PEOPLE across Oxfordshire are today being urged to give generously and as the Royal British Legion launches its annual Poppy Appeal.

Community fundraiser for the RBL in Oxfordshire Mark Garwood said the 2016/2017 appeal raised a record-breaking amount of £626,732.27 but he hoped to beat that figure this year.

Mr Garwood said: “There has been a steady rise year-on-year over the past five years - it’s a phenomenal amount that is being raised by people in Oxfordshire and of course we would like it if they could do the same in 2017/2018.

“The money goes to veterans, injured servicemen and their families.

“Some Armed Forces personnel can suffer life-changing injuries in combat zones and the money raised by people buying poppies goes towards their rehabilitation.”

Starting today the RBL’s Poppy Appeal runs until Armistice Day on November 11, with Remembrance Day falling on Sunday, November 12.

County chairwoman of the RBL Lynda Atkins said the record amount raised demonstrated how much communities across Oxfordshire cared about the Armed Forces, with many of them living close to military bases including the Army’s Dalton Barracks in Abingdon and Vauxhall Barracks in Didcot and RAF bases RAF Benson and RAF Brize Norton.

Ms Atkins said: “People in Oxfordshire are amazingly generous when it comes to giving to the Poppy Appeal and I think that’s a reflection of the fact that many of them are living alongside forces families and consider them to be part of their community.”

Mr Garwood said boxes of poppies have now been sent to Poppy Appeal organisers so they can be distributed among hundreds of collectors.

Former RBL county chairman Jim Lewendon, from Girdlestone Road, Headington, will be raising funds again this year.

Mr Lewendon, 89, now chairman of the Marston branch of the RBL, said: “I have been selling poppies for 45 years and I have no intention of stopping yet.

“I probably raise about £1,000 a year - I will be there on November 4 at Carfax.

Terry Roper, from Headington, chairman of the Oxford branch of the Royal Green Jackets Association, who served in Afghanistan, said: “I will be wearing my poppy with pride - every penny people donate really helps.”