The Last Post sounds for Callander veterans
Dwindling support hits branch
The Callander and District Royal British Legion Remembrance Parade on Sunday will be more poignant than ever.
The group is being disbanded at the conclusion of the event, 90 years after being founded.
An ageing and declining membership, coupled with a lack of interest in the organisation of the group being taken over has led to the difficult decision to end the branch.
“The remaining members are all getting older, and no-one is coming forward to keep the branch going,” said chairman George Greig.
“The Legion was founded in 1926, and at one point had over 100 members, probably nearer 150, and that was when the population was a lot smaller than it is today.
“The initial interest in the Legion has gradually started to evaporate.”
The Legion has held annual services at the War Memorial in Callander, which was originally built in 1921 and was fully refurbished two years after a funding campaign.
Many of the surnames on the memorial indicate that local families often lost more than one of their relatives in the war.
Among them was the Brickman family of Invergartney House. Their seventh son, Captain Noel Brickman of the Cameron Highlanders, was a cadet at Sandhurst Military College when war broke out. He died aged just 20 in October 1916 at the Somme and is buried at Thiepval Memorial. His brother Lieutenant H Brickman of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) had been lost just one month earlier.
He is buried at Etaples. Also named, however, is Lieutenant Frederick William Brickman who served with the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) and was killed in October 1917.
He is thought to be either their brother or their father.
The group offered support to veterans of all ages, with Callander having an especially rich military tradition.
A Remembrance Service will be held at Callander Kirk from 11am, with the Remembrance Parade commencing afterwards and making its way down to the Memorial in Ancaster Square.
The parade will be led by the McLaren High Pipe Band, with Callander Brass providing the music at the square.
“We are hoping that there will be a good turnout and that we will be going out in a poignant manner,” added Mr Greig.