Here is a brief history of our Legion as told by Comrade Herb McDowall. Eighty 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.