Meet your Lambeth Service Club Presidents
bring people into our Legion. Volunteers are the foundation of our Legion and as always, we are always looking for more. If you are looking for a way to get involved in supporting our Legion and our many activities and events, we would be happy to have you join our team. Even if you only have a few available hours, we would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, have an idea you would like to chat with us about or are interested in a volunteer opportunity, please drop into the Branch or give us a call. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Randy Matthews, Lambeth Legion Branch 501 519-652-3412 Hello, my name is Randy Matthews, and I am the President of the Lambeth Legion. I moved to London in 1977 from New- foundland. Much of my working life was spent at London Transit. After 33 years with London Transit I retired in 2012, not totally sure where my retirement life would take me. Shortly thereafter, I was asked by a friend if I was interested in a part-time cleaning job at the Legion. After cleaning for a few years, I decided to get my Smart Serve so that I
Royal Canadian Legion Lambeth Branch 501 7097 Kilbourne Road, London 519-652-3412 www.branch501lambethlegion.ca Facebook – branch501lambethlegion.ca • Banquet Hall Rentals • Ladies Auxiliary Catering Available lambethbr501rentals@gmail.com “Everyone Always Welcome” APRIL 2025 EVENTS
John Robinson, London Lambeth Rotry Cub john@johnrobinson.ca
I was raised in Mt. Brydges and went to high school in Strathroy. I served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the mid 70s. I am an alumnus of both Western and Fanshawe, and I have been involved in technical, design and building fields most of my life, most recently designing, building, and commissioning robotics and automations for the car industry worldwide. . Happenings “Attention Veterans” Buddy Check Coffee Apr 9th & 23rd. Operation Vet Build Apr 2 nd & 16 th . For more info contact Derrick McClinchey 519.282.0802
could tend bar and I continue to do so to this day. My involvement and passion for the Legion has grown over the years and I am proud to say that in May of 2022, I became the President. The Lambeth Legion supports veterans and their families, remembers the men and women who served our country, and strengthens our community. Our Legion is deeply involved in community life, supporting local initiatives and offering a place for people to gather. Originally, only veterans could become Legion members but today anyone can join our Legion. Becoming a Legion member is a great way to support our veterans, and I encourage anyone interested in supporting this cause to come out and join our Lambeth Branch. One of the ways that we directly support our veterans is through our annual Poppy Campaign. With the assistance of our very dedicated volunteers, we blitz our neighbouring businesses with our Poppy boxes to gather donations. All money that we collect is managed by our branch and is used to directly to support our veterans. We also started some support groups for veterans at our branch. Buddy Check has been introduced to provide a safe welcoming space for veterans to connect with fellow veterans. Vet Build is another gathering opportunity for veterans to come together to socialize and build models. We also take great pride in how our branch strengthens our community. We offer a variety of activities at our branch that are open for community members to enjoy. We host Saturday afternoon dances, Monday night dart league, line dancing, exercise classes, trivia nights, Big Band nights and many more events throughout the year. We also engage in a variety of fundraising events that supports our community. During our Saturday afternoon dances and at the London National games we hold 50/50 draws where half of the proceeds are donated directly back to our Community. More recently, we have partnered with the Lions Club, the Rotary Club and Harvestfest to support the initiative of refurbishing and/or replacing our four ‘Welcome to Lambeth’ signs. We also rent out our space to our community members to host a variety of private events like weddings, showers, birthday parties and any other events you would like to celebrate. In 2025, we will continue to support both our veterans and our community. We are always looking for new innovative ideas to Mixed Darts 7-10 6 7 8 13 14 15 20 21 22 NEW LEGION HOURS Monday: 6 – 10 Tuesday: 6 – 10 Wednesday: Closed Thursday: 2 – 6 Friday: 2 – 9 Saturday: Noon – 6 Sunday: Closed Above hours subject to change for Planned Events Coming in May 2025 3 – Forgotten Road 10 – Embassy Dukes 17 – Country Versatiles 24 – Two for the Road 31 – County Road Legion Open 6-10 Legion Closed Legion Open 6-10 PM VON Exercise 11-12 Big Band 7-10 Legion Open 6-10 Mixed Darts 7-10 Line Dancing 10-12 Line Dancing 10-12 Legion Open 6-10 Legion Open 6-10 Mixed Darts 7-10 Line Dancing 10-12 Legion Open 6-10 Legion CLOSED Legion CLOSED Legion CLOSED VON Exercise 11-12 Big Band 7-10 VON Exercise 11-12 Big Band 7-10 Legion Open 6-10 VON Exercise 11-12 Big Band 7-10 Legion Closed Legion Closed Legion closed 1
Since early in 2000, my wife and I have owned a store, which in 2019 we moved to Main Street in Lambeth, and moved our home in the fall of 2019. It was at the store one day I learned about the London Lambeth Rotary Club. Geoff Fall, the membership chair of the local club, stopped by the shop and I came to know a little of what Rotary does in the area. For many years the club has looked after the Christmas lights and during the pandemic raised funds to buy new lights. We continue to talk, and I mentioned I am a Mason and a Shriner, and Geoff mentions the club was meeting the next day at the Village Pantry down the street. (Rotary has meetings a month in Lambeth at the Village Pantry. One at 7:30 am on the second Tuesday of the month, and at 6:30 pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month) I went to the meeting the next day and saw more of what this small club was doing, and I can say that even now they have tremendous amounts of service work, and fundraising at the local, regional, national and international levels. I went home that morning with many ideas and talked with my wife about what I had seen. We talked about going to the next meeting together, and although my wife says she is not a ‘joiner’, she really is not a joiner, we thought, as we were new in town, it would be a good idea to meet some people, and the rest is history. I am the current president of the club, and my wife is a board member. The club has two main fundraisers, our wine dinner held at the Civic Centre at Springbank Drive and Wonderland Road on May 24th this year. There will be a silent auction and a lottery. The other is a Christmas Dinner at Pastos, south of the village on Colonel Talbot Road. At this one, we have a live auction in addition to the silent auction. 5 10 11 12 17 18 19 24 25 26 Legion Open 2 PM Legion Open 2-6 Legion Open 2-6 Legion Open 2-6 Line Dancing 11:45-1:45 VON Exercise 11-12 VON Exercise 11-12 Line Dancing 1:45-3:45 Legion Open 2 PM Line Dancing 7-9 pm Legion Open 2PM Joan Spalding 2-5 pm 50-50 Draw Country Versatiles 2-5 pm 50/50 Draw Two for the Road 2-5 pm 50-50 Draw Legion Open 2-6 Legion Open 2 PM Von Exercise 11-12 Line Dancing 1:45-3:45 Line Dancing 7-9 pm 3 4
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To advertise here, please contact Gloria@villagerpublications.com We also do the pancake breakfast at Harvestfest in September. We usually plan a tree planting with ReForest London and have been involved in other environmental projects such as the pollinator garden by the United Church. Other environmental Line Dancing 7-9 PM County Road 2-5 pm 50/50 Draw VON Exercise 11-12 Line Dancing 1:45-3:45
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