Members of the Bradford district branch of the Royal British Legion have warned that the service will die unless more young people come forward to help.

Recruitment of members and volunteers at the Bradford branch of the armed services charity have dropped to an all-time low, affecting welfare and social work and the annual Poppy Appeal.

James Hargreaves, welfare secretary for the Legion's Bradford Metropolitan District and Poppy Appeal organiser for the city, said the reluctance of young people to join threatened its very existence.

He said: "We need to get the younger generation to come in to keep the Legion alive. If we don't do that, we will die.

"My generation were all wartime service people and we're now into our 70s and 80s. They stopped national service in 1956 which means they're all in their 60s. The youngest member we have is 30."

He added that former Army and Royal Navy personnel were failing to respond to invitations to join the Legion on leaving active service.

The Royal British Legion offers full membership to former servicemen and associated membership to anyone who wants to join.

The Bradford branch has 145 members compared to about 200 ten years ago, mainly due to the age and ill health of former soldiers.

Mr Hargreaves, who was awarded the MBE for his welfare work eight years ago, said it was difficult to find replacements.

"Our main source of income for the Poppy Appeal is the static points such as schools, shops, factories, offices etc. But we need people who can drop them off for us and bring them back again.''

Despite lack of resources, the branch has so far raised more than £20,000 from the most recent Poppy Appeal. Contact the Bradford group on (01274) 726020 or call into its offices at 9 Claremont, Bradford between 10am and 12pm on weekdays.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.