Gloucestershire Poppy Appeal Update January 2014 Thank you Photograph above: Our 2013 launch at ARRC, Innsworth Barracks with serving soldiers from the ARRC, County Chairman Group Captain Anny Reid, the Military Wives Choir and Matt Cox from Gloucester Rugby with our Poppy Bus kindly branded with Poppy Appeal artwork by Stagecoach. Our final total for Gloucestershire’s Poppy Appeal 2012/13 is just under £731,000. A fantastic achievement for everyone involved in a difficult financial climate. The national final figure for last year’s Poppy Appeal was £36,301,828 and we are aiming to increase this to £37 million this year. Following all your hard work I am delighted to tell you that, so far for this year’s appeal, we have already raised £675,344.92 within Gloucestershire and nationally the Poppy Appeal total stands at £33,059,305 as of this morning - £911,861 ahead of the same point last year. During the first eight weeks of this new financial year (which started in October) our online Poppy Shop sold 90% of the previous year’s total income. We appreciate that a great deal of effort and dedication is needed to reach this magnificent result and our thanks go to all of you and your teams of volunteers. We also plan to hold our new Community Awards (previously known as the Lord Lieutenant’s Awards) in March this year, to thank the community for their support. We want this to include the cadets, as we did last year but we also want to extend this to other youth and community groups such as the Scouts, Church of the Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints who collected at a Supermarket for us throughout the Appeal and Stagecoach for the Poppy Bus. Unless we know who has helped, we don’t know who to thank, so can I please ask you to contact Nicole Mayall, completing the form attached to advise of local groups within your area who you feel we should invite to these awards? Unfortunately, we can’t invite everyone, but we will try our best! New 2014 Poppy Pin The new 2014 Poppy Pin is now in stock at Aylesford. If you would like some, please contact your Area Administrator, Mark Bishop at Aylesford on 01622 795 809 or e-mail him at [email protected]. Please be aware that these are currently only available in smaller quantities to cover events happening during the year. Large volumes will be available with your stock order for next year’s Poppy Appeal annual 2 week collection period. Annual Poppy Appeal Awards 2012/13 Each year four cups are presented at the Annual County Conference to the Poppy Appeal districts showing the largest growth from the previous year. Congratulations to this year’s four winners, thank you for the all your hard work to make your local Poppy Appeals so successful: Mitchell Cup - Small Branch with highest percentage increase on last year Mrs S Kiggins, Bibury & District Williams Cup - Medium Branch with highest percentage increase on last year Mr E Jones, Frampton Coterell Clee Shield - Large Branch with highest percentage increase on last year Mr R Tippett, Kingswood John Bracey Memorial Cup - PAO not supported by a Branch Lady S Davis, Oddington New Poppy Appeal Organisers Urgently Needed Each year following the annual Poppy Appeal, a number of Poppy Appeal Organisers decide to stand down. They have all given a huge amount of their time to increase collections in their local areas by finding new volunteers and opportunities to help raise funds and awareness for the work of the Royal British Legion. This means that we now have some posts available for new organisers to join the team and help us make a real difference. If you know of anyone living in or near these areas who may be happy to get involved please do pass their details on to Nicole Mayall, Community Fundraiser on 07919 881131 or email on [email protected]. The county is divided into just under 100 areas. We are looking for new organisers in the following areas: Andoversford, Cotswolds Slimbridge, Stroud Meysey Hampton, Cotswolds Iron Acton & Westerly, South Gloucestershire Newent, Forest of Dean Westerleigh & Wapley, South Gloucestershire Leigh, Apperley & Deerhurst, Tewkesbury Stroud, a deputy PAO is needed Poppy Appeal Statements of Accounts If you have not already done so, please return your Statement of Accounts as a matter of urgency, showing the break- down of how much money was raised in each of the categories, such as Street Collections, Static Points etc. As you may know, within one month of the collection taking place (i.e. mid December), we are required to provide Local Authorities with audited accounts stating how much money was raised for the Poppy Appeal within their administrative district. Poppy Appeal Improving Our Service to You - Online Survey Following the last appeal, Head Office staff at Aylesford are currently reviewing their service to see how they can make things easier for our Poppy Appeal Organisers. To enable them to focus on key areas we need your feedback and we have just been informed that the Poppy Appeal Online Survey will now be left open until the end of January. If you have not done so already, please go online and take part. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2013-Poppy-Appeal-Survey 2014 A Significant Year of Commemoration 2014 is a significant year of commemoration. The 6th June will be the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings and 2014 will also mark 100 years since the start of the First World War. The Royal British Legion will be looking to inform and educate people about the war. Our Head Office in London will be launching a new initiative called “Every Man Remembered” remembering every solider who lost their life during the war and homing in on their every day stories. The Government is planning a service of commemoration on the 4th August for Commonwealth leaders in Glasgow Cathedral, which will start the series of national events to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War. The government will also provide funding for 2 children and 1 teacher from every maintained school in Britain to visit battlefields on the western front to teach the children the scale of suffering inflicted by the war. It is then hoped that the children will research people from their communities who fought in the war, showing that we all have a connection with the conflict. The commemoration of the First World War will continue over the next 4 years, some of the key dates during this period are noted below for your reference: 4th August 2014: National services to mark 100th Anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany 25th April 2015: Events to mark commencement of Battle of Gallipoli 1st July 2016: Events to mark the first day of the Battle of the Somme 31st May – 1st June 2016: Events to mark the naval Battle of Jutland June - November 2017: Events to mark the Battle of Passchendaele (The Third Battle of Ypres) 08 August - 11 November 2018: The last 100 days from the commencement of the Battle of Amiens to the signing of the Compiègne Armistice on 11 November will be declared a period of national commemoration. 24th – 25th December 2014: Christmas truce football matches in Flanders. While the Christmas truce is not a part of the official Government agenda, we are likely to see significant activity surrounding it. The tragic events of 1914-1918 have left a deep imprint on the fabric of the nation. As the Custodian of Remembrance, the Legion will ensure that the centenary will be observed across the UK – the costs of sacrifice and the lessons learned in this dreadful conflict must not be forgotten. “The losses of World War I were felt in every town and village across the UK, as demonstrated by the monuments found in nearly every village green or churchyard. It is right and proper that the centenary has a strong local flavour.” Royal British Legion Director General Chris Simpkins We hope that the local communities will also want to get involved. Whether researching local history, the names of those on their local war memorial or holding a Honour Walk or Poppy Picnic. 14-18 Legacy Project Some of you may have had the opportunity to hear Peter Rowland, Head Teacher of Severn Vale School in Gloucester speak about this exciting new initiative at our Annual County Conference. The project will start here in Gloucestershire but with the aim of becoming a national project and raising £1 million for the Poppy Appeal. Based on the success of the G15’s support during our 90th year (15 secondary school based in Gloucester), it will focus on Secondary Schools, encouraging them to look in the past, at the First World War Conflict and relate to how people are still affected by conflict today. Whether this be through poetry in English lessons, researching the names on their local war memorial or watching the news, we then want them to help us make a difference and raise money for the Poppy Appeal in anyway they choose. We have put together two A-Z lists of fundraising suggestions aimed at schools, one “Enterprise A-Z”, for example seeing how they can grow a £1 and one “Physical Challenge A-Z”, for example taking part in obstacle courses or abseiling. We are hoping to launch this project in Gloucestershire in June, more details will follow. The Two Worlds of Charlie F on Tour The play The Two Worlds of Charlie F, which was first performed in January 2012 at two charity fund-raising evenings at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, will start a new UK tour in 2014, preceded by a two-week run at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada.