News and Info regarding the RBL Morecambe and Heysham branch
Committee Members of Morecambe and Heysham Branch
President - Mr Michael Dennison - 01524425353
Chairman - Mr Stuart Moss - 01524736260
Vice Chairman & Functions Organiser - Mrs Maree Brown - 01524824845
Secretary - Mr Malcolm Brown - 07778057980
Membership Sec and Caseworker Chairman - Mr Leslie Croombs - 07766790538
Poppy Appeal Organiser - Mr Jeff Turner 01524414938
Committee Members - Mr Mark Thompson, Mr Liam O'Leary, Mrs Brenda O'Leary
Parade Marshal - Mr Michael Dennison - 01524425353
Committee meetings are held every 2nd Sunday of the month. Members can leave messages for any committee members at the bar asking for Mike Dennison.
Branch News
New President is voted in
Remembrance Day saw the inauguration of a new President for the Morecambe and Heysham Branch of the Royal British Legion in a short ceremony conducted at the Platform just before the annual parade. Mr Harry Sheppard made way for Mr Mike Dennison (already the branch Parade Marshall) thus beginning a new era in the history of the town’s ex-services community.
Joseph Henry Sheppard was born on 1st October 1926 , his family moved to Morecambe in in 1935 where he attended first Sandylands then Balmoral Road schools. His first job at 15 was at the ICI before he eventually embarked on a distinguished war and peace time career in the Merchant Navy.
Harry first joined an Oil Tanker that sailed from the jetty at Heysham and worked two trips to America before four trips on a refrigerated vessel to Argentina where he was left hospitalised for 5 months during one such trip. He even did a 1000 mile journey up the Amazon before leaving warmer climes for the Arctic Run; Harry then knew what it was like to feel the cold.
He sailed as part of the Merchant flotilla towards France in 1944 and arrived on D Day plus 2 before being discharged from the Navy in 1946 and he holds fond memories of convalescing and rehabilitation at Endmoor Village near Kendal throughout 1947.
Harry joined the Legion in 1947 and was married in 1948 eventually joining back into the Merchant Navy and working on the Heysham railway boats and managed to fit in a period of work at Power Station just before his retirement.
He has been President of the Legion for almost 12 years and although his wife Kath died in 1995 he has enjoyed the love and affection of his loving family, his friends in the Legion, the Royal Naval Association and the Strawberry Gardens. At 85 he now wishes to share a few more Rums with everyone for years to come.
Mike Dennison is a true Sandgrown Un, born in the Queen Victoria hospital on 4th January 1958 (Just as Harry was working at Heysham Harbour). He went to Trumacar, Lancaster Road and Euston Road schools before starting a 24 year career in the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment in 1974.
After graduating from the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion in Folkestone he joined the Regiment in Minden , West Germany during which time he completed his first tour of N.Ireland in 1976. The Battalion moved back to the UK to almost home territory of Weeton Camp near Blackpool. The first job they had to do there was a stint of fire fighting with the Green Goddesses in Liverpool. Mike was promoted in 1978 and posted to the Infantry Demonstration Battalion in Warminster where he met and married Lynn