A group of Glenrothes veterans has made a rallying call in a bid to relaunch the town’s branch of the Royal British Legion.
Ron Smith is among those who has called on ex-armed forces personnel to come together again almost a year after the group was forced to leave its clubhouse.
Its premises in Woodside closed last summer, ending more than half a century of operations in the town.
A member of the previous club, Mr Smith hopes to resurrect interest in the organisation and has already brought together other former veterans from the town.
“Only eight people turned up, but we did have a few call offs and a lot of people were working as well,” he said following last week’s meeting.
“At one stage, however, we thought we would have as many as 30.
“For the foreseeable future there will not be a clubhouse.
“What we will be doing, however, is having monthly meetings in different venues in Glenrothes.
“When the clubhouse folded we started talking about what we were going to do.
“Four of us got together and said that we wanted to start building things up again.
“We believe that we have something to offer the ex-service community.”
The Glenrothes branch of the British Legion closed last June having suffered from declining membership.
The economic downturn also resulted in fewer people hiring the group’s clubhouse for private functions, robbing it of much-needed income.
Despite a last-ditch effort by members to save the club, the doors at Cos Lane were closed for good last June, with the future of the building and adjacent land now uncertain.
Despite this setback, Mr Smith, who spent 22 years in the army, believes the British Legion has an important role to play in Glenrothes and is urging younger ex-forces personnel to get in touch.
“What we saw at our last meeting was fantastic,” he said.
“Some of those who attended were a bit apprehensive, but by the time they left they did so with huge smiles on their faces.
“When you come out of the service you don’t know where to go and that is what the Legion has to offer.
“Soldiers today see terrible things and it can be hard to talk to civilians about these things.”
The next branch meeting will take place at Warout Stadium on Thursday March 10 at 8pm.