A RETIRED policeman from Stourbridge has been instrumental in reviving a struggling village branch of the Royal British Legion which has now scooped a national award.

The Blakedown and Hagley Branch of the RBL has been honoured with the Jellicoe Cup for becoming the fastest growing small branch in the country over the last three years.

Chairman Peter Hollis, a former policeman from Pedmore, took over the branch in 2010 when there were just over 20 elderly members and it now boasts nearly 100.

Mr Hollis, who collected the award at a national conference at Llandudno, said: “I’ve built the branch up; we’ve reversed the national trend and we’re now the fastest growing branch in the UK.

“I’ve broken the mould. I’m in my 50s but I’m not what you would expect from a legion chairman.

“People tend to think of old blokes in berets and it couldn’t be further from the truth. The legion has an image problem, but the charity is becoming more contemporary - it’s just getting the message out to people.

"We are easily the largest and foremost military charity in the UK, spending over £90m a year on armed forces welfare. “We help serving soldiers in Afghanistan and any other veterans from past conflicts right back to World War Two - and their dependants as well.

“I’m trying to re-educate people and so our branch is actually growing - when I took over it was dying.

“This award is a feather in our cap as there are over 1,500 small branches across the country.

“Nationally there’s a real problem but locally were a success story.

“We’ve got nearly 100 members; our youngest is 12 and I’ve got people right through the generations.

“We’ve increased our membership by 180 per cent - but the worrry is in ten years time there may not be a Royal British Legion, this is why they’re trying to modernise.

“We need to get younger people to join the charity as they’re predicting we’ll go from 300,000 national members to just over 200,000 by 2015.

“Every penny that goes in a poppy tin is spent on delivering welfare and the membership subscriptions financially underpin the work of the Poppy Appeal so if we lose a massive amount of membership there’ll be a financial hole.

“This will have massive implications, and will fundamentally affect the Poppy Appeal fundraising as we know it today."

The successful Blakedown and Hagley branch also recently won a county award, the Ken Draper Cup, for increasing its membership over the last 12 months by more than any other branch in Worcestershire.

To find out more about the group or to join visit the branch's website www.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/blakedown or call Peter Hollis on 01562 886556.