Each year at the end of October and the beginning of November I devote two or three Saturday mornings to supporting our local RBL (Royal British Legion) with the annual poppy collecting in Royal Wootton Bassett (our nearly town). This is now my third year and each year along with some of the other cadets in our squadron we sell poppies in the high street, in the supermarket and man a RBL stand by the town hall.
Coming from a family with a long military association I feel that it is not only my duty but also my personal honour to spend a few hours reminding us all of what others gave for us and continue to do so through our armed forces. My mother was in the WRAC (Women’s Royal Army Corps) and my father was in the Royal Navy as a Royal Marine. My grandparents and great-grandparents also have associations with Army. My own goal hopefully is to one day join the RAF as well but even if I do not achieve that my respect and remembrance will continue. My second cousin served in the French army and we also have friends around the round serving in their national armed forces, we even currently live in married quarters surrounded by those that work on the local REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) base at MOD Lyneham.
This weekend just gone along with four other cadets I spent an enjoyable morning along with two RBL gentlemen on the first weekend for poopy collecting. Each year I meet so many interesting people and hear a range of stories while they stop to speak to us or pick up a poppy.
As well as supporting the poppy collecting each year I also support local homelessness charities and veteran homelessness charities. Each December as a family we do an annual sleep out in aid of Threshold Housing and it reminds us of just how lucky we actually are while also helping to support a worthy charity with their much needed work. You can read more about my volunteering and charity support in my blog but remember to catch up with all of my activities by regularly popping back to my website.