DELIGHTED members of a Royal British Legion branch in Derby have seen a tenfold rise in donations to their Poppy Appeal in just eight years.

Generous passengers from Derby bus station helped the Chaddesden branch to collect £20,450 this year.

When branch secretary Irene Williamson was made Poppy Appeal organiser eight years ago, she remembers raising about £2,000.

By 2009, she was collecting £10,100 and, last year, £15,450 was raised for the campaign – a huge annual appeal for donations which go towards helping ex-servicemen and women and their families.

This year Mrs Williamson, 68, took poppies to venues across the city to raise cash, with the help of her daughters, Susan Bray and Erica Morley.

She said it was an "absolutely fantastic" total and that finding more places to leave her boxes of poppies might have been the reason for the increase.

Mrs Williamson, of Mayfield Road, Chaddesden, said: "It's marvellous we've managed to raise this much money, especially as it's not what we were expecting.

"With all the unemployment and difficult financial times, I didn't think we'd do that well but everyone seems really pleased with what we managed to achieve.

"We've seen a gradual build up in the amount of money we've been collecting but we've been doing the same things every year. I think being able to leave boxes in more places has certainly helped."

Mrs Williamson first joined the Royal British Legion 10 years ago – 12 months after her husband, Eric, 88, joined.

During the Second World War, he had served with the Royal Scots Greys, a cavalry regiment of the British Army until 1971.

Mrs Williamson said: "I have been with my husband for 48 years and I'm very proud of him.

"When I joined the Royal British Legion, I didn't have any inclination about what it was about but, now that I am involved, I really enjoy it. Two years after I joined, I was on holiday when they voted me into the position of secretary. I was then chosen to be Poppy Appeal organiser. I didn't know what I was doing but I soon got into it."

Mrs Williamson and her daughters said they visited parts of Chaddesden, the city centre and Pride Park with the poppies.

Venues included Derby's bus station, train station, cinemas and shops. Among places she left boxes was the London Road Community Hospital.

She began the campaign on October 24 and finished on November 14.

She said: "The main source of the money was definitely the bus station but, overall, we have taken thousands of poppies out with us."

The Chaddesden branch of the Royal British Legion was formed immediately after the end of the Second World War at a small property in Hillcrest Road. Five members attended the first meeting.

It now meets at the Chaddesden Park Social Club, in Nottingham Road, on the first Sunday of every month at 11am.

For more information, visit www.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/chaddesden.