A Royal British Legion branch secretary has spent six years researching his group's 84-year history – and his work is finally set to go on display next week. Reporter DANIEL BINNS finds out more.

Armed Forces Day is on Saturday June 29 and to mark the occasion the Epping and District RBL is to hold an exhibition of its long history.

Branch secretary John Duffell, 58, has spent the last six years researching the group using archive materials and old copies of the West Essex Gazette – The Epping Forest Guardian's predecessor.

The national RBL was formed in May 1921, with the amalgamation of four ex-servicemen support groups which were set up in the aftermath of the First World War.

But it was not until 1929 when more than 100 ex-serviceman packed into the Armoury building in Hemnall Street – now Epping Sports Centre – to discuss forming a new local branch.

The assembled crowd elected Colonel R.F. Wall as its first president, and the minimum membership fee was set at the equivalent of 12.5 pence.

Colonel Wall was typical of the branch's early leadership – his day job was managing director of sugar company Tate and Lyle.

Mr Duffell said: "It is one of the most notable differences in the legion then was that it was run by business people, the owner of Copped Hall and people like that. Now it is very much made up of working people."

The branch's membership soon swelled but the outbreak of the Second World War inevitably brought some disruption.

But despite this, in November 1943 its Poppy Appeal helped raise a record £285.

And in 1944 the contribution of women to the war effort was recognised with the founding of a dedicated branch section.

The legion's importance for the community was even more apparent in the post-war era, with the branch helping to organise remembrance events.

This continued throughout the following decades, with the RBL playing a vital role in keeping the memory of service personnel alive.

This included in March 1980 when vandals wrecked the Epping war memorial, with the branch helping to raise funds to repair it.

There was controversy the following year when the branch debated whether it should be involved in Epping's twinning with the German town of Eppingen.

In the end it was decided that the branch would not be officially involved but members could be.

Today the legion is still going strong, although membership numbers have dropped to around 80.

Mr  Duffell said: "We really want to get more young people involved and dispel the idea that we're an old man's organisation, as some people don't realise that the RBL also supports today's troops."

To find out more see the exhibit, which takes place in the hut at the rear of the Black Lion pub in Epping High Street between 9am and 4pm.