99th Garrison collects for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal - Saturday, 2nd November, 2013.

With the volunteers who man the Legion's display/merchandise table

The 99th Garrison has collected for the British Legion's Poppy Appeal at the Westfield Centre in Derby for the past four years or so now this has become a regular annual troop for us.

We were to be in armour from 10:30am and had agreed to meet outside Sainsburys at 09:30am.  On arrival we soon grouped up together and there was Darran, Emma, Jim, Simo, Barbara, Paul, Rhys, Ken, Andy, Dave [R] and Dave [McD].  We then reported to the British Legion desk and then to security who showed us to our room for the day and gave us a short induction.... a bit like a talk from cabin crew on planes... emergency exits are here, here and here etc.....

Emma cleaning Lord Vader's helmet.

We were a little late making our entrance and it was still quiet in the centre when we did but eventually it got busy.  We were based on the first floor as usual and close to the centralised eating area so it always gets busy around lunch time.  We arranged ourselves so that there was always two of us in armour stood by the Legion's display table and staff and the rest of us had to go to another area not too far away from them because if we stayed near to them we would cause too much of an obstruction in area right at the top of some escalators.

Troopers choosing their Christmas frock.

We broke for lunch ourselves at about 12:15pm and were back out at 1:30pm.  The Centre was really busy by this point and we were in demand for photos.  Lots of money was donated and in total we raised £541.47   We even had one gentleman give us £10 in return for a photograph of him arm wrestling one of the stormtroopers! :

Pretending to be mannequins in a shop window.

The Derby Evening Telegraph came to see us as well and took a photo of Lord Vader with a little girl.  I also got to see Claire and Debbie from work along with Alex and god friends Mark and Julie Busby ... who all were able to recognise it was me event with my scout armour on!

A lovely troop which I enjoy doing every year ... with pride.

With Gary - the Centre's security manager and his staff.

We finished at about 4:30pm and de-kitted for the obligatory post troop photo and then delivered our heavy collection pots back to the Legion for counting.

Huge thanks to Dave, Emma and Dave for crewing and to Jim, Ken, Andy, Simo, Paul and Rhys.  Also to Christine from the British Legion and their collectors and the staff and security at the Westfield.

Do Stormtroopers even wear watches?