Page Modified: 01 October 2004

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Remembrance

The Royal British Legion

The Royal British Legion is dedicated to the care and welfare of those who have served in the Armed Forces and their dependants. '18,000 people leave the Armed Forces annually'. [1] The Legion has more than 600,000 members and more than 4,500 branches in the UK and overseas. Some 13 million people in the UK are eligible to approach it for assistance. The minimum qualification for assistance is to have been in receipt of one days pay. (i.e. to have served in the Armed Forces for a minimum of one day). This eligibility criteria includes dependents. Additionally, there were at the last count some
        
   'The Poppy Appeal in 2001 was launched by the
                        pop group 'Hear Say'

1,800 veterans' organisations in UK. The poppy is the symbol of the Legion and is universally recognised in Britain as the symbol of remembrance. The appeal is launched every year for the purpose of raising funds for the charitable works of the Legion. These include: pensions advice, home and hospital visits, welfare grants, job retraining, small business guidance, loans and widows' visits to war graves. In the year 2000 £20.1M was raised by 300,000 poppy appeal sellers. In that year the Legion spent £43 million on its charitable works in the ex-Service community. The funds raised from the sale of the 36 million poppies and 98,000 wreaths that are sold by a network of volunteers in the weeks before Remembrance Sunday, go towards the charitable works of the Legion. Poppies are usually sold and worn from 1st November. They are not worn after Remembrance Sunday. In 2002 1,000 people were helped to visit war graves, over 300,000 calls for help were answered, 54,000 people were assisted with war pensions, 100,000 visits were made to the housebound and those in hospital and 5,000 people were helped with a stay in the Legion's homes. [2] The Royal British Legion Poppy Factory at Richmond employs many disabled people making poppies, wreaths and other items associated with the Poppy Appeal. More information can be found at www.poppy.org.uk

The Poppy Appeal in recent years

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