A MUSEUM in France has been entrusted with the care of an emblem from Hazlemere.

Seven members of the Royal British Legion’s Hazlemere & District Branch made the trip to a small French town of Erquinghem-Lys, near Armentieres to pass over its old standard for safe keeping.

Last year the new branch standard, donated by Lady Heath, was dedicated in Holy Trinity Church, Penn, before being taken into service.

The branch member made the trip at their own expense to attend the ceremony, which was hosted by the museum’s curator, Jack Thorpe, and the town’s mayor, Alain Bézirard.

The standard was paraded for the final time by standard bearer Roy Rigg in the presence of the standards of four French veterans’ associations before being formally handed over by Hazlemere Branch Chairman John Youers. Just five miles from the Belgian border, Erquinghem-Lys had first-hand experience of the horrors of the First World War.

In April 1918, the Germans mounted their Georgette offensive, their final attempt to reach the North Sea. The front gave way and the town was occupied from April to August, until the German advance was repelled. The town fell victim to fighting and was razed to the ground; nothing more than a metre high was left standing.

Mr Youers said: "The Royal British Legion exists to provide welfare support to Service personnel, veterans and their families. It is perhaps fitting that in the centenary year of the start of the First World War, the Legion should forge a strong link with a French town that suffered the horrors of war."

After the ceremony, the legion proceeded to Equinghem-Lys war cemetery to lead a group of local people in an Act of Remembrance, during which a local piper played a lament. Then, following a visit to the museum and a celebration drink, everyone made their way to the local community centre for lunch.