Poppy Appeal gets underway at Newbury Armed Forces Day

Newbury Racecourse was the host for the Saturday event which also saw the official launch of the Berkshire Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal for 2014/15.
The Racecourse Newbury’s Chief Executive Julian Thick said: “It was great to see so many people from the local community turn out to support the wonderful and absolutely crucial work that our Armed Forces do every day."
The highlight of the day was the Army Free-fall Display Team “The Tigers” who parachuted onto the Racecourse before presenting a poppy wreath to the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire Mary Bayliss to kick off the year’s poppy appeal.
Following a short Remembrance ceremony Mrs Mary Bayliss then formally declared the Poppy Appeal open for business. Over £6,000 was raised for the Appeal on the day, and the racing got underway shortly before 2pm.
For more on this story and more photos pick up a copy of this week's Newbury Weekly News.