A dedicated pair of veterans have got together to relaunch the Windsor branch of the Royal British Legion.

It all began when former Scots Guardsman Steve Rankin noticed that the Old Windsor War Memorial had stopped recording names in 1945, after he attended a Remembrance Day service in the village.

He brought the subject up with another local veteran Neil Knowles, who had served in the Life Guards and the Army Air Corps and agreed with him.

Steve said: "I know there’s a lot more names can be added to properly remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. If you consider how many servicemen and women who have died in service since 1945 it’s odd that they don’t appear locally.”

They found when they investigated further that other war memorials in the area also ended in 1945.

But when the two men decided to raise the issue with the nearest branch of the Royal British Legion they discovered that the Windsor and District Branch had suffered falling numbers and been merged with Datchet.

Steve said: "I thought this was massively disappointing given the number of veterans and families in the area and the connection Windsor has with the Army. It was apparent that we ought to get the branch going again.”

So as they launched their project to research the names of all the post WW2 fallen to add to local war memorials, two local veterans have found that they have also now taken on relaunching the local Windsor and District Branch of the British Legion.

A meeting was held in February to gage interest and now a formal reestablishment meeting is being held today (Friday) at the Acre Club in Victoria Street, Windsor at 7.30 pm.

Neil said: “The aim is to get as many of the previous members, new joiners, people interested in taking on committee roles and anyone interested along to set up a viable operation, which hopefully the Legion HQ will recognise and allow us to re start it again.”

Once the branch is active again then the missing names project will be the first thing on the 'to do' list.

It is also planned to hold a monthly social at the Hope Pub in Ward Royal on the first Thursday of every month from 7pm.

Neil said: "It’s important to build support networks for veterans and to raise money for the poppy appeal. Getting the names of the missing fallen onto our memorials will be of massive importance to the families and friends of those who gave their all."

Anyone interested is welcome to join them tonight or online at www.britishlegion.org. and you can follow them on Facebook/Windsor Branch RBL