OBJECTIVE OF. £1600

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22073, 22 April 1937, Page 10

OBJECTIVE OF. £I6OO

POPPY DAY APPEAL TO-MORROW

HELP FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS

Held annually to raise funds for the relief .of distress among returned soldiers and their dependents, the Peppy Day street appeal will be made tomorrow by the Christchurch Returned Soldiers' Association. Last year an objective of £ISOO was set for the appeal, and generous public support gave a result slightly in excess of that sum. This year it is hoped to raise £I6OO. • From an early hour poppies, at Is each, will be on sale in the city streets. Approximately 35.000 poppies have been distributed for the appeal, representing many months of work by disabled returned soldiers. 1 Imported poppies were used for Poppy Day appeals for a number of years, but in 1931 it was decided to manufacture them in Christchurch, and since then the small group of disabled men has manufactured not only the city's quota but also many thousands for sale in other centres—the work keeping them engaged for the greater part of the year. The manufacture is done in the men's own homes. Numerous organisations assist the Returned Soldiers' Association in the Poppy Day appeal, and for years the association has had the active cooperation of members of many of the city's charitable and patriotic societies. Suburban committees of the central branch of the association make the appeal in their respective territories, arid senior pupils of secondary and primary schools have also given valuable aid in past years. More helpers are still needed, however, and the association would be grateful if those willing to act as poppy sellers would report "-to the association to-day, or to the headquarters of the sale, an upstair room in the City Council Chambers, in Manchester street, at 7 a.m. to-morrow. The first sellers will be on the street at 7 a.m., the effort being made to reach all classes of the city's workers on their way to shops, offices, or factories. Refreshments will be supplied collectors during the day, at the headquarters of the appeal. Many and varied are the calls for help which are answered by the Returned Soldiers* Association. Unemployed returned men are registered with the association, there are many with dependents who have a claim for assistance, and an increasing number of requests for aid from widows of returned soldiers who have not been able to attribute the death of their husbands to the effects of war service. All of the money received is spent on returned soldiers and their dependents, and the Poppy Day appeal has in the past been accepted by citizens as one of the most worthy of the year. The association is confident that public support will be at least as generous this year as in past years and that the increased objective set may be more than achieved.