THE Witham Royal British Legion women's section have celebrated what could be the clubs last ever birthday.

On Thursday May 19, the group got together for a tea party at the Royal British Legion Memorial Hall, Newland Street, Witham, with a special cake commemorating the event.

Dawn Wilding, 68, has been a member of the Royal British Legion women's section since 1998, she is now Secretary and Treasurer of the Witham branch.

She said: "My mum and dad were members and I remember when I was little mum used to take me along.

"It was a really good cause to raise money for and I felt I wanted to be involved with.

"I went to see the poppies in London in November last year, while there I took some photos and then got them printed them on cards.

"I thought I could make £50 by selling them but I actually made £1,000 profit for the charity."

The Witham branch has 93 members, 57 of which turned up to celebrate on Thursday.

News came in February of plans for the Royal British Legion women's branches across the country to be integrated with the men's, despite opposition from some female members.

Mrs Wilding said: "I hope it would not put a lot of people off coming.

"We are in limbo, we do not know where to go from here at the moment - but we are still having our monthly meetings and people are still enjoying them."

A spokesperson for The Royal British Legion said: "We are making administrative changes to The Royal British Legion Women’s Section to ensure the charity fulfils its legal requirement of achieving the best use of funds in support of its beneficiaries.

"The changes will have little or no impact on the activities of Women’s Section Branches, which have a long history of supporting the Armed Forces Community and we look forward to continued dialogue in order to retain the great wealth of experience, expertise and enthusiasm of its staff and members."

The Royal British Legion is the UK's leading Armed Forces charity.

The women's section has around 30,000 members countrywide across 770 branches.