AIn the past nine years the sales in Dumfries have raised £190,000 to benefit struggling ex-servicemen and families. And now with Remembrance Day just ahead, the work of preparing and selling the emblems is already under way but the number of people coming forward to help is steadily falling.
Retired major Willie Turner says: “The activists are getting a bit short on the ground because they are getting older so we need new blood to man the store in the Loreburn Centre and more people to help us put the cans out and get them back in again. Anybody who wants to help us is most welcome – you don’t have to be an old soldier or an old airman or sailor or widow. The money is used to help veterans and widows who have fallen on hard times whether medical, lack of money, needing a home, many things and it is very much appreciated.”
And he cautioned: “I suspect it’s going to be needed even more in the future when the problems following Afghanistan and Iraq surface.”
Anyone wanting to help can contact the poppy stand at the Loreburn Centre.
