Up to 120 military personnel join Shrewsbury poppy fundraiser

The appeal raised £4.4m in the West Midlands last year

Up to 120 military personnel have gathered to collect money for the Royal British Legion's (RBL) poppy appeal.

They included 100 trainees from RAF Cosford who took part in the fundraiser in Shrewsbury.

Money generated with the appeal is being used to support serving and ex-serving personnel and their families.

Collectors included military veteran Paddy McCartney, who said the charity's recovery centre in Shropshire "helped me immensely with my life".

Mr McCartney, who is originally from west Belfast, served in the Royal Logistics Corps until 1996 after joining up eight years earlier.

Paddy McCartney was helped by the Battle Back recovery centre in Shropshire

He now lives in Newport, Shropshire, and has been a paramedic for 20 years, but wanted to help fundraise for the RBL after the support he got from the service.

"I had trouble with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder} - I didn't really know what I was doing and I was suffering with mental health," he said.

"The British Legion helped me along, just gave me a route to go down really."

Mr McCartney knew of the RBL's role in helping people from the armed forces, but had been unaware of the Battle Back centre, in nearby Lilleshall.

'Put everything in perspective'

The centre supports sick and injured personnel, offering sports and adventurous training activities and wellbeing courses.

"Along with attending counselling for my PTSD, the Battle Back centre was just amazing and really put everything I had been going through into perspective," he said.

The collection in Shrewsbury was the largest one-day collection in Shropshire, the charity said. It took place at various sites, including the train station and Market Square.

This year, a new plastic-free poppy is available that can be recycled.

Last year, the appeal raised £4.4m in the West Midlands.

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