The Poppy Appeal for Northampton Branch
Poppy Appeal 23/24
Hi all it's getting near that time again when we need as much help as we can get for the POPPY APPEAL helping deliver to the shops, schools etc helping man our tables in Supermarkets .
If you are able to offer a few hours or more please let Clare Frost or myself know.
Hope the usual team will be able to do their normal delivery and tables this year.
We will be really grateful for any help to make this year really successful.
Poppy Appeal.
The Poppy Appeal 21/23
The Poppy Appeal 2021/22
Total Raised during the two week appeal was £ 71,322.49
Total Raised for this years appeal is £
Break down of monies raised,
Total for card machines £11,801.00
Army cadets £ 1830.00
Air cadets £ 680.28
Sea cadets £ 1013.90
Scouts £ 458.73
Saints £ 318.9
All Saints £ 885.21
Schools £ 10,820.14
Runs £ 5,865.48
Weston Favell Centre £ 9,705.14
Morrisons Kettering Rd £ 9,084.72
Tesco Mereway £ 7,131.24
Waitrose £ 5,092.80
Railway Station £ 837.75
Morrisons Victoria Prom £ 4,175.00
Cheques £ 485.00
Bank Transfers £ 1,137.00
Our success is directly down to our collectors and volunteers. To help us carry on our work we really need new collectors to come and help; even for just an hour or so.
As seen above we collect at various locations ie; shopping centres, supermarkets and within the town centre on the street. We can find you somewhere inside in the warm or outside wherever is best for you including sitting down. If you prefer not to collect we have plenty of other roles including helping to replenish tins or helping with our administration during this busy time.
Our collectors are from all ages ranging from primary school to their 90s. They do it for varying reasons including to remember friends or family or help wounded mates or simply because they want to help us in our work.
Whatever your background - military or not - you will be made most welcome. As one of our new collectors with no armed services background said last year:
"I have had a lot of enjoyment in doing this. I have been spoken to by so many people about remembrance, poppies and how great a job I was doing. I felt really pleased and will be back next year!".
To learn more, including asking for poppies, giving us a hour of your time or where to obtain wreaths etc then please visit this website or our Facebook site.
Previous Years' Collections in Northampton and Some Background
Below are the yearly totals for the Poppy Appeal Year. Please note although we collect each November the appeal is "live" all year round and the RBL's financial year runs from October to September (for example October 2014 to September 2015)
2014 Another great year - £125,000
2013 And another wonderful year again breaking records - £127,609
2012 Another record and to date our best ever £117,064
2011 We broke records again with £110,759
2010 A new record - £104,000.
2009 £100,000 for the first time,
2008 £84,000
2007 £89,000.
2006 £68,000
2005 £66,000
2004 £63,000
2003 £53,000
2002 £37,000
2001 £35,000
Our Poppy Appeal organisers during the periods above were:
Vaughn Glynn (formerly Royal Marines) 2015- 2017
Dean Griffin (formerly Royal Logistic Corps) 2013 and 2014
Noel Clements (formerly Northamtonshire Regiment) 2011-2012
Colonel John Royal M.B.E., (formerly Royal Army Ordnance Corps) 1994-2010
Where the money raised goes
Our financial year runs from October to September with the majority of funds raised during the two weeks - Poppy fortnight - prior to Remembrance Sunday so 2014 is our latest campaign year.
This money is used both locally and nationally. This year our branch's 8 trained caseworkers helped many people in Northampton and wider afield.
The county RBL teams spent some £300k in helping our serving personnel, veterans and their dependents.
The RBL spends over £100m a year on its work
Locally our Poppy Appeal campaign is big and would not be as productive or well run without everyone of our volunteers (no member of the branch or anyone involved in our appeal locally is a salaried Legion employee).
Nationally how we help
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-support/
2023 where and who helps
We are once again collecting for the poppy appeal (26th Oct - 9 Nov 2023 ). During the time our appeal runs we have collecting tins and poppies located at some 600 locations (shops, offices, factories, schools, leisure centres, churches and community centres for example).
We also have points where we have collectors physically on site at various dates and times too: these include Tesco Mereway, Waitrose (Kingsthorpe & Wootton), Morrisons (Cattle Market & Kettering Road), Weston Favell, Grosvenor Centre, Market Square, B&Q, Sainsbury's (Weedon Rd), London Midland Northampton station (06:30-10:00 Fri , and The Saints.
Thank you to all our volunteer collectors, Delivery Drivers, and to the companies and organisations who allow us to collect on or by placing a box in their premises.
The image of the RBL and its collectors is sometimes seen as being one of World War Two veterans. Indeed we still have a couple of those wonderful people who help us, but we also have many members who have served in a wide number of conflicts and operations since 1945 to the present day.
Equally, we have many collectors who are not members of the RBL but who wish to help for a wide variety of reasons.
Perhaps none sums this up better than Ryan Renda (pictured below four years ago). Ryan continues to collect each year to remember his uncle Corporal Marc Birch who was killed on operations in Afghanistan in December 2008 aged 26.
Thank you for helping us to remember our fallen like Marc, and for enabling us to continue helping their families and our injured service personnel.
