The streets of Royal British Legion Industries’ (RBLI) village in Kent were lined with thousands of local school children, residents and supporters to welcome Her Majesty The Queen when she marked the charity’s 100th anniversary last Wednesday 6th November 2019.
During the visit to Aylesford, near Maidstone, The Queen officially opened Appleton Lodge, RBLI’s new luxury care facility for veterans and their families. The building was named after First World War Sister Edith Appleton, OBE, who was born in Kent and awarded the Royal Red Cross for nursing on the front line during the Great War.
The new care home is part of the £22 million Centenary Village development which, when complete, will provide crucial homes, welfare support and create a community for the country’s most vulnerable veterans.
A formal centenary lunch for Her Majesty the Queen and 99 guests took place on the day, catered for by Kent-based Chives caterers, at which Biddenden’s Gribble Bridge White and Gribble Bridge Dornfelder was served.
Royal British Legion Industries has raised £16.5 million of the £22 million needed to complete the Centenary Village project. To learn more about the project, visit: www.rbli.co.uk/centenaryvillage
