Defiant poppy sellers have vowed to man all London’s major stations in the face of intimidation as can reveal exactly where you can buy yours in the capital today.
Stalls were missing at Kings Cross, Euston, Victoria, London Bridge and other railway hubs this week despite it being days before Armistice Day.
The Royal British Legion has said today that they are ‘keen to get on with collecting’ and their merry band of volunteers feel the same, insisting that all stations will now be manned until November 11.
Tracy Cooper, 65, who has sold poppies in Paddington Station for 22 years, urged other poppy sellers to ‘go out and sell your poppy with pride’. Ms Cooper, who was selling poppies since 7.45am and will keep going until around 7pm, was helped by Nicky Veschiera, 60, and her friend Audrey, also 60.
In a motivational call to intimated volunteers, she told : ‘Don’t let anybody stop you. It’s a great cause and there are plenty of people around to help you. Sell poppies no matter what. Don’t give up. Don’t feel intimidated. Keep going. It’s a great cause and it helps the right people.’
Poppy sellers have told that they will be not be cowed by the threat of protests, although three out of four at St Pancras last night were wearing bodycams in case there is trouble.
SEE WHERE YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR POPPY BELOW
Tracy Cooper (right), 65, who has sold poppies in Paddington Station for 22 years, urged other poppy sellers to ‘go out and sell your poppy with pride’. She was helped by Nicky Veschiera, 60, (left) and her friend Audrey, also 60 (centre)
Priscilla Congreve (pictured), an 83-year-old poppy seller at Notting Hill Gate station, said that members of the public have come up to her and asked: ‘Are you okay?’ She said selling poppies was about ‘helping those wounded in the war’
Last weekend, a trio of poppy sellers at Charing Cross Station in London were surrounded by pro-Palestine protesters, preventing them selling poppies
Moranna Colvin, 77, (pictured) remained upbeat despite the threats to the safety of poppy sellers. She defiantly said: ‘We are not scared’
Will Hamilton was out selling poppies in an Oxfordshire Waitrose
The Cenotaph in Whitehall under police protection today ahead of Armistice Day events and protests by various groups including Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Many thanked people for their support as MPs urged Britons – and police officers – to wear poppies ‘with pride’ and in ‘solidarity’.
The RBL has said it is working closely with Network Rail, Transport for London, major supermarkets and the police to keep volunteers safe. They also spoke of safety measures but did not expand on those.
A spokesman said: ‘We have thousands of brilliant individuals who volunteer to collect donations for the Poppy Appeal each year, across cities, towns, villages and communities. We are reliant on the generous time these volunteers offer and we arrange Poppy Appeal collections as widely as possible but cannot provide volunteer cover at all locations throughout the whole appeal.
‘The safety of all Poppy Appeal volunteers is our number one priority. We have permission to collect at every location where Poppy Appeal volunteers are collecting, and assess those locations have measures in place to ensure the safety of our volunteers.’
visited rail stations across London where poppy sellers remained positive ahead of Armistice Day, which coincides with pro-Palestine protesters taking to the streets to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war for a fourth Saturday running
Also volunteering at Paddington Station was 66-year-old Ken who served in the army in Northern Ireland and the Falklands and has sold poppies for around 20 years.
Ken, whose father also served in North Africa with parts of the Indian army, pre-partition, told : ‘Anybody that goes around punching someone is a criminal.
‘Violence begets violence. Violence against anybody doesn’t work. [Selling poppies] promotes understanding. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand what the poppy is about.
‘It’s about helping people who have been affected by war. It is a thank you, really.
Addressing his fellow poppy sellers around the UK, he said: ‘Persevere. The majority of people are tolerant.’
At nearby High Street Kensington, Moranna Colvin, 77, remained upbeat despite the threats to the safety of poppy sellers.
She told : ‘It’s nothing but extraordinary generosity. Not at all [scared]. Maybe it’s because it’s enclosed [at High Street Kensington station]. We are on our own and we are not afraid. The generosity is just amazing.’
Priscilla Congreve, an 83-year-old poppy seller at Notting Hill Gate station said that members of the public have come up to her and asked: ‘Are you okay?’
She added: ‘The staff at this station are lovely. There’s always somebody at the gates.
‘I don’t understand why they should punch a poppy seller. It’s for helping those wounded in the war. I’m not going into central London tomorrow.’
Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey, left, joins Poppy Appeal organisers at King’s Cross last year. Right, this year, the same spot is unoccupied today but a poppy remains on the wall. understands there have been no poppy sellers there for three days
Liverpool Street station in 2021 (left) and (right) today, with no poppy sellers seen in the station at all by
A Royal British Legion band (left) in Henley on Thames and (right) in the same spot today
Mansion House Tube station, left in 2017, and right today
Olive Cooke selling poppies in Bristol Cathedral (left). After her death the spot was taken over by another volunteer but it is empty today (right)
Poppy sellers at Westminster Station in 2017, left. The same spot today, right
The irate woman hits out at the pensioner behind the stall – saying it is ‘not acceptable’ to the Catholic community for her to be selling the remembrance material
When visted poppy sellers at St Pancras station, volunteers revealed they had been told not to speak to press in the wake of reported attacks on their colleagues.
Some sellers were wearing body worn cameras but said they had been part of the uniform for 18 months.
One of the four said Royal British Legion, the charity behind the iconic poppies, were collecting ‘incidents’ and suggested reporters contact its press office.
She said: ‘Actually I’ve just been asked to wear this uniform.
‘I know the RBL have been collecting information about things that have been happening.
‘We’ve all been asked not to comment. [The body worn camera] has always been part of the uniform in this station.’
Commuters at nearby Kings Cross and Euston station claimed they had not seen poppy sellers in recent days.
Security and other railway staff claimed poppy sellers haven’t been inside King’s Cross station for three days.
One worker at Euston said: ‘I’ve not seen them all week.
‘They normally do it for four or five weeks, but this year they’ve only done it for one week.
‘Whether or not it’s for the protest, I don’t know. But if it is it’s really sad.’
Another member of staff at the information desk said he had struggled to find a place to buy his poppy.
At Kings Cross, a security officer said: ‘They’ve gone now [the poppy sellers]. They left three days ago.
‘I don’t know why, it’s done now.’
It comes as the American War Cemetery near Cambridge stepped up security ahead of its Veterans Day service tomorrow – after 70 graves were vandalised at the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tory MP Michael Fabricant told that he had spoken to people who are now ‘nervous’ about wearing a poppy.
He said: ‘I have been wearing my poppy with pride. Police and the general public should all wear poppies as in previous years to show solidarity with the normal, decent people in the UK. I noticed how relatively few people are wearing poppies this year. On asking, one told me he couldn’t find a poppy seller while another said he was nervous being seen in London with one due to the demonstrations’.
Conservative MP Bob Seely told : ‘I think millions of people up and down the country will be frankly, dismayed and appalled that a hard left rent a-mob seem to be intimidating Poppy sellers, many of whom are veterans doing their bit and taking a really important and valuable role in reminding us of the importance of Remembrance Sunday and the Remembrance weekend’.
A volunteer selling poppies in a Northern Ireland Tesco supermarket was filmed being verbally abused by a woman who asked repeatedly who gave her permission to sell ‘badges for murderers’. One veteran in Scotland claimed he was beaten up.