Group Project - Legion House Visit

In realisation that we would need contributors for our documentary and should give them some time to decide, the group figured it was time to get in contact with the the British Legion to ask whether we could film there. After Monish had phoned them and discussed our plans to film, we eventually decided to visit them and pursue it even further.

Since we needed permission to film rather imminently, Me and Monish met in town to go to the Legion house in which Monish had told me was situated on Orchard street. I found this a little odd as I assumed we had been talking about the big building situated on Weston Sea Front which I pass regularly on the way to college. Monish knew of this building but explained to me that the one I was thinking of was just a Summer house and not the actual Legion building and so we set off in search of the place.

Permission was vital for our film, If we couldn't get it we would have been slightly stuck

Now the lesson here is to not always trust Google Maps as they might not be as up to date as you'd hope....






So after a fair few strolls up and down Orchard Street, a baffled Monish and I were rather confused as to where this building actually was. It was then that we decided to follow up Orchard St. by house number and realised our problem. The Legion house was no longer located on the street!! It had in fact been restored as a rock bar named 'Rock Gardens' and a Adult Strip Bar named 'Vamps' which was certainly not the place we were after. After having a giggle and realising this we eventually relocated to the Sea front Legion House that we knew was still there. To this day we still find it rather confusing that the old one was missing because weirdly enough we'd phoned in preparation and someone had answered claiming that it was the Legion House.

Rock Gardens and Vamps.... Not what we were expecting!!

When we got to the real legion house we met with the manager and explained who we were. We let her know our intentions and asked whether it would be possible to film there. They were very helpful and even looked through the reservations to see whether there was any World War 2 veterans staying there over the coming weeks. She found a selection of people for us and said that she would ask whether they would be up for doing it and if so they would happily allow us to film there. She then recommended that we should try the RAF House as a lot more WW2 veterans come there, and rather conveniently it was only next door. After making our way over there however we found that the manager was not available although we did manage to get a phone number which we called later that week.

Somerset Legion House (left) and RAF Flowerdown House (right)

Over the following week we got responses from both the Legion house and RAF house and both said that they had people who would we could interview. This was great news and gave us a huge confidence boost in the way of getting our documentary done. Just goes to show that good things come to those who ask.... once they get there.

A Huge Confidence Boost... Just What we Needed!!