Wednesday 14 November

20 more tins counted tonight which had been collected in during the day and a couple delivered tonight.

Army cadets and schools left - the end is in sight!!!

Counted over £22,000 to date.

Tuesday 13 November

Another full day of counting and banking.

Twelve more tins coming in tomorrow then army cadets Thursday night and the schools on Friday - should be finished by Friday night.

Back to work tomorrow so night counting only now.

Glass of wine & off to bed my ears are ringing with the sound of the counting machine :)

Spitfire wreath

This year Lodge Hill in Abingdon requested a special wreath for their spitfire. This was made by Fabulous Flowers in Abingdon using altar poppies supplied by us.

What an amazing sight:

Monday 12 November

Went out today and collected over 100 tins and boxes today then four of us counted solidly for 7 hours whilst three other distributors dropped tins and boxes off.

Finished at 8.30pm - one glass of wine and asleep by 9.30!!

Ready to start again tomorrow as 60 tins lined up for counting!!

Friday 9 November

Busy couple of days at work...

Collected and re-issued tins for several shops

Visited a collector and topped up poppies

Collected tins and boxes from a collector who has finished

Arranged a collector for Sunday

All ready for Saturday rounds

Tuesday 6 November

£2570 banked today from the weekends collectors

Delivered boxes and tins to the Sea Cadets for next weekend

Had a request from a school that had run out of wristbands so arranged to have the last of the children's bands to them.

Only four days left until 11th

Monday 5 November

Delivered more poppy supplies on my way home to a collector who had run out.

Then counted 12 more full tins - £2500 ready to bank tomorrow - fabulous

Made up six new tins for the Sea Cadets, two for two other collectors and then made up another box and tin for Culham then zoomed over there to deliver it.

Ordered 200 altar poppies for a flower arrangement which is going on the Spitfire at Lodge Hill

Another fantastic day.

Saturday 4 November

Went out and about to see the sea cadets and army cadets today to deliver Special Saturday Poppies

Also collected full tins from one business and a collector / still to count ...

Went to tescos at 5.30 to see my late collector - not too cold:)

Went to the nags head tonight to have a few to chill out - fab place but please chain ur tin up :)))

Friday 2 November 2012

Had an enquiry from a florist today for 200 poppies for an arrangement - explained there are poppy number 2's which are silk but also altar poppies for flower arranging - am going to show them both tomorrow.

Filled up another empty box with supplies.

Sellers at Tescos seemed to have a good day today.

All ready for my Saturday rounds when I visit all my sellers out and about - I don't get the chance during the week so like to make sure all are happy and have everything they require.

Thursday 1 Nov 2012

Tins arrived plus 800 gift aid envelopes (only ordered 400) and 6000 poppies which I hadn't ordered - well all stocked up for next year!!

Popped into tescos to see one of my sellers who had had a busy day - she looked freezing so nipped into tescos and got her some gloves!!

Back to HQ and made 6 more tins up for one collector, 4 more for the sea cadets and counted another full tin and relabelled for another seller. Over £300 in his tin which is the largest amount this week.

Delivered new tins around Abingdon and then loaded car up with supplies for the weekend so can fill empty boxes on my travel.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Another busy day - some boxes replenished - 3 more tins counted another £668 to be banked.

Wet and wild drive to East Hendred to get emergency supply of wristbands and some enamel pins - yay got some.

Still no collecting tins tho - starting to get desperate now as people need them - let's hope they arrive tomorrow.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Chased enamel pins and collecting tins first thing this morning with Poppy HQ. The tins were sent this morning but they have finished all stocks of enamel pins and have not got any to fulfil my order. Bad news for Abingdon and the Poppy Appeal overall as this is 'lost' money for the appeal and unhappy public.

I contacted County branch and other organisers are now scrabbling around to try and get me remnants of their stock so that I can have some more.

Good news that the first bank was done of £1,141 today :)

Another seller did well in town and his box is now empty so poppy replenishment going to him tomorrow.

Answered lots of email queries about enamel pins & wristbands too (the RBl have some wristbands and will send me what they have).

The Organiser of Steventon came back to me and said she had some pins I could have so went there after work and collected them so will issue them to collectors.

The Organiser in West Hendred has some too and will pick them up when she is available.

Also ordered gift aid envelopes as last year the hymn at the Remembrance Sunday service wasn't long enough so the collection plate didn't get around everyone - this year there will be the option of putting a donation in an envelope and also getting gift aid on those donations from the service - the normal collection plate will also go around for those who wish to donate that way.

Ironically due to a mix up at Poppy HQ I have 800 of those in the post instead of 400 that I ordered.

Eagerly awaiting collecting tins as still have lots to make up for collectors going out next week.

Monday 29 October 2012

Been a busy three days - Saturday was the launch at Newbury races with a fly past & minutes silence as poppies rained down on the crowd from above.

Yesterday made up two new tins and boxes I received requests for - both new collection points.

Both army cadets and sea cadets out collecting today. The army cadets filled 9 tins and raised £942 in a day - simply amazing. Sea cadets tins coming in either tomorrow or Wednesday for counting and re-issuing. Another collector had been out yesterday and filled his tin so have counted that tonight too £288.54 brilliant - so first bank of the appeal taking place tomorrow :)

Got a request for a box in the bakery in town who had declined one a couple of years ago so were taken off the list - glad they have requested one again so made that box up too.

