Buckfastleigh 2008
July 12th 13th
Celebrating
Torbay Poppy collection 10/11/2007
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Jenny contacted me at the beginning of
November to ask if I would take my lightweight down to Morrisons
supermarket on the 10/11/07 to help with the poppy appeal, I hadn’t
been asked before so was quite pleased, I was surprised to see 4
soldiers from the 29th commando regiment Royal Artillery
there with a Pinzgauer & field gun, besides several dedicated
veterans & the previous mentioned 4 there were 5 members of the
Devon MVT in attendance with 3 vehicles, my lightweight, Jenny &
Clive’s Norton & Melvins series Land Rover.
The field gun kept the attentions of young
lads while the older generations looked around the other vehicles, the
Norton gained a lot of interest from several veterans with a tale to
tell about riding one during their service, one of whom ended up going
over the handlebars of one but unfortunately I didn’t catch the full
story.
Mike & Ben Ford took the first stint in
the supermarket selling poppies, they couldn’t stay too long & had
to leave at about midday, Jenny took over & a while later I joined
her, there were several cash boxes filled on the day & we almost ran
out of poppies, during my stint with Jenny we topped the poppy box up
twice, we only did one day, the veterans had been there all week, what a
great job they do.
The thing that pleased me most this year is
the media attention towards our most recently lost servicemen &
veterans, for years the media has focused on veterans & lost service
personnel of the 2 world wars, we have lost servicemen almost every year
since the second world war & these men & women seem to get no
recognition, we have men & women serving out in Iraq &
Afghanistan risking their lives daily for the sake of peace, these are
the veterans of tomorrow, these are the people we should be thinking of
as well as remembering those that risked & gave their lives during
the 2 world wars & every conflict since.
Ian Chick
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