00:00Well, firstly, most of my family have served in our armed forces.
00:05I think we live in a more dangerous time now than we have for 35 years.
00:11They've always been there when we need them.
00:13We don't often bump into them and see them.
00:15This is a great opportunity to go up.
00:17There'll be bans in most of the railway stations here in London.
00:21There'll be people, volunteers, selling poppies on the tube.
00:27So this year, we're particularly looking at not just serving personnel, veterans.
00:32We're looking at their families and the effects that being in the armed forces can have on the families.
00:39And that's the wives and the children.
00:41So are they serving personnel and volunteers?
00:44You may not see them on the streets every day, but they're actually protecting us as we speak 24-7.
00:49And they're prepping for whatever may come next.
00:52Donations from London Poppy Day and the Poppy Appeal raise funds to support the armed forces community,
00:59including serving personnel, veterans and their families throughout their lives.
01:04The campaign encourages the public to wear a poppy to send a personal message of thanks and recognition for those
01:10who have served.
01:11The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he is delighted to support the London Poppy Day as we mark the
01:1820th anniversary of this important event in our capital.
01:22I think we, as soldiers and Marines, we go out on the battlefield, we go out on the front line
01:30and we do what we need to do.
01:32And often the people behind us are families who support us, you know, and they are the unsung heroes in
01:39this entire thing,
01:40that they are constantly here for us. When they come back home, they are there to support, you know.
01:46So, indeed, I think there's a lot of focus should be placed on family.
01:51Yeah, so just come on down to a local station here in London or at the local supermarket at any
01:57time over the Poppy period.
01:59And just come and talk to people. Come and talk, have a chat, put a couple of quid in the
02:04bucket always helps.
02:06But if anything, just come and interact with the soldiers and just get to know them.
02:11And I saw the Marines abseiling Army-Navy and I said to my husband, I can get them to that
02:16Waterloo.
02:17To which he said I could not. Proof is in the pudding, right? You saw them abseiling.
02:21And we thought it was really poignant because Network Rail is so heavily involved in what we do on London
02:25Poppy Day,
02:26to have Network Rail veterans come and lay the wreaths, which is what you saw earlier.
02:29We did meet on London Poppy Day. That's how we met. And then a couple of years later, we got
02:33engaged on London Poppy Day.
02:34And now it's a family affair. My stepson Jack was somewhere a minute ago, our son Dylan, Jaden somewhere on
02:39the station.
02:41It's not often you get to be up close in person to a soldier. Come and do it.
02:44And I think when you wear a poppy, I really think that it's a very British way of saying thank
02:49you for your service.
02:50We're not very good at doing that in this country. And I think that that's what you take away from
02:54London Poppy Day.
02:55And from the Poppy Appeal generally, that it means something to everybody.
