Poppy Day appeal

Many would not remember the horrors of war, the fear, hunger, disease and destruction but there are still many war victims around.

In a bid to ease the suffering of such victims, the money collected during this year's Poppy Day appeal will serve to provide those who served during the war and their family with financial and social assistance.

"Poppies were the only flower that grew easily on the battlefields. They're very delicate and only live for a short time, which is rather like the young men killed in battle," a spokesman for the Royal British Legion said.

The activity was originally inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who saw poppies growing beside the grave of a close friend who died in the Battle of Ypres in 1915.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place. And in the sky the larks still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved. And now we lie in Flanders Fields..."

The first activity took place in 1921.

The activity reaches its peak on Remembrance Day, the closest Sunday to November 11, which marks the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the signing of armistice in 1918, signalling the end of World War I.

The Royal British Legion can be contacted on 2123 6282.