Legions planning dinner for former Memorial Club
Event to be held Nov. 16 at Yarmouth legion hall
Few groups did more to remember Canada’s war dead and to honour veterans than the Memorial Club – the Yarmouth-area youth group that was active for over three decades – and local legions want to thank the club for its work.
The legions in zone 12, which covers Yarmouth and Shelburne counties, are planning a dinner for the former club to be held Friday, Nov. 16, at the Yarmouth (branch 61) legion hall in Yarmouth.
The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the plan is to have residents from Veterans Place – the longterm care facility at the Yarmouth hospital – attend the dinner.
“When I mentioned it to the veterans at Veterans Place, they were excited that they were able to come,” said Brenda Hattie, president of legion branch 61.
The 4 p.m. start time is meant to better accommodate the veterans, she said.
Hattie was among the many who were saddened to learn that the Memorial Club was being discontinued.
Launched in the mid-1980s at Maple Grove Education Centre in Hebron, the Memorial Club became a regular participant at Remembrance Day ceremonies and other functions. The club’s flagbearing members were a familiar sight at many community events for years, but in March of this year word came that the club would not continue.
At that time, Joe Bishara, the club’s founder and longtime adviser, said a number of factors went into the decision. More than half the executive that ran the club had been there for 20 years or so, he said. While the club had still been going strong in recent years, Bishara said, there were more things competing for people’s time.
Hattie said Bishara deserves much credit for his longtime dedication to the club.
She recalled the club once giving the legion a signed souvenir and said she had a chance to meet some of the club’s members.
Referring to the Nov. 16 thankyou dinner for the club, she said, “Branch 61 is going to be hosting it and the rest of the legions are pitching in. Branch 155 is donating all the pies.”