Fundraisers are aiming to reach £100,000 for this year’s poppy appeal after it was launched in Stevenage at the weekend.

The town’s branch of the Royal British Legion is hoping to beat last year’s £93,000 collection