AN INTERNET campaign has begun to name Verwood’s former British Legion club after a fallen soldier from the town.
A Facebook petition to name the Moorlands Road club, The Rifleman after the late Phil Allen, 20, who was killed last November in Afghanistan, has attracted 161 on-line supporters.
But leaders of a committee who fought successfully to save the club from closure have ruled out the name, saying the petitioners hadn’t contacted them with their suggestion.
Petitioner, Emily Saville, a friend of the late soldier, said the idea of naming the club The Rifleman would continue its military traditions. “So far we’ve had a lot of support from people in Verwood who seem to love this idea and are happy to sign the petition. Considering Phil was a regular, it seems a fitting tribute to him,” she said.
Footage of Rifleman Phil Allen's funeral
The Royal British Legion sold the Moorlands Road club last November. But when the deal fell through in January, Save the Legion Campaign committee members negotiated to lease the building for 25 years from its new owners. Committee chairman, Brian Giddings said an early decision on branding the club had been essential to winning the support of all parties involved in the deal to save it. “We intend to have some part of the club dedicated to Rifleman Allen’s memory. It will more likely be a particular room or particular section in it,” he said.
The club will cease to be the property of the Royal British Legion once a deal is completed with the building’s new owners, from whom the committee will lease the club.
An announcement on the club’s new name is later this month Karen Charman-Allen, the mother of the late soldier, said naming the entire club or part of it for her late son would be a gesture for the people of Verwood.
“The feeling I got was that because they’d lost the Legion and what it stood for, people wanted something in Phil’s memory,” she said.
Mrs Charman-Allen said a memorial bench to honour her son would be installed later this year on the town’s Ferret Green.
