VETERANS and poppy appeal organisers teamed up with the Regal cinema to raise more than £1,300 for the 2018 appeal.
Regal bosses organised a World War Two themed weekend to coincide with the screening of the blockbuster wartime movie Dunkirk and enlisted the town’s British Legion help.
As a result, memorabilia from both World Wars was on show during the event which saw Poppy Appeal organiser Fiona George and her friend, Lianne Chandler collect donations from audiences.
President of the Evesham branch, Jeff Kind told the Observer he was honoured to have been asked to help.
“I was pleased to say I had quite a lot to jog the memory of any ex-serviceman or woman. I started this collection some 15 to 20 years ago when I tried to discover information on the service life of Acting Captain, Cecil Knight-Coutts of the Royal Field Artillery, during the First World War.
“On discharge from the Army, he became the science teacher at Bengeworth School where his wife was headteacher.
“I could not enlarge a great deal on this as having written to Bengeworth School and the Fire Service, no responses were received.
However, while these items were on display, the exhibit on Cecil was the main topic of information,” he added.
“We were all delighted to hear the audiences had made the fantastic donation of £1,349 which is credited to Fiona’s fund-raising for the Poppy Appeal 2018.
“So this now gives her a good start for the new appeal year.
“We are really grateful to Laura and her staff at the Regal for all of their help and the welcome we had from a very well-mannered group of young people,” he added.
