Biggest Poppy Appeal launch planned for Weston beach

The launch of the Somerset and Bristol County Poppy Appeal is on Saturday, October 27, on Weston-super-Mare beach. 

Weston College students, cadets and school children are being recruiting to help create the largest human poppy formation for the Guinness World Record. 

But the group urgently need a business sponsor and pledges of support.

The first official Royal British Legion Poppy Day was held in Britain on 11 November 1921, inspired by the poem In Flanders' Fields written by John McCrae. 

The RBL organises a fundraising drive each year in the weeks before Remembrance Sunday, during which artificial red poppies, meant to be worn on clothing, are offered to the public in return for a charitable donation.

The monies it collects is used to run recovery centres for injured personnel and it supports bereaved families to face life without a loved one.

Last year the RBL spent more than £89 million providing assistance to more than 160,000 serving and ex-serving Armed Forces personnel and their families.

The RBL has 2,500 branches worldwide offering comradeship and support.

Anyone able to help or who would like to volunteer their  time as a collector in Somerset or Bristol is asked to contact Sue Potepa on 01278 442067 or 0776 879 4939 or email spotepa@britishlegion.org.uk.