ORGANISERS are confident of a huge amount of support from Craven folk for the 2017 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

The total for last year in Skipton and Craven was just short of £33,900 and organiser for the area Jean Phillip is sure the drive will continue to be a success.

The 2017 appeal started on October 1, and there will be a 'poppy stall' set up in Skipton Town Hall from Monday, October 30, in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday on November 12.

It will open Monday to Saturday from 10.30am to 3.30pm, with the official launch on October 30 at 11am.

Jean Phillip said: "We always have a fantastic response from people throughout the Craven area, and I am sure it will be no different this year.

"Although we have tried to give a good coverage over the area, there may still be outlets who would like to support the appeal, and they should contact me as I would be happy to include them."

She added that any individual or organisation who has not yet ordered a wreath should contact her as soon as possible to arrange this.

She can be contacted on 07999 344545 or by e-mail at: jp.poppytle112@gmail.com

Cllr Stephen Place, chairman of Craven District Council, said: “To wear a poppy is to remember and honour those who sacrificed themselves to secure and protect our freedoms then, now, and in the future. In honouring them we must also accept an obligation they have handed to us. In May 1915, Canadian Doctor Lt.Col. John McCrae penned a now famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ and the last verse reads: ‘Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders field.’

“Here in Craven and throughout the nation we honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, and for generations yet to come, by catching and holding high that torch of hope and freedom. I know the people of Craven will again be generous in their support for the Poppy Appeal 2017.”