Melksham’s Poppy Appeal raised over £30,000 for Royal British Legion

THIS year’s Poppy Appeal has raised £30,353 for the Royal British Legion, which supports the British armed forces, veterans and their families.

Volunteers from the Melksham branch of the RBL manned poppy stalls across the town and surrounding villages to raise funds for the annual Poppy Appeal. The total raised this year exceeds last year’s amount of £29,032. Melksham RBL president, Trevor Paterson said, “On behalf of the Royal British Legion Melksham Branch, I would like to thank all the residents of Melksham and surrounding villages for their very generous donations to this year’s Poppy Appeal especially during this increased cost of living situation. The total we have raised is an excellent result. Donations from individuals and organisations came to £437 and a very welcome donation of £1,000 from Melksham Recycling.”

Schools in Melksham and Atworth contributed, reaching a total of £2,286. “An excellent contribution, especially from the primary schools,” said Trevor. I would like to thank Rod and Christine Price again for organising the collections from the schools, providing wreaths to the organisations and distributing tins and poppy boxes to the businesses in Atworth.”

Over a two-week period, volunteers staffed poppy stalls in Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and Lidl, raising £19,137.

“I would like to thank Mo Deedigan Thomas, the PR Ambassador at Sainsbury’s, Emma Scott, the Community Champion at Asda and the managers of Waitrose and Lidl for allowing us to have tables in their stores for the two-week period of the appeal. The total we raised with cash and card readers is a large improvement from last year’s total, says Trevor. I would also like to thank Bruce Sanders and Tim Tandy for helping me deliver and collect the poppy tins and boxes to all the stores and businesses in town. Thanks also to all the volunteers who gave up their time to man our tables in the stores this year, allowing us to cover all four stores this year for the two-week period. I would also like to thank Staff Sgt. Andy Philp, commander of Melksham Army Cadet Detachment, for allowing the cadets to collect for us at Asda store on Saturday 9th November, and Flt Lt Darren Gerrish, commanding officer of 2385 ATC Squadron, for allowing his cadets to collect from the members of the public at the service and wreath laying at the war memorial on Remembrance Sunday.”

The Melksham Rugby Football Club again staged the annual charity match between the club veterans and Melksham military veterans. “It is always a great event,” said Trevor. Thanks to Jona and Richard Grieshaber and their respective committees for organising the event, and thanks to Lisa, Amanda, Lorraine, and Sarah, the wives of Melksham veterans, for running the raffle which made £896 – an excellent amount. A big thank you to all the companies who donated prizes for the raffle! We also took £235 at our table on the evening.mFinally, thanks also to the ‘Military Vehicles Big Group’ for bringing their vehicles to Sainsbury’s and to collect for us on the last Saturday. We should receive a little more from Gift Aid donations that supporters added to their donations with our card readers in the stores!”   

Pictured: Trevor Paterson