A HAT-TRICK of awards was celebrated by Marlow's Royal British Legion club last week as members pour their efforts in fundraising for this year's Poppy Appeal.

The Station Approach club was awarded the RBL Club of the Year by the national organisation as well as being named the Campaign for Real Ale’s district and regional club of the year.

Helping members to celebrate was Mayor Suzanne Brown and members of the Marlow reserves.

Club secretary Alan Sheppard said: "This is a great club and we are really pleased with the awards we have received.

"It has been well deserved, from all the people who work here to our members, we couldn’t ask for a better support.

"To be honest the first award had a knock-on effect and we are still in the running for a national award."

Included in the accolades is the trophy for regional club of the year as decided by a CAMRA panel and they have now qualified for the last 16 in the national contest.

The club is hoping to boost its Poppy Appeal fundraising effort after announcing the release of their new pint, the Lest We Forget beer.

Member of the RBL branch - separate to the commercial club arm - joined celebrations as they help coordinate Marlow's Poppy Appeal in this important World War One centenary year.

Also in attendance on the day were several members of the Marlow reserves who meet in Booker once a week.

They helped the club celebrate on the day while asking residents and members if they wanted to join the reserves.

Captain Richard Lewis said: "We are happy to work within the community and open a dialogue with people to see if they are interested in joining us.

"We meet every Tuesday evening and we will also be helping out with raising money for the Poppy Appeal in Marlow next Saturday.

"We were here in Marlow on Armed Forces Day and we were quite surprised by the turnout in the town, there were lots of people and we were able to raise quite a bit of money."

For more information on the group, please visit www.army.mod.uk