On February 23, 1963, a small group of ex-soldiers from 91原创 and Matsqui District met at the old Vasa Hall in Aldergrove to form a Royal Canadian Legion branch.

An account of the meeting, posted at the branch on Saturday, Sept. 23, described how a veteran of both World Wars, George McDonald, was selected as honourary branch president, with Len McNernie named president.

Joe Provost and Robert Blair were elected vice presidents, William Brown was picked as secretary-treasurer, and Bob Crawford was appointed sergeant-at-arms duties.

Some six decades later, the branch celebrated its 60th anniversary with a wall of historical accounts and photos, and a dinner, with the current and several former branch presidents on hand to mark the occasion.

The festivities were held at the legion鈥檚 current home at 26607 Fraser Hwy., which opened in October of 1969.

The Royal Canadian Legion Aldergrove branch celebrated its 60th anniversary on Saturday

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Construction of this legion was done by volunteers, and it was completely paid off by December of 1972, when a mortgage burning took place.

While some Lower Mainland legion branches, suffering declining membership and financial problems, have gone under in recent years, the Aldergrove branch has managed to survive and even thrive.

But it has not been without a struggle, current president Deb Gray observed.

鈥淚t used to have very good times, and there was rough times, and now we鈥檝e pulled through, and we鈥檙e back to good times again,鈥� Gray commented.

She credits the legion鈥檚 hard-working volunteers with keeping it going.

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鈥淓verybody鈥檚 worked really hard to organize special functions, to raise money, to get more members to join,鈥� Gray said.

鈥淭he more people we get here, the more sales we make, and we get to stay open. We have amazing volunteers who work hard to get extra-special entertainment in, we do breakfast, we have people constantly bringing in new members, which helps us out.鈥�

Current and past presidents attended the Royal Canadian Legion Aldergrove branch celebration of its 60th anniversary on Saturday

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A previous Aldergrove legion president, John L鈥橦enaff, said with some pride that the branch has 鈥渉eld on through tough times and a few lean years, but now it seems to be coming back and people are recognizing it.鈥�

In 2010, while L鈥橦enaff was president, the branch changed the rules so new people who join the branch or the legion are automatically a voting member.

鈥淪o you鈥檝e got all the privileges of the veterans.鈥�

Another past president, Sandy Haddow, described Aldergrove as 鈥渁 good branch.鈥�

鈥淲e went through some rough times, but it鈥檚 come back and [we鈥檙e] very happy for it,鈥� Haddow said.

Past president Liv Avery pointed to renovations to the Fraser Highway branch that opened up the interior space.

鈥淭he legion just looks big compared to what it used to , she said.

鈥滻t鈥檚 a good place to join because there鈥檚 a lot of activities going on and you can participate.鈥�

Another former president, Chris Riopelle said during the tough times, 鈥渨e had to work hard to keep things going.鈥�

Anyone can join the legion by contact the Aldergrove branch at 604-856-8814.

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