A ROYAL Navy nurse and two veterans feature in the launch of this year’s Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
A series of photographic portraits reflecting the impact of COVID-19 on the Armed Forces community and the Poppy Appeal take centre stage.
One of the portraits is of Royal Navy Reservist Leading Naval Nurse Nicole Brown, 25, from Birmingham, who is training to become a paramedic with West Midlands Ambulance Service.
During the initial lockdown earlier in the year, Nicole and her cohort were out on the road supporting NHS frontline resources.
World War 2 veteran Bill Taylor who was on board the cruiser HMS Emerald defending the D-Day beaches, and is also featured in the launch images, said: “This year has been very tough having been unable to go out, meet with friends and mark significant anniversaries.
“However I admire those who have been on the front line dealing with this terrible virus day-to-day, they have shown the same sense of duty that my generation did during the Second World War, they are the ones now protecting our society.”
Bill, who has spent most of the year at his Essex home with his daughter Janet, added: “So although I won’t be able to march up to the local memorial this year to remember those we have lost, I will proudly observe the silence on my doorstep and wear my poppy, as I do every year, with pride.”
Fellow veteran Ken Judd, 97, served for five years in the Fleet Air Arm. He was based in West Africa and escorted ships, including the Queen Mary to the Far East. Ken has been a resident at the Royal British Legion’s Galanos House care home in Warwickshire for 13 years.
With some people unable to leave their homes as they normally would to find a poppy, and with many of the charity’s collectors unable to carry out face to face collections, the Legion is calling on the public to back the appeal like never before as it unveils a range of new ways for people to show their support remotely.
From donating poppies through the post for their neighbours and local community, displaying a poppy in their window, donating online or undertaking a virtual poppy run, the Legion has introduced a number of options for people to support the Poppy Appeal from home in line with Covid-19 restrictions.
Donations raised during this vital fundraising period are used to provide life-long support to serving and ex-serving members of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants.
More information on ways to support can be found at www.rbl.org.uk/poppyappeal
