Thamesford Legion facing possible closure due to lack of revenue, community support
Thamesford's Legion could be on the brink of closing.
An emergency meeting was called last week to try and get more members, or anyone to help out in running Branch 557.
But out of 46 members, only 6 people showed up, including one non-member.
It's not a promising sign to keep the doors open for community events.
Branch President Gary Pound who wants to step down after running the Legion for a decade says the revenue is pretty dry. "Our only source of revenue is the bar. You know, as you get the older crowd for cards, or the younger kids for dances, that doesn't generate you any revenue, but your costs continue."
Pound says the other issue is finding people to staff the Legion Hall. They don't have enough money to hire a full-time employee, and they don't have enough part-time hours to keep a part-timer going. Reliable volunteers are difficult to come by, according to Pound.
He tells Heart FM recent pleas in the Village Voice paper for help may be too little too late. "It's (legion) been looked down upon over the years as just a place where a bunch of old guys went to drink. 15-20-years-ago it was very hard to get into the Legion. They were very adamant about you or your parents had to have been in the service. Now they've opened the doors up, if you can spell your name you can get in. But it's a little too late."
He says discussions with his Regional Commander has made him realize they're not alone. "We're not the only Legion, they're all sort of on the bubble. They're all feeling the pinch, they're all hurting for revenue. I think in the next couple of years there will be very few legions left."
One more meeting will be held in late-November or early-December to see if there's some interest in keeping it open. If not, Pound says they'll move to close it.
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