SHOPPERS fell silent as thousands of paper poppies spiralled down from the top of Worcester’s Guildhall to mark the start of the Royal British Legion poppy appeal.

The city’s High Street was suddenly still as children and adults joined together for two minutes’ silence as the clock struck noon.

Standard bearers, cadets, and RBL members watched as the flowers rained down the historic building, and a bugle player sounded the Last Post to signal the county’s poppy appeal would soon be underway.

Speaking before Saturday’s launch Jeff King, RBL county chairman, said: “I know the people of Worcestershire will be very generous.”

Last year, nearly £441,000 was raised in the county and the majority of that money went to those entitled to assistance in Worcestershire.

This year’s appeal in the county will help support the wounded and bereaved from the conflict in Afghanistan.The county tragically lost three soldiers over there this summer, including Worcester’s Private Jason Williams, of Sunnyside Road, Barbourne. The 23-year-old serving with 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters) died a hero while trying to rescue an Afghan commrade.

National organisers hope the appeal, which has the motto “For their sake, wear a poppy”, will not only equal but surpass last year’s record total of £30 million.

The RBL currently spends more than £1 million a week on its work to help more than 130,000 other members of the Armed Forces’ “family”, such as veterans, dependents and the bereaved.

This year, it hopes to extend its reach to more than 160,000 beneficiaries.

To help launch the appeal, one of the country’s most active fund-raising groups, the RBL riders’ branch, parked their motorbikes outside the Guildhall in a bid to attract the attention of shoppers and passersby.

However, it was the short but moving service that really grabbed the gaze of the young and the old.

Second World War veteran Bob Callow, of Claines, Worcester, representing the Royal Navy, emotionally read out the exhortation before the two minutes’ silence.

That, in turn, was broken by Fred Young, of Offenham, near Evesham, who read out the Kohima Epitaph.

For more information on the poppy appeal or to volunteer as a poppy seller, visit worcestershire.britishleg ion.org.uk online or drop into your local branch.