POPPY SELLER’S CENTURY OF SERVICE
BRITAIN’S longest- serving poppy seller has been awarded an MBE as she prepares to retire aged 103.
Rosemary Powell said she was ‘over the moon’ at being recognised for a remarkable 97 years of collecting for the Poppy Appeal.
She first helped her mother sell poppies on Richmond Bridge, west London, for the Royal British Legion’s inaugural appeal in 1921.
The great-grandmother, from London, plans to hand over to a new generation of fundraisers – because she is ‘getting old’. Mrs Powell’s family said her years of work were inspired by the loss she suffered in the two world wars.
She lost two godfathers and three uncles during the First World War. Her first fiance and younger brother died in the Second.
Her son Giles said: ‘The MBE is a tremendous reward for years and years of hard work and loyalty. Mum is absolutely over the moon.’
Mrs Powell said: ‘It is very nice that I have been given this. I still vividly remember selling poppies on Richmond Bridge with my mother.’ Charles Byrne, of the RBL, said: ‘Rosemary’s incredible long-serving support of the Legion has literally helped thousands of Armed Forces personnel, veterans and families.’
She headed up scores of unsung heroes rewarded in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list, including Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott, who was knighted for services to Holocaust remembrance. Mike Haines, brother of aid worker David, who was beheaded by Islamic State extremists, was awarded an OBE for his work against terrorism.