AN association formed of ex-servicemen is seeking out more members to add to their ranks.

The Barnsley branch of the Yorkshire Volunteers Regimental Association offers membership to anyone who served in the Yorkshire Regiment or Territorial Army (TA) units in the area.

The 20-strong group broke away from the Yorkshire Regimental Association this year in recognition of the Yorkshire Volunteers’ separate status as a regiment of the TA - the two were initially one and the same, after the regiment was amalgamated into the Yorkshire Regiment and disbanded in 1993.

But, according to Tony Simpson, there are still potentially hundreds of former servicemen that could join the association - whose ultimate goal is to raise funds for its own standard.

Many servicemen since the 1980s, Tony said, will have been based at the Drill Hall on Eastgate before moving to the Territorial Army Centre on Wakefield Road.

“We want a bit of a call to arms,” said Tony, 65, of Wilbrook Rise, Gawber.

“We have been a bit knackered by Covid-19, but we’ve just been doing what we can. It’s been unbelievable how the lads have come together.

“A standard costs £700 to £1,000.

“My aim is for us to have standards for both the Volunteers and the Yorkshire Regiment by 2021, and be able to stand outside the town hall with them knowing they’re both from the town.”

The group, which has sited a number of memorial benches across the borough, has been raising funds through raffling off collectors’ items including military figurines and postcards. It normally meets at the Full House pub in Monk Bretton on the first Tuesday of every month.

Tony said membership wasn’t restricted to former Volunteers or TA servicemen.

For more information, call Tony on 07889 043413.