Christine is at the heart of flower power for the annual Poppy Appeal

Oct 26 2010 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

PAISLEY will be flooded with a sea of 100,000 poppies as the Royal British Legion gear up for this year’s Remembrance Sunday events.

And Paisley woman Christine Robertson is in charge of ordering and handing out the distinctive red lapel badges for the annual Poppy Appeal.

Christine, who has been a member of the Legion for 15 years, also sorts out around 60 wreaths for local organisations – including churches, the Girls’ Brigade, the Boys’ Brigade and the Scottish Ambulance Service – to lay at war memorials and cenotaphs.

The popular Poppy Appeal, run in Scotland through the Earl Haig Fund as Poppyscotland, raises cash to support current and former members of the Armed Forces.

Christine explained: “The appeal helps all the men and women at the Erskine veterans’ charity and it also helps the British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association.

“Blind ex-servicemen and women also benefit from the fundraising. Everything goes to the Armed Forces and we also now help the Gurkhas.

“We have volunteers from the ladies’ section and some men who drive to help get the poppies out there.

“The people of Renfrewshire are mostly very generous.

“If we have any poppies left over, we keep some of them because, sometimes, people like doing things such as putting them on coffins at funerals.”

Poppies will be on sale in the ASDA supermarket at the Phoenix Retail Park, in Paisley, from Monday, November 8 until Wednesday, November 10 and shoppers can also pick them up at The Paisley Centre on Friday, November 12.

In addition, a group of young Army Cadets will be out and about on the streets of Paisley on Saturday, November 13 to sell poppies.

Christine said: “Being able to sell poppies inside the ASDA store is a new thing for us and, if there is a good response to that, we hope to expand on this.

“It’s very good of ASDA to do this for us and they also have our collection tins in the store.

“When the cadets are out and about, there is a wee bit of competition between them to see who can sell the most poppies. It keeps them motivated and I have to say that it’s usually the girls who win!”

If your shop, school, business, office, sports club or bar would like to sell poppies this year, call Christine at the Comrades Club, in Renfrew Road, Paisley, on 0141 889 9281.

She can arrange for poppies and a collection tin to be dropped off, as well as making arrangements for the donations to be gathered in at a later date.