With the start of the annual Poppy Appeal, our team of amazing volunteers from Billingshurst and nearby areas hope to raise in excess of £15,000. Every donation towards a poppy makes a difference to the lives of our Armed Forces community. Each donation to the Poppy Appeal goes fully to the charity. This money is used helping those veterans and service men and women in need. We can only continue to provide these services with your help.
The Billingshurst Branch of the Royal British Legion have distributed Poppy Appeal collection ‘tins’ and boxes to many local establishments, and have Poppy Appeal merchandise tables at both Sainsbury's and Lidl’s supermarkets, as well as mornings at Billingshurst Railway Station.
The Poppy Appeal is the British Legion's biggest fundraising campaign, held every year during the period of Remembrance. Wearing a poppy is a show of support for the service and sacrifice of our Armed Forces, veterans and their families. It represents all those who lost their lives on active service, from the beginning of the First World War right up to present day.
The poppy is a well-known and well-established symbol, one that carries a wealth of history and meaning with it. During the First World War, the previously beautiful countryside was blasted, bombed and fought over. The landscape swiftly turned to fields of mud where little or nothing could grow. There was a notable and striking exception - the bright red Flanders poppies. These resilient flowers flourished in the middle of so much chaos and destruction. In the Spring of 1915, a Canadian doctor, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was moved by the sight of these poppies and that inspiration led him to write the now famous poem 'In Flanders Fields’. Soon after the poppy became a symbol of Remembrance and hope for a peaceful future in the aftermath of the First World War.
Thank you for supporting this year's Poppy Appeal. Every poppy shows you care about the lives of our Armed Forces community. For further information about Billingshurst Branch of the Royal British Legion, please contact Branch Chairman - Rob Nicholl
email: [email protected]
1. Contributed
Billingshurst Poppy Appeal Volunteers Karin Pollard, Jean Brown and Julia Banks, collecting outside Sainsbury’s supermarket Photo: Submitted
2. Contributed
Billingshurst Poppy Appeal Co-ordinator collecting Linda Nicholl at Lidl Supermarket Photo: Submitted
3. Contributed
The Royal British Legion have distributed Poppy Appeal collection boxes around the Billingshurst area Photo: Submitted
4. Contributed
Poppy Appeal Collector Tom Blair, collecting at Billingshurst Station Photo: Submitted