Support the Poppy Appeal

After the Armistice, and as Britain counted the terrible cost of what became known as the Great War, the red Flanders poppy was chosen as the symbol of not only of sacrifice and loss but also of renewal and resurgence.

Yesterday that symbol was once more at the centre of a ceremony at the Cenotaph in the Parade which signalled that it is again time to consider events which might be remote in time but still resonate in this modern world.

However, as the ceremony launched this year’s Poppy Appeal, speeches emphasised that although a war that is now the stuff of history remains a focal point and must never be forgotten, there are many reasons why raising money for veterans of the Armed Forces is still a highly relevant, worthwhile and necessary activity.

The last of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought in the first global war have now passed on, but servicemen and women who served the nation during the Second World War, in Korea, in Malaya, in the Falklands and in so many other places of strife are still with us.

And a great many of them are grateful for the support which they so deservedly receive from the Royal British Legion, the driving force behind the Poppy Appeal.

The Legion also plays a vital role in helping to support today’s servicemen and women who have seen action, and in too many cases suffered grievously, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wars involving mass mobilisation may, mercifully, be behind us, but our military are still called upon to fight on our behalf in actions that are small scale but nevertheless involve death and injury.

Each year in November, as we approach the 11th hour of the 11th day when, in 1918, the fighting stopped, we are invited to ‘wear the poppy with pride’. As well as doing just that, we must also give as generously as we are able to the Legion’s fund-raising campaign, safe in the knowledge that the money collected will be used to promote the welfare of men and women to whom we owe a deep debt of gratitude.