Still have no pins or tins that I ordered last Monday - starting to get a bit difficult now as tins start to fill as means counting and re-issuing every day.

Umpteen requests for enamel for enamel pins and as soon as they arrive I will distribute them - I promise.

All that and rather a busy day at work.....

Wednesday 24 October

The boxes for shippon and culham were delivered tonight after work and the southmoor boxes were collected

Only two collectors to deliver to tomorrow - awaiting one collector to contact me to collect their box and the barracks are due to collect thurs or fri then they are all on their merry way.

3 more days until launch day at Newbury racecourse

Tuesday 23 October

All the school boxes went out today. Also nearly filled up my collectors schedule thanks to Dalton Barracks providing soldiers for three days.

Got an enquiry about the cost of wristbands and crosses - all poppy items are for a donation.

The Sea Cadets received their boxes ready to start going out on the streets next week.

Already receiving feedback about lack of enamel pins - the RBL issue rationed quantities to each area so I do not put them in all 400 boxes just the ones for street and house to house sellers - it seems to be the fairest way to do it otherwise there would only be a maximum of 3 pins in each box.

I do the best I can with the stock I have

FINAL TOTAL

Received the final total for 2011 today - a whopping £35,299.55 - amazing

Monday 22 October

I was back in the office today (I work in Swindon as a Supplier Quality Engineer for a chemical company) after two weeks away travelling on business.

I managed to organise distribution of some of my collectors boxes, co-ordinated the collection of the boxes for the local barracks, ordered more enamel pins and tins as I've run out and catch up on my two weeks out!

Tonight two distributors collected their boxes so another 100 have gone.

Also arranged with the cadet forces times for delivery of their boxes this week. All boxes are to be out and delivered by Saturday 27 October.

Collectors boxes ready

Spent today getting 51 collectors boxes ready for cadet forces and other individual collectors around Abingdon

All going well until I ran out of enamel pins (only issued with rationed quantity) and collectors tins so an urgent call to HQ is required first thing tomorrow!

First delivery of poppies out

Town centre and certain areas out of town have poppies delivered today - the rest will start to be distributed on Monday by other fantastic volunteers

Poppy Sellers Wanted

Still recruiting for any willing volunteers who would like to be Poppy Sellers between 29 October - 10 November please email marycadogan@yahoo.co.uk

Limited Edition Sparkly Poppies

Had an amazing delivery today of 100 limited edition sparkly poppies made by my aunt - will sell these in town on 10 November only as I don't have enough to put in boxes

Boxes and tins labelled

After travelling on business at the start of the week I have now finished labelling all tins & boxes for the static areas (shops & businesses).

Still coordinating the Collectors so will do those boxes & tins in a week or so

Last box filling

I have some helpers coming around tonight to complete the poppy box filling. 200 paper poppies, 2 packs of pins, 20 silk poppies, 5 wooden crosses and this years guidance notes!!

School boxes - 300 stick on poppies some wristbands and notes

Mail Merge

Mail merge completed with all individual tin numbers allocated to the correct location and printed out twice - one for the side of the tin - one for the side of the poppy box

Last sunny weekend of the year - probably!!

Gone camping...

Large Boxes Filled

65 large boxes got filled tonight - all with roughly 350 paper poppies, 25 silk poppies, 5 car poppies and 5 wooden crosses - these are used in larger outlets and for some collectors.  The boxes which go out to collectors are added to on distribution as enamel pins, tax disk holders and car stickers are included.

Tin unique identifier

I've updated my spreadsheet tonight for all 345 tins with their new unique identifier - every year new seals are sent by poppy appeal HQ and each tin and box are given a seal number.

This spreadsheet is used to create labels on the side of the tin and box to ensure they are issued to the correct location.

It is also during the count as each individual tin is counted and the quantity entered into the spreadsheet.

Now to start filling some boxes with poppies!!

Final bank of 2011/2012

The final bank of 2011/2012 was done today of £313.12.

All systems go for 2012/2013!

Tin cleaning

Started to clean the tins - the label on the side which has the collecting tin reference and location have to be cleaned off and the seal removed ready for this years seal.  Every year there is a different colour and each seal has a unique number.  This number is also referenced on the box of poppies.              

I managed to do all of them in one night - one job done!! 

August Bank Holiday

All 350 blue Poppy Boxes and collecting tins that need to be filled with new poppies, crosses, pins, instructions were moved today - ready for cleaning and filling

Delivery

75 boxes of poppies were delivered today!!!! 

The Poppy Items and Stationary Items orders were placed today with a total of 36,000 ordinary poppies, 10,000 stick on poppies for schools, 4000 silk poppies (also known as Poppy 2), pins, wristbands and 2,000 enamel pins.

Funds banked up to 31 May 2012

Included in the pack was the banked Poppy Appeal monies for Abingdon and District up to and including 31 May 2012.  I should point out at this point that the end of the Poppy Appeal year is September so another statement will  be received when the year closes.

This year up until May 2012 Abingdon and District raised £34,132.51 which is a simply amazing total - Abingdon should be proud. 

Poppy Appeal Pack Received

I received the Poppy Appeal Information Pack for 2012 today.  Included in the pack is a letter explaining all the dates and also the order forms for both poppies and stationary items.