This year’s Royston Poppy Appeal has been saved by generous members of the community, including 15 workers from the town’s biggest employer.
Appeal organiser Lorraine MacLeod put out a plea for volunteers to come forward as she was struggling to get enough people for the appeal to run - which the Crow ran on our front page on October 3.
READ MORE: Could you be a Royston Poppy Appeal volunteer?
Lorraine said: "We have had a number of volunteers call up to help the appeal with house-to-house and covering the shifts in Tesco, Morrisons and more.
"We've probably had around 20 newbies from the piece in the Crow - plus many employees from Johnson Matthey who are helping cover the table at Aldi.
Ms Foster, site community and liaison officer for Johnson Matthey, said: "When I read Lorraine's appeal in the Crow I was hoping we would be able to help, so am delighted to say that 15 JM staff have so far volunteered to get involved and support the collections at Aldi.
"Each permanent member of JM staff is given two days per year paid volunteering time - so this is a fantastic opportunity for us to work with our local community right on our doorstep, as well as raising funds for a very worthy cause.
"We will also be able to match fund the money that we collect, so please give generously! Our staff have really enjoyed their time too - so thanks to Lorraine and also to Aldi for making us so welcome.
"If there are other local charities who could like some volunteers to support their work please get in touch."
Lorraine has also announced she is stepping down from her role - having been involved with the appeal for seven years, and organiser for the last six.
She said: "Hopefully the newbies will be around next year to help prepare and organise - as a lot of time is spent preparing supermarkets rotas, making boxes, logging pot numbers and delivering everything. Counting just shops and businesses, that's 70 boxes to take round."
"We also had our statement from the last year come through the post on Saturday as the appeal runs from October to October annually, and we broke another record from the last year - we estimated it to be a little over £23,000 and the final total was £25,808, which is fantastic!
"I will miss doing it all and wish to say thank you very much to the community."
If you wish to get involved with the Royston Poppy Appeal, email roystonpoppyteam@gmail.com.
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