DRIVING rain meant the Woking Poppy Day proceedings had to take cover on Saturday, but the event was still a financial success for the borough’s annual remembrance appeal.

A ceremony and entertainment in Jubilee Square helped raised the profile of the borough’s Poppy Appeal, with £2,800 collected in and around the town centre during the event.

The wet weather on Saturday morning meant that members of Tracey Summerscales Dance Academy were unable to perform their displays in Jubilee Square. The remaining activities were transferred to the cover of Mercia Walk in the shopping centre.

Woking Poppy Appeal organiser John Stocker said he was delighted with the response of the public to the collectors, who included members of the Air Training Corps, Police Cadets and Sea Cadets.

“The cadets were a great help and very enthusiastic,” he said. “They collected a lot of money for the appeal, with the sea cadets doing particularly well at the railway station.”

The Poppy Day event was opened by the British Airways Marching Band and there were also performances by Oatlands Pipe Band and Alder Valley Brass Band. The Exhortation – We Will Remember Them – was read at 11am, followed by a minute’s silence.

The Remembrance Sunday event in Woking commences at 10.15am, when a parade of uniformed units and organisations will march from the HG Wells Centre to the War Memorial in Jubilee Square. The service starts at 10.35am, concluding with a two-minute silence at 11am and the laying of wreaths. Afterwards, the uniformed units and organisations will march past the dignitaries in Church Street East.

For the full story get the 7 November edition of the News & Mail