Poppy Appeal - Nov 2022

The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal 2022

The 2022 Poppy Appeal was launched on Saturday morning 29th October, in the Glades, Bromley by the Mayor of Bromley, Cnlr. Hannah Gray, whose generous support for the appeal is greatly appreciated. At the same time, the appeal was launched in a number of other locations throughout Beckenham and Bromley. 

As in previous years, the appeal is organized by Rotarian Bill Fairhall, on behalf of the Royal British Legion. This year, in addition to traditional paper poppies there is a selection of attractive badges and notebooks available. The appeal will end on Remembrance Sunday, 13th November.

Background  

Following the closure of the Beckenham branch of the Royal British Legion in 2004, the Rotary Club of Beckenham became involved with the annual poppy appeal. In the early years the club assisted the original volunteers, but in 2014 the club took over the full administration as well as providing many of the individual collectors.

Over the years, the range of products has increased to include the popular school boxes and enamel brooches, as well as the traditional wooden crosses, paper poppies and wreaths. As the range has increased, the club has arranged for additional collections on more sites and the amount collected each year has increased steadily, from £3,700 in 2004 to £60,000 in 2021.

The appeal this year

The Rotary Club of Beckenham has again taken on the task of collections in the Glades, Bromley and with help from local volunteers, they will be staffing the table for the duration of the appeal. All collections benefit from the use of card readers, which now play a significant role in accepting donations. 

The help of other local clubs has become increasingly valuable as the total work of the appeal has expanded. This year the Hayes branch of the British Legion is collecting in Bromley, the Rotary Club of Langley Park is collecting at Sainsburys in Beckenham and the Rotary Club of Bromley is collecting at Tesco in Bromley.

Saturday 5th Nov. 

A team of collectors attended a home fixture at Bromley Football Club. They received generous support from the crowd and the following note was received from the club,

"We just wanted to extend our sincere thanks for your help on Saturday. It really helped form a fantastic remembrance tribute, and everyone who represented you was a credit and should be very proud of themselves. We hope everyone enjoyed the experience. We’d love to work with you again next year, and if anything pops up in the meantime, we’d be most happy to collaborate."

Saturday 12th Nov.

The collection closed after two weeks and thanks to the efforts of the collectors and supporters involved in this years appeal, the total raised is in excess of £65,000 ... a new record.

And finally, as always, our thanks to the generous support of all the local residents, schools, clubs and businesses who made this possible.

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