Bury's 'Mr Royal British Legion' remembered

A service was held last week to remember the life of Ron Day who was ‘Mr Royal British Legion’ in Bury St Edmunds for more than 50 years.

The service at St Mary’s Church heard how Ron joined the legion in 1966 as an ordinary member but was soon volunteering for the Poppy Appeal and held posts including club and branch chairman and branch secretary.

He became branch president in 2000 and still held the post when he died at the age of 90 in June.

His brother Alan said Ron was known for many years as the town’s Mr Royal British Legion because of his involvement in the Poppy Appeal, on which he began as a collector and went on to be the branch’s appeal organiser and joint appeal coordinator for Suffolk.

The Legion gave him its Gold Badge and a 50 years service badge for his work.

He fostered links between the branch and RAF Honington, the USAF and the Normandy and Dunkirk Veterans' Associations, with the latter awarding him a Certificate of Appreciation in 2000.

Alan added: “Ron enjoyed three things in life: his music, the Royal British Legion and his time in the RAF on National Service.”

Ron was born in Great Barton and educated at the Guildhall Feoffment and Silver Jubilee Schools.

Alan recalls how during World War Two, with their father involved in important war work at British Sugar, it fell to his 13 years older brother Ron to help their mother and ensure Alan was down the shelter when the air raid sirens went.

Ron had the unpleasant distinction of being the only person injured in an air raid on Bury in June 1940 when he was hit by shrapnel from seven bombs which fell around the family home .

But, while working as an apprentice for the International grocery store in St Andrew’s Street South, from 1941, he volunteered, first as an Air Raid Precautions cycle messenger and then as a motorcycle dispatch rider for the Ambulance Service.

He did National Service between 1946 and 1948, being posted to Berlin during the Berlin Airlift, when allied aircraft supplied food and fuel to the city by an air bridge over a Russian blockade.

He was manager of the International Store from 1952 until it closed in 1972, then had a managerial job with Woolworths until being made redundant in 1983 when he joined Northgate Press until he retired in 1992.

Ron's big love of music, especially swing, meant he played piano in several dance bands before creating the 16-piece Don Raie band, which played in dance halls across East Anglia, often on the same stage as nationally known bands like Syd Lawrence and Joe Loss.

But playing at the USAF bases also meant working with stars such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Vera Lynn.

He later led the band on a Hammond organ, which was played at the service. With that he also appeared on the ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks, hosted by Hughie Green in the 1950s and '60s.