On Monday 3rd April at The Maltings in Ely, a special award was presented to Mr Tom Brown. Tom is the standard bearer for the City of Ely Branch of The Royal British Legion.
The citation for the Gold Award Badge that he received written by David Martin Chairman of the City of Ely Branch of the Royal British Legion reads as follows…
Mr Brown has been an active supporter of the Royal British Legion and the City of Ely Branch for more than 26 years. He has been the Branch Standard Bearer for more than 6 years. He has held the post of Deputy Chairman for several years and remains as an active member on the branch committee.
He has been dedicated to the Poppy Appeal; standing in the Market Place through adverse weather conditions over many years to collect every day during the Poppy Appeal. He alone has helped to raise more than £50,000 over numerous years contributing to the many hundreds of thousands of pounds that the Ely & District have raised over the same period.
Mr Brown has been Standard Bearing for more than 15 years both at Branch and County level for the Royal British Legion; he has been runner-up at the County Standard Bearer Competition for numerous years, becoming Deputy County Standard Bearer, before he won in 2018 and became the County Standard Bearer. He continues to use his knowledge and skills to help instruct new Standard Bearers at the County Standard Bearer School and has attended numerous events including funerals and at competitions. He has taken on the role of deputy County Parade Marshall and was an integral part of the inaugural Youth Standard Bearer Training Day and Competition, providing his extensive knowledge and skills to help train more than 24 new standard bearers.
He represented the County as its Standard Bearer for the GP90 event at Ypres alongside more than 2500 other Standard Bearers and wreath layers. In addition, he is also the National Standard Bearer for the Parachute Regiment, attending several annual Para events including the annual trip to Arnhem.
Over the last few years, Mr Brown has served on the County Committee and on the Awards sub-committee where he supports its chairman with reviewing Award Applications and giving recommendations to the full County committee. He willingly volunteers for numerous County events including the first Cambridgeshire County Day and United States Memorial Day commemorations at the American War Cemetery at Maddingly.
Mr Brown has also been a volunteer at the Airborne Museum which forms a part of the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, giving up many hours of his time to assist tour groups around the Airborne Museum.
Mr Brown’s commitment and bearing whilst representing the RBL is beyond reproach, and he is an inspiration to all. Without doubt, he consistently puts the needs of the Legion and its beneficiaries before his own, exemplifying the motto “Service not Self” as shown with his unwavering commitment to all he does whether at Branch or County committee, Standard Bearing or for the Poppy Appeal.
From David Martin City of Ely Branch Royal British Legion Chairman
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