Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal

Sunday 25 October through to Armistice 1918 on Wednesday 11 November

First time in France: This year the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal is providing free delivery of an envelope of poppies to any small group organiser in France, so that as many British and Allied people as may wish, can have a poppy to wear during Remembrancetide. 

Wednesday 11 November is the 91st Anniversary of the Armistice of 1918 which ended the slaughter of the First World War, and is celebrated in France as a Public Holiday.  The sacrifices of the French "poilus"  and of their comrades-in-arms from many countries are faithfully commemorated then in every town and village (British residents always welcome to turn up in support), because we owe our present peace, stability and prosperity to them and their successors in the many wars since. 

2009 also saw the 65th Anniversaries of the Landings in Normandy and in the Var which led to the Liberation of occupied France. The current efforts by Allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are constantly in our minds, and usually get a bad press from the sensation media.  But, for world peace, they must not be abandoned, but rather strengthened; and we must also be ready for future conflicts – as Plato (may have) wisely said: "Only the dead have seen the end of war".         

The British "Remembrance Sunday"  (8 November) three days earlier marks the end of the fortnight's Poppy Appeal to raise funds (over €8,000 sent to London in 2008 by Royal British Legion Nice-Monaco branch) for the care of wounded and aged ex-Servicemen and –women and their needy dependents.  Anglican churches in France will hold Remembrance Day services including the famous Two-Minute-Silence, and the plate collection is usually given to the Poppy Appeal.

Collection boxes with the trays of the famous artificial "poppies" made in the RBL's poppy factory in Richmond are in place in British shops, banks, bars  and offices where a branch of the Legion exists – please give generously and wear your Poppy proudly.  

How to get poppies in your area:

The RBL is sending a simple envelope of poppies to groups who ask, in French regions where there is no British Legion and therefore no official poppy sellers, collecting tins or trays. 

Apply for your coquelicots or for more information to:

• The Chairman of the Royal British Legion
  Nice-Monaco branch: Commander Michael Healy MBE
  10 rue Jean Bracco
  06310 Beaulieu-sur-Mer
• Tel: 04 93 01 30 00
  Fax: 04 93 01 30 01
• email
• Website

At least this will result in more people wearing poppies to show solidarity with our Servicemen, and it may bring in more (French) cheques for the Appeal - payable to Royal British Legion -no cash please).  

 The Royal British Legion France
www.rblfrance.org

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' fields.  
(Dr John McCrae, Canadian Army, France, 1915)