THOUSANDS of paper poppies will fall on Worcester’s High Street to mark the start of the Royal British Legion’s 2008 Poppy Appeal.

At noon on Saturday, October 25, red poppies will be dropped from the roof of Worcester’s Guildhall to encourage people to support the armed services by wearing a poppy.

Second World War veterans from Worcestershire will attend the launch, which RBL hopes will become an annual event.

County manager for RBL Worcestershire Martin McAleese said: “The Poppy Appeal focuses everybody’s minds and last year raised £30 million, which was just incredible.

“In Worcestershire we raised more than we’d hoped and that was probably to do with troops in Afghanistan and what’s going on today.

“The launch is a lovely, high-profile way to tell people the appeal has started and that poppies are on sale.”

Veterans who attend the event will be joined by cadets, standard bearers and RBL members. There will also be a two-minute silence and the Last Post bugle call.

This Remembrance Day – Tuesday, November 11 – will be the first without legion stalwart John Hewlett, known as Jack, who died in February. Until ill- heath stopped him, Mr Hewlett attended every remembrance service in the city for over 40 years.

For more information about the RBL locally visit britishlegion. org.uk or call 08457 725725.

POPPY APPEAL FACTS:

  • The first Poppy Day was held in Britain on November 11, 1921, inspired by the poem In Flanders' Fields by John McCrae.
  • The annual RBL Poppy Appeal is now a national institution and, in 2007, raised almost £30 million for past and present service men and women.
  • The poppies are worn in the run up to Remembrance Day on November 11 as a way to remember those who died in war.
  • More than 30 million artificial poppies are made at the Poppy Factory in Richmond, Surrey, each year.
  • More than 300,000 staff and volunteers help organise the annual appeal.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: TWO-MINUTE SILENCE WILL BE AT THE WAR MEMORIAL

FALLEN servicemen and women will be remembered with a two-minute silence at Worcester’s war memorial this year.
Previously the Remembrance Sunday silence was observed in the cathedral, but it is hoped more people will join in by changing the location to the outdoor memorial.
Worcester’s Mayor Lucy Hodgson said: “We decided to observe the silence outside at the war memorial to encourage as many people to observe it with us.
“We also hope residents will join in with the prayers and hymns following the silence.”
The public cathedral service remembering all British and Commonwealth personnel killed in conflict starts at 9.45am on Sunday, November 9, and will last until 10.20am, with lessons read by both the mayor and lord lieutenant. A wreath-laying and silence will follow outside and there will be a short remembrance service with hymns after 11am, followed by a march-past at the Guildhall.
The Royal British Legion, veterans, the Territorial Army, Royal Navy, British Army and RAF cadets, St John Ambulance, the Red Cross and the city’s Scouts and Guides are among the organisations taking part.
City centre road closures will be in force during the service and march-past with further closures for the 11am service on Tuesday, November 11.
l THE traditional Royal British Legion Remembrance Sunday parade and service will be held in Malvern on Sunday, November 9.
The parade along Graham Road to the war memorial at Malvern Library Forecourt will start at 2.20pm and the ceremony will include a hymn, prayers, the wreath laying, the Last Post, two-minute silence, reveille and a blessing.
The parade will then move in to Priory Church for a service starting at 3pm and following that the parade will march along Church Street and Graham Road, where chairman of Malvern Town Council Caroline Bovey will take the salute.
There will be a second ceremony on Tuesday, November 11 – Armistice Day – at the war memorial in the Malvern Library grounds at 10.45am where crosses will be planted and a two- minute silence will be observed at 11am.