THIS year’s Poppy Appeal has so far raised £25,200 and with more fundraising still to come, and organisers are hopeful the total will once again be record-breaking.
Organisers have thanked the public for their generosity and support towards the Poppy Appeal which helps servicemen and women affected by past and current conflicts. Melksham Royal British Legion branch president and Poppy Appeal organiser, Trevor Paterson said, “Our total raised so far this year is £25,200. The collection does not end until September 2019, so hopefully with a few more fundraising events, we will well exceed last year’s total of £21,800.
“On behalf of the Melksham branch of the Royal British Legion, I would like to thank all the residents of Melksham and surrounding villages for their very generous contributions and donations towards this year’s Poppy Appeal. A special thanks to Vicky Smith, clinical lead at Melksham Hospital, for the excellent poppy display in the hospital grounds, commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in 1918. £450 was raised at this event.
“I would also like to thank Mo Deedigan Thomas, PR ambassador at Sainsbury’s, Lisa Jenkins, community life ambassador at Asda, and Alice Clements, branch manager at Waitrose for allowing the branch to have a table in their stores for the sale of poppies and other items during the two weeks of the poppy appeal.
“We raised a total of £12,050 at the three stores, an excellent amount. I would like to thank all the volunteers who manned our tables in these stores over the two weeks.
“We also had 190 boxes of poppies for sale in shops, schools and businesses in Melksham and the surrounding villages; the total raised from these outlets came to £8,390.
“The service in St Michael and All Angels Church was overcrowded, luckily the weather was kind, so any overflow were kept dry whilst outside listening to the service via loudspeakers, kindly supplied by Bruce Burry at Apollo Sound. The collection came to £1,200, which was all donated to the Poppy Appeal.
“I would also like to thank the ladies and gentlemen who sold our poppies door to door around the estates in Melksham and Atworth, where again the residents were very generous. I would also like to thank Two Little Ducks, Ma Maison, Co-op Funeralcare, Melksham Arcade and the Spar shop and garage on Spa Road for the commemorative displays in their premises.
“I also would like to thank the various organisations for their generous donations.
“Also this year, we had charity events raising money for the Poppy Appeal.
“Melksham Rugby Club staged a charity match between rugby club veterans and Forces veterans on the evening of Friday 9th November. The weather was awful, but a total of £1,050 was raised from a raffle and the collection and sale of poppies at our table. Our thanks to Matt Sidnell for organising the event.
“Thanks also to the Foresters Arms who held a breakfast on Sunday 11th November and raised £220.
“Thanks also to Chris Pickett at the Melksham Ukulele Club who organised an afternoon of music last Saturday in the Forest Community Centre. This event raised a further £135.
“Finally, I would like to thank all the people who knitted poppies and sewed them onto nets for the displays at the hospital, Market Place, Cenotaph, and St Michael’s Church.”
Above: Poppy Appeal organisers Trevor Paterson and Ken Graham, at the start of this year’s appeal.
