legion’s much applauded support for former servicemen and women, and their dependent families, who are in need.

Branch Secretary, Val Davenport, has lived in Brittany for five years and, with her husband Peter, was amongst the first to join the fledgling Branch. Val has been the backbone in administering the Branch from its conception through to its current strength – helping to raise funds for the Branch through advertising revenue received from the Branch’s own web-page (http://rblbrittany.free.fr ).

The event organiser, David Glossop, has said that the Presentation will allow full and proper respects to be paid to the new Standard in a Church Service which will include the Last Post and Reveille being sounded on a bugle whilst a lament, played on a set of Scottish bagpipes, will mark the traditional ‘Silence’ and period of reflection for those killed whilst serving their country.

The service will be conducted by Reverend Hazel Door, herself a former member of the WRNS, and now the Vicar of Christ Church (Church of England) in Ploërmel.

Other guests expected to be present include the Mayor of Ploërmel, Commandant of the Nationale Gendarmerie based in Ploërmel, the Presidents of French old comrade associations and their standards and UK servicemen visiting from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

The Service is scheduled to commence at 1100 and will be followed by a vin d’honneur.

For further information and facilities, please contact Val Davenport (0033 297 39 75 44) or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it