On Tuesday, 13th October Cities of London and Westminster CF launched our annual Poppy Appeal – and your branch should get involved too! In this post I’ll detail the few easy steps you need to take in order to start collecting for our veterans, service personnel and their families.

Our appeal was endorsed by Gerald Howarth MP, Shadow Defence Minister for procurement and the Royal Air Force, and marks the start of our third year collecting. To date we’ve raised nearly £8,000 and hope to smash to £10,000 mark this season.

How to involve your branch:

1. The Royal British Legion operate the Poppy Appeal through a system akin to constituencies, with each area having a base of operations from which poppies and distributed to and which full collection tins are returned.The best way to involve your branch is firstly to call Legionline on 08457 725 725 (Mon to Fri, 10am – 4pm) and explain that you’re the from the local Conservative Future branch and would like to put your activists at the Legion’s disposal during the Poppy Appeal, asking to be put through to the local team in your region.
2. Once you’re spoken to your local team and explained that you have activists willing and eager to collect, and they’ve filled you in on how and where they can best use you, communicate with your CFers through the usual channels – email, facebook etc and ask them to volunteer for dates they can collect on. The appeal runs from October 24th to November 11th. In Westminster we aim to be out every weeknight after work for the commuter rush, and for longer sessions on weekends. Obviously, you tailor your collecting hours to what suits your area.
3. With your activists availability sorted you can communicate this back to the Legion, and work out the logistics of collecting Poppies and tins from the nearest depot. It’s a good idea to get these in advance as whilst not heavy they are bulky if you’ve got a team of any size to cater for!
4. All the collect tins are numbered so at the end of the Appeal the Legion will inform you how much each member of your team collected - liaise with your local Poppy centre as to how this works.
5. Email me at Conservative Future – edward.hallam@conservativefuture.com – to let us know your branch is participating, and in due course how much you’ve raised. Talk lots of photos and send those in too!If you need any help for further pointers then feel free to email in. And if you’re in central London and want to help us, contact me to volunteer your time on any weeknight or weekend from Oct 24 to Nov 11th.

The Poppy Appeal depends entirely on volunteers. I first got involved in 2007, after hearing that the 2006 Appeal had been 2000 collectors short in London alone. I’d always assumed such a noble and respected campaign would be fully signed up, but it’s not the case.

Getting involved with the Poppy Appeal is a great way for CF to use its resources to benefit others, whilst affirming our commitment to the military covenant.

Related posts:

1. London CF supports Poppy Appeal
2. Activists raise £9,500 for the Poppy Appeal
3. CF Newsletter – December