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Here is a brief
history of our Legion as told by Comrade Herb McDowall. Seventy years
ago, a small group of WWI Veterans assembled in the private home of J.
Lockhart McDowall to form a Branch of the Canadian Legion, British Empire
Service League. The first President of our Branch was C.W. Herbert and J.
L. McDowall, Father of Herb, was Secretary/Treasurer. Membership
dues were $1.50 per quarter and meetings were held in one of the
classrooms in the old Charleswood School. There
was no canteen and no bar, and revenue was raised through whist drives,
dances and box socials, which were also the main source of entertainment.
In the 30s there was a failed attempt to build a clubroom on donated land
at the corner of Fairmont and Hedley (Grant) and subsequently accommodation
was acquired at Varsity View. When the Charleswood
School ceased being a school it became the new Branch 100 home.
When WWII Veterans emerged to the fore, membership flourished and the
Branch became more financially stable. Through hard work and foresight,
the new generation of veterans provided the comfortable quarters we enjoy
today. The Old Sweats have faded away, but let us not forget them, for
they were surely the nucleus of the Charleswood
Legion as we know it today.
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