THEALE'S Poppy Appeal organiser has retired after 26 years of volunteering in the village.
Lionel Voke, 75, from Aborfield, has been Theale's Poppy Appeal organiser for 26 years and decided to retire from the role last year.
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He started organising the village's Poppy Appeal in 1993 after taking over from his predecessor — however his journey with the Royal British Legion started long before then.
The former member of the RAF became a Poppy Appeal collector in 1979 after leaving the Airforce in 1968.
In this role, he would visit people's houses, shops, pubs and schools selling poppies for Remembrance Sunday held in November each year.
The money raised would go to the Royal British Legion — an armed forces charity —who provide lifelong support to serving and ex-serving personnel and their families.
In 1993 Mr Voke became the Poppy Appeal organiser for Theale where he lived until 1999.
Each year, he was responsible for organising the Poppy Appeal which runs during the two weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday.
The role includes ordering poppies to be delivered, sorting these when they arrive and delivering poppies and collection boxes to various organisations such as schools, pubs and shops.
After Remembrance Sunday the boxes are then collected, the money counted and banked.
Despite retiring from the "rewarding" role, Mr Voke said he will still be involved in selling the poppies.
He revealed he has stood on Theale high street every Saturday before Remembrance Sunday since 1979.
He said: “It’s sad to give it up but I feel the time is right.”
There is now a space available for a Poppy Appeal organiser in Theale and Mr Voke said he would be "more than happy" to give them advice on the role.
He added he will "support the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal until the day I die".
To find out more about the Poppy Appeal organiser role, contact Sarah Brown on sbrown3@britishlegion.org.uk.
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