Sorry but at the time of updating this site for the last time, there was nothing to add.

2022 receipts to date number £9,280,92, including KCIII's competition donations, so we are approaching last year's total Poppy Appeal donations. Our PA Organiser Major Tom, and the RBL, are very grateful to all those givers who did. AND would you believe, there's one simple change in our society that makes it harder and harder? The demise of cash; there's not a lot of loose change in people's pockets these days. Tom says "it is always amazing that with the challenges we face, we collect the amount that we do. Thank you all, and our most sincere thanks to our hard-working volunteer collectors, who go out in all weathers to help the cause."

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE ARE ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR MORE VOLUNTEERS TO HELP US COLLECT FOR THE POPPY APPEAL; none of us are getting any younger!

For 2021 we were unable to operate static or door to door Poppy Appeal collections because that damned virus was still about BUT Major Tom's organisation brought us back to pre-pandemic levels of donation. We are grateful to all those who filled the collection boxes in shops and pubs around our District, and raised £10,277.00. Not bad for a little rural community if we do say so ourselves.

2020 was one of change for our Branch in several ways. On the Poppy Appeal front, John Russell BEM, our President and previously very successful Poppy Appeal Organiser (PAO) handed over his baton to a younger recruit. Our new PAO Major Tom Smith, has certainly had a difficult introduction to his new role. John's boots were large ones to fill anyway, as can be seen if you scroll down this page and compare previous figures. However, Tom has successfully weathered this year's unprecedented situation and come-through with flying colours. Despite all tribulations, Tom was able to bank £4,669.90. Indeed, our District's contributions may be a lot more than that because some donated directly to the RBL using their on-line facilities, of which we have no record.

The Appeal was also supported in new and innovative ways. The best example of that was when Byfield's Beavers, Cubs and Scouts offered to recycle last year's poppy wreaths. There was a shortage of poppies this year because the RBL's Poppy Factory had to close, because of that virus. So the youngsters of our District removed all the wreath poppies, which are made of material that can't otherwise be readily recycled, and made those into posies and displays. They then sold those to family, friends and others in the area. By so doing, they ended-up raising more than ten percent of our total pre-Christmas contributions.

We were so grateful for their help we felt the occasion needed to be commemorated. We marked that event by our President presenting Certificates of Thanks to representatives of the Beaver Lodge, the Cub Pack and Scout Troop based here. The images below tell the story. From the adult perspective, on the extreme left of the pictures are Graham, our new Membership Secretary and Terry, who has now relinquished that role to him, as he's moving away. Behind the Beavers you can see Helen, our Group Scout Leader and then on the right of the War Memorial Tom, our new PAO. On the extreme right is our President John, who made the presentations.

IN PREVIOUS YEARS...

Between the end of October to 12th November in any given year (except 2020 due to the health crisis) we are to be found out on the roads, streets, lanes and byways collecting like crazy. Even in 2020, boxes were stationed in churches, shops, pubs and anywhere else we could think of, wreaths were provided and donations received, all of which allowed us to support this worthy cause.

Of course, as with anything where targets are involved, this provides quite a challenge for any year's efforts. 

For the 2019 Poppy Appeal, John banked £9,379.32. We didn't expect to equal last year's record BUT we are getting closer and closer as the weeks go by and remember, final accounting isn't done until mid 2020.

2018, the 100th year anniversary since the end of the First World War, £12,647.29 was our final total. It will be a real challenge to achieve anything like that amount again. John commented that he "would like to give a big Thank You to his team. The 2018 appeal WAS an exceptional year's campaign. Thanks to all those in our District for your help, support and generous donations that makes these efforts so worthwhile."

In 2017 £10,209.32 was our final total. That's the target to beat for next year. Thanks to John, collectors & DONORS we just made it past 2016's record...

In 2016 A BIG "THANK YOU" was given to all our contributors, you were WONDERFUL... BECAUSE... WE WERE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE that the 2016 Byfield & District RBL Poppy Appeal BROKE THE £10,000 Barrier, with £10,054.42 banked by that year's end. Thanks to everyone involved that enabled us to achieve that excellent result.

Going back in history Byfield and District Branch are happy that during 2015 we improved on 2014's Poppy Appeal total.

Yes, 'tis true, that year we had gained three more villages to our District (and their inbetweeners) because sadly, yet another Branch had closed. We know our overall collection reflects that but proportionally it's still a plus for us. The total was £9,366.24 nett (i.e. excluding Gift Aid supplements) - "now we're cookin' with gas..." Many thanks to everyone, most of all the givers but not forgetting the collectors who have turned-up trumps once more.

For the record, the year before (2014) we banked £7,307 for the Poppy Appeal, passing the previous year's (2013) final total of £6,866.

As one can prove anything by using statistics, you can see our percentage gain in 2014/15 was just under 6.5% over the previous year, which beats most present investment portfolios! However as that year we only had eleven villages (we count Catesby as two by the way, even though they are tiny) in our District and now we have three more, we needed to increase our take to match our previous record and effectively stand still.

Our Poppy Appeal Organiser, John Russell BEM, now has many years of experience as our premier fundraiser but has his work cut-out marshalling all those volunteers around our District who knock on doors and sell poppies direct, let alone managing all the static poppy sales sites under his remit.

Like many of our members, most of John’s team are not getting any younger and indeed year-on-year some have been forced to drop-out. Filling the void isn’t easy and we are very keen to welcome volunteers, Legion members or not, to assist us in this satisfying work. If you would like to help, please contact any of our squad).

John runs a pretty slick operation but is also open to suggestion regarding methods of increasing our turnover.

Poppy People

Anyone interested in helping in the next Poppy Appeal should contact our Poppy Appeal Coordinator Major Tom, on 01295 660608