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​From August 1914 until many months after the end of WWI, more than 2,655,000 British and Commonwealth sick and wounded returned from the battlefields of France. It was soon realised that these men and women might need hospital care for many years, if not for the rest of their lives. Volunteers who had handed out tea, chocolate, and tobacco to the ambulance troop trains realised they would need to prepare for more structured and long-term commitments to these troops, whose lives had been shattered. Inviting them to “Tea Concerts” was seen as a first step by these volunteers who laid the foundations for the Lest We Forget Association as it is today.

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At a public meeting in Kingston upon Thames in November 1922, one of the many such groups of volunteers decided to form the Lest We Forget Association and to register it under the War Charities Act.

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Snowdrops are an important part of our history: starting in 1932, Association volunteers picked Snowdrops every February in the woods around Epsom and then sold them in bunches of twenty to fund their activities.  This tradition continued until 2004 and the snowdrop remains dear to us.

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Until the outbreak of WWII, the nineteen branches of the Association arranged entertainment and outings for many thousands of disabled ex-servicemen in the southeast of England.

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After the end of WWII, the branches continued their support, now assisting large numbers of younger people in addition to those from WWI.

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Sadly, as with so many associations, replacements could not be found for those members resigning due to age or ill health, and one by one the branches closed - eventually leaving just the Epsom & Ewell branch to carry the flag alone.

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Fortunately, new blood was found, and the committee went from strength to strength, increasing the number of annual events over the years from just twelve to more than ninety.

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In 2015, the Chairman of the General Council (which had overseen the original nineteen branches) resigned. The Epsom & Ewell branch was merged with the General Council and became The Lest We Forget Association in its current form, registered with the Charity Commission.

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The LWFA is now over 100 years old and has expanded its activities far beyond Tea Concerts. It continues its mission to honour and support both former and current members of the UK Armed Forces and Merchant Navy, and their families.