Poppy seller to be honoured at the age of 103

A WOMAN who devoted her life to selling poppies for wounded veterans is believed, at 103 years old, to be the oldest woman to receive a title in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Rosemary Powell has been awarded an MBE in recognition of her charitable services, having spent 97 years volunteering for the Royal British Legion.

She began helping her mother Evelyn sell poppies on Richmond Bridge, in south west London, for the Legion’s first Poppy Appeal in 1921, when she was just six. She continued selling poppies after moving into a nursing home in 2015.

“Collecting has kept me going all these years,” she said. “It has always been a very important cause for me. We did it in memory of those men who were killed, for their sacrifice.”

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. It’s great recognition for a lot of hard work.”

Akeela Ahmed, a community activist who campaigns for more Muslim women to take part in public life, is also to receive an MBE for her service to the community.

Mrs Ahmed said: “To receive an honour is so important, for migrants generally to be able to say we are here and we are as much a part of this country as anyone else and we are as proud as anyone else to be recognised.”

She is among the 10 per cent of honours recipients this year to come from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, about the same proportion as last year.

“My real hope is that they realise it doesn’t matter if you’re a woman of colour, you can have your achievement recognised and valued,” she added.

Mrs Ahmed, 39, founded an online forum called She Speaks, We Hear after becoming disenchanted with how Muslim women were portrayed in the media.