ANGER OVER POPPY APPEAL CASH THEFTS

POPPY Appeal thieves have been slammed as the ‘lowest of the low’ by organisers of Nuneaton’s proud collection.

There have now been two thefts of Poppy Appeal collection boxes in the past two weeks but Archie Smith, chair of the Nuneaton and Stockingford branch of the Royal British Legion, said that sadly it is becoming ‘commonplace’ now.

“These people are the lowest of the low stealing Poppy Appeal collection boxes,” he said.

“But it is commonplace now, last year we had a box stolen from the Methodist Church in Abbey Street and another one taken from St Nicolas Parish Church.

“I had heard about the thefts from the hairdressers in Nuneaton and Greggs in Bedworth, I don’t know why anyone would do this, we do not think a lot of these people. We hope that they are caught.”

But the sadness of the thefts is far outweighed by the generosity shown by people according to Mr Smith who said that they are on-course to beat the £56,000 total they collected last year.

“We have already banked £22,000, which puts us ahead of where we were last year,” he explained.

“The appeal continues until Saturday and we hope to be able to collect as much as possible.”

Another way in which residents have shown their support is to answer the appeal for volunteers. As previously reported, Mr Smith made a plea for people to help man the many stalls that the branch sets up across the town.

“It has been brilliant, we had people come forward and we now have enough for the stalls.”