serious injuries. Amongst the generally favourable reaction to the news, some anti war campaigners and families of soldiers killed during the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan claimed the donation was "blood money" and a public relations stunt. Subscriptions In 2015, the administration office announced that the practice of subscriptions being paid informally within clubs by cash would cease, and that in future all subscriptions would need to be paid either via online payment, direct debit, cheque or in cash at PayPoint. In North Wales this prompted a number of associated clubs to leave the Legion, including Colwyn Bay and Conwy, with others voting on also doing so. Royal British Legion Women's Section The Royal British Legion Women's Section (RBLWS) was founded in 1921 and operated independently for some 96 years, with its own branches, standards and standard bearers, county branches, income and expenditure, national central committee, and annual conference. In mid-December 2015, with minimal consultation with the RBLWS, the Royal British Legion wrote to all RBLWS branches announcing its decision to integrate the Women's Section into itself by October 2016, when the RBLWS would become a "district" of the RBL, no longer operating as a separate organisation. Its national standard would no longer appear at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday and would be “laid up”, never to be used again. The RBLWS national officers had been told about this in advance, but they were also told to treat the information as confidential, so that they could not fore-warn their members. This speedily led to mass protests and branch closures.<ref name=AL>Andrew Levy, "Half of the Royal British Legion's Women's Section quit in sexism storm: Members leave the charity in droves in dispute over being 'governed' by men" ‘’Thurrock Mail, 29 December 2016</ref> By September 2016, public perception of the RBL had fallen to its lowest level in four years. In December, long-serving members accused the RBL of acting in a dictatorial fashion, and one member commented "It is definitely like the pre-Suffragette era. Men are ordering the women around." By the beginning of 2017, membership of the RBLWS had fallen from about 32,000 to fewer than 16,000. The integration of the RBLWS into the RBL was completed in November 2017. The RBLWS was still in existence in 2019, with a central committee of seven members and with its chairman having a seat on the RBL Board of Trustees. By then