Can you help make Hartlepool's Poppy appeal a record-breaker?

Now she is looking for help ahead of the town’s Remembrance services, to be held on Sunday, November 13.

“Last year we raised £50,000 just here in Hartlepool,” she said.

“That is the highest we have ever raised in the town, so it was great.

“Fingers crossed we can do even better this year.

“We try every year to raise a bit more.”

Sian already has a number of volunteers in place for collections over the next couple of weeks, but she is always on the look-out for extra help in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

“We are just about there,” she said.

“I would say we have got about 25 volunteers now, but the more the merrier.”

Sian took over the running of the Poppy Appeal in the town following the sudden death of her dad Ian in 2010.

Ian had been on a two-week holiday Spain, when he returned to his hotel room from the beach and collapsed.

He was just 62.

Running the appeal is very much a labour of love for Sian, who has now been in charge for as long as her dad was.

No-one is quite sure how Ian came to be the main man for the Poppy Appeal for Hartlepool, as he had never served as a member of the forces and so was not a member of the Royal British Legion.

“There were two old ladies who used to collect in the town for years and there came a time when they just couldn’t do it any more,” said Sian.