Wear your poppy with pride as we remember Melton's fallen

Danny O’Brien took part in the official launch for the campaign on Saturday with fellow members of the Melton Mowbray branch of the Royal British Legion.

A short service of dedication was carried out in Memorial Gardens, where plaques and monuments pay tribute to fallen service personnel, in the grounds of Egerton Lodge.

Proceeds from sales of poppies, in shops, pubs, restaurants and stalls in Melton and surrounding villages, will go towards supporting serving and former members of the armed forces and their families.

Danny knows only too well the sacrifices men and women make when they serve in conflicts with the army, RAF or navy.

He told the Melton Times: “My grandfather fought the Japanese and helped build the Burma bridge in the Second World War, my dad was in the Royal Artillery, I served with the Royal Corps of Signals and my son is in the Coldstream Guards.

"It’s so important that we never forget what the services have done.

"We don’t have any left from the First World War and not many from the last world war but there have been other conflicts since and we lost people in those.

"I’ve been part of the legion for a long time, I’ve been involved with the remembrance parade for many years and I have to say the support Melton Mowbray people give to the appeal every year is like nowhere else I’ve seen.”

The annual Remembrance Sunday parade through Melton town centre takes place on the morning of Sunday November 13.

Participants, led by The Melton Band, will set off from the Chapel Street car park at 10.20am and will head down King Street, Sage Cross Street, Sherrard Street and Church Street to St Mary’s Parish Church, where a service of remembrance will be conducted.

The parade will re-form around 11.50am in Burton Street and will march down Leicester Street, saluting dignataries as they pass the dais in the Market Place, before heading to the Memorial Gardens, where wreaths will be laid in a small ceremony.