OREANDA-NEWS. Leeds Poppy Day takes place on Wednesday, 9 November and volunteers will be collecting donations from passengers and visitors to the station throughout the day to raise money to provide lifelong support for the Armed Forces Community. Last year, over ?4,800 was raised through donations at Leeds station.

The railway industry is further supporting the event by providing free travel into the city for volunteer collectors. Fundraisers are able to travel for free on Leeds Poppy Day, as well as the days either side, guaranteeing that they can make collections for the whole day.

Volunteers will also be collecting funds at other stations which are managed by Network Rail in London, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham.

Vinny Burke, Network Rail’s Leeds station manager said: "Network Rail has a long tradition of supporting the armed forces, both in employing ex-service personnel and supporting the work of the Legion. Passengers and station visitors have always made a generous contribution to the Poppy Appeal and we are pleased to host volunteer collectors in Leeds Station once again to continue this custom.”

Amos Farrington served in the RAF and now works as a telecoms technician for Network Rail. Like many of his ex-service colleagues at Network Rail, Amos will be supporting the work of the Legion on Poppy Day. He said: “I served in both the first Gulf war and Northern Ireland before the end of The Troubles and have seen the effects conflicts can have on people.

“Poppy Day is a time of remembrance for the fallen and the injured. I was honoured to serve my country and am proud that I now work for an organisation that actively supports the work of the Legion and values the contribution that the members of the armed services make.”

 

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain's railway - the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.65bn journeys by rail every year and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We employ 36,000 people across Britain and work round-the-clock, each and every day, to provide a safe, reliable railway.