Remembrance day: where to buy your poppy – or ‘bleuet’ – in france

IT HAS BECOME MORE DIFFICULT TO ORDER REMEMBRANCE POPPIES FROM THE UK DUE TO EU VAT CHANGES BUT YOU CAN BUY THEM IN FRANCE Every year, the Royal British Legion in France holds its annual

poppy appeal, setting out collection boxes nationwide. Poppy appeal donation tins and boxes will be on display in churches and shops, as well as some office buildings, in areas where each

regional branch of the Royal British Legion is operating. There are six branches across the country: Paris, Bordeaux & South-West France, Central Brittany, Lyon, Nice-Monaco, Nord/Pas De

Calais, and Somme. READ MORE: POPPY LADY OF FRANCE RECOGNISED WITH A NEW BIOGRAPHY IN ENGLISH POPPY REPRESENTS LOST LIVES IN ACTIVE SERVICE As well as selling the flowers, individual

branches also hold events to raise funds for the appeal. The Paris branch organises a coffee morning at the British ambassador’s residence, while the Nord/Pas-de-Calais branch holds

International Poppy Days, during which veteran associations collect together. People in France can no longer buy their poppies online from the UK due to high customs fees and local VAT

rates. French branches rely on selling physical poppies to raise money for the Royal British Legion. All proceeds from sales go to the Royal British Legion in the UK to support both serving

and retired soldiers, as well as their families. The poppy represents all those who lost their lives on active service, from the beginning of World War One to the present day. Read more: Why

can I no longer order Remembrance Day items to France from UK? POPPY APPEAL IS WORLDWIDE Elaine Dempster Baverstock, 60, who organises the poppy appeal for the Nice-Monaco branch, explained

how a small distribution team can cover a wide area. “Although we are Nice-Monaco, we stretch from Bordighera in Italy as far as Saint-Raphaël in the Var,” she said. This year’s Remembrance

commemorations will be especially poignant for the Nice-Monaco branch. After 30 years, Commander Michael Healey is stepping down as president. The 93-year-old, who has helped raise around

€250,000 for the UK-based charity, is to take a back seat. “He was always a familiar sight around the coast,” said Mrs Dempster Baverstock. She came to France from Birmingham in 1986 on

holiday and stayed. She became involved with the local branch of the Royal British Legion, founded in 1929, due to her husband’s interest, as well as having had several family members in the

armed forces. “My father-in-law was in the army and my stepson in the air force. Locally, the charity was always a big thing. “The poppy is not just for November, it is a massive worldwide

thing,” she said. “We’re always looking for new members of all ages, and places to put the poppies. If anybody is interested in having a box, we can definitely sort that out.” Find out more

about the Royal British Legion in France at RBLFRANCE.ORG CORNFLOWER OR BLEUET IS THE SYMBOL IN FRANCE The French equivalent of the poppy is the cornflower, or bleuet de France. They were

created by two nurses, using blue fabric that echoed the uniforms of young French soldiers, also known as bleuets by older men. The cornflowers first went on sale on November 11, 1934. They

can be bought around France and ONLINE. As well as being used to commemorate Remembrance Day, the cornflower is worn on May 8, the day marking the German surrender at the end of World War

Two, and July 14, or the _fête nationale_. Like the Royal British Legion’s poppy, money raised is used to take care of war and terrorism victims. RELATED ARTICLES BRITISH LEGION IN FRANCE

WIDENS REMIT AS POPPY APPEAL PICKS UP PACE BRITONS LAY CROSSES AT COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES IN SOUTH-WEST FRANCE FRENCH UNKNOWN SOLDIER AT ARC DE TRIOMPHE WAS ONE OF EIGHT