Royal British Legion poppy-sellers have issued pleas for Britain’s youth to “step up and volunteer” after facing abuse and threats in the lead-up to Remembrance Day.
Volunteers across Britain have been forced to endure verbal bile while trying to fundraise for the country’s war dead.
And with sellers growing older, an urgent plea has been issued to youngsters to get involved to keep the campaign alive.
Youths have been told to step up over fears volunteers are finding it harder to spend weeks devoting their time to the RBL in the October-November weather.
Stuart Lees, 65, a Poppy Appeal coordinator in Ashbourne, warned of how his local branch had struggled to find volunteers, “particularly the street sellers”.
“We’re very fortunate we get help with the local cadets, they come out one weekend. We’ve got some stalwarts that do it every year, but there’s very few up and coming. Everybody’s busy working, that’s the problem,” he lamented to the Mail.
Penarth Poppy sellers said they faced abuse on the street
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PENARTH POPPY APPEAL“One or two of our regular collectors are getting quite elderly, and it’s becoming more of a challenge when they’ve got to stand out on the streets for a fortnight. It’s a long slog.”
Mr Lees’s team, which raised £32,000 in 2024, have also suffered abuse on the streets.
He said volunteers suffered a “bit of abuse every year” – but didn’t want to repeat exactly what was said.
“It’s a minority but some people don’t need room to moan. I think they just like to show their aggression at some people.”
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PICTURED: Serving military personnel hand out poppies and collect donations at the launch of the Royal British Legion’s annual London Poppy Day at Waterloo Station
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And John Dwyer, the president of the RBL’s Nantwich and District branch, has also urged youths to get involved.
He told the Mail that bringing in youngsters “would be brilliant” to support his “critical” cause – which raised £64,000 last year.
And in his plea to Gen Z, he said: “Please come and join us and be a part of this wonderful network supporting our military personnel.
“Military personnel do need that support. I would urge youngsters to think about joining us.”
The RBL’s Poppy Appeal is its largest source of income, though it also fundraises through legacies and donations.
In 2024, the British public raised more than £51million, while 40,000 volunteers handed out 40 million poppies.
Through and following the pandemic, donations slumped – with the record yearly total still 2018’s £55million, coinciding with the centenary of the end of the First World War.
PICTURED: Queen Camilla attaches the final poppy to complete a cascade of 10,000 poppies draping the church tower at St Bartholomew’s Church in Corsham, Wiltshire
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In 2025, the RBL says 54,000 Britons have come together to volunteer and fundraise in the street, with 30 million poppies handed out so far.
And in Derby, one local community group took matters into their own hands to flood the area with decorations.
Ali Davies-Marsh, of the Greener Littleover group, told GB News the idea came about after years of “excuses” as to why poppies were not used as decorations.
The 49-year-old NHS worker and local resident told Britain’s News Channel: “I felt like it was a year of excuses.
“I think last year really was the year where we went ‘You’ve just made too many promises. You can no longer use Covid or other things as excuses or reasons why this hasn’t been done.
“We had to take matters into our own hands because we got to September this year, and there was no suggestion that anything different was going to happen.”
“We are grateful for every donation made and every poppy worn and encourage people to wear their poppies as a personal message of thanks to our Armed Forces community,” a spokesman for the RBL said.
