A long-running remembrance dinner at The Bedford Club on De Parys has raised £1,000 for the Bedford and Kempston Poppy Appeal, with organisers saying it shows how strongly local people still support veterans and their families.
Former Bedford Club president Steve Spring has organised the annual dinner for the last 12 years, in memory of those who have fallen in conflicts “right up to the present time”.
He said the event has always had a clear purpose.
“There is a formal part to the evening, which is the actual remembrance part,” he said. “We always have a guest speaker from a military background, and a guest of honour, then we end the evening with a raffle and an auction of promises.”
This year’s dinner was given an extra sense of occasion when the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Susan Lousada, attended as guest of honour.
“For the first time in its history, the club had the Lord Lieutenant as guest of honour,” said Steve. “She was also the first female guest of honour to talk in this club.”
Steve, who served with the Royal Green Jackets, said his own experience of service helps shape his view of why remembrance still matters.
He recalled postings to Berlin, Cyprus and Canada before a final tour in Northern Ireland.
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“I think there has been maybe one year since World War Two where there was no operational commitment for British forces,” he said. “Since then, everything has changed.
“You need the younger generation to take the light forward. It is too easy to say it will never happen again. If you start to sleepwalk, before you realise it, it has gone too far, and how do you then control it?”
He also thanked everyone who had helped turn the dinner into a major fundraiser.
“The support I have had from everybody within the club and outside the club and also with the Royal British Legion, especially Janie, I could not have asked for anything better,” he said.
Supporting veterans
The £1,000 raised has been donated to the Bedford and Kempston Poppy Appeal, which is organised locally by Royal British Legion volunteer, Janie Vallance.
Janie is chairman of the Kempston and District branch of the Royal British Legion and Poppy Appeal organiser for Bedford and Kempston. She said this year’s appeal has been powerful.
“With this cheque, and we are still counting, we have raised £63,000,” she said.
She was keen to stress that all of the money raised through the Poppy Appeal goes directly to supporting veterans and their families.
“100 per cent of the money raised goes to helping veterans,” she said. “None is taken up for wages, contrary to popular belief. That comes from other revenue.
“It will go to funding things like the Battleback Centre, we fund nursing homes, we fund counselling, we fund treatment. The list goes on.
“It is also not just medical support. We also fund veterans and families who might be in financial trouble. Anything that a veteran or their dependents need, we can help with.”
Janie describes the Royal British Legion as “a massive family” for those who have served.
“We are a non-political organisation,” she added. “We do not discuss politics; we do not take sides. We support our veterans. That is the key, that is primarily what we are there for.”
Volunteers of all ages
Janie said this year’s local Poppy Appeal has relied on hundreds of volunteers from across Bedford and Kempston.
“We had stands in most of the supermarkets this year, we visited every single school in the area and then obviously the main stand with a big display in the Harpur Centre,” she said.
“We make a point of having a big launch so that people are aware the Poppy Appeal has started. We literally just attend everything. That way, we are very visible, and the more visible we are, the more people know what is going on.”
During the two-week appeal period, she estimates “probably 100 people plus” helped on stands in Bedford and Kempston.
“It may even be more,” she said, and those volunteers range from teenagers to people in their 90s.
“We actually had an award last night for a young lad called Lukas from the Combined Cadet Force at Bedford School,” she said.
“He is 15 years old. He turned up on one of our stands out of the blue and then sat there for the entire week of his half term, he gave up all of his time to help, so along with Mick Lidster, County Rep for Bedfordshire’s RBL Riders, we awarded him a certificate of appreciation.
“And then we have one of our volunteers, I think, who is in his 90s. So it is literally everybody.”
Janie, whose late partner served as a Royal Marine, said remembrance is not just for November.
“I wear a poppy all year round,” she said. “RBL is everything, it is my life.”
Last year, the local effort helped Bedfordshire win the Royal British Legion’s national trophy for the most significant increase in fundraising.
“Last year we helped Bedfordshire make such a huge increase in what we were raising that the county was awarded the RBL national trophy,” she said. “It was down to us making such a huge increase of over £40,000 in one year.”
Looking ahead
As well as thanking supporters for this year’s efforts, Janie said there are already plans for more activity in the months ahead.
“This Sunday (30 November), the Kempston branch is running a Poppy Appeal stand at the Kempston Christmas Lights switch-on,” she said.
“Next year our main thing will be the River Festival, which will be a joint effort between Bedford branch, Kempston branch, Riders branch and the Poppy Appeal.”
The branch also plans to mark key anniversaries in 2026.
“Next year is the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the Somme,” she said. “Those will be commemorated at some point next year.”
Both Steve and Janie said the success of the remembrance dinner, and the wider Bedford and Kempston Poppy Appeal, comes down to the same thing: Bedfordians choosing to remember and to support.
“I think everybody does have someone somewhere that has served the country,” Janie said. “The more people who get involved, the more we can do for veterans and their families.”
