APPROXIMATELY 20 years after the two branches of Milverton Royal British Legion (RBL) closed, their standards have been placed in their final resting place for perpetuity, in the village’s St Michael’s Church,

Both the branch and its women’s section standards were found after some investigation, having been stored together for the past two decades in the airing cupboard of Mike Harvey, son of the women’s section standard bearer.

A poignant laying up service took place in St Michaels’s led by the rector, the Rev Helene Stainer, with about 50 people attending the historic occasion.

The standards will shortly be placed on the wall in two prominent positions within the church for evermore, confirming the status they hold as sacred items.

After the ceremony, many of those present made their way to the village recreation ground for some refreshment and to catch up on the history of the branch.

This venue was chosen because in 1923 it was the RBL Milverton branch which instigated and contributed to the purchase of the land for the recreational use of the community.

The standard bearers for the service were Steven Wort and Tony Lockyer, and the escorts were Ian Partridge and Robert Amphlett.

Twelve-year-old Elliot Coles, of Wiveliscombe, was the bugler for the Act of Remembrance, and RBL Somerset chairman Major Robert McDonald gave the Exhortation.

The standards were officially handed over to the Rev Stainer by Wiveliscombe RBL chairman Andrew McInnerney.

The Milverton branch is now allied to the Wiveliscombe RBL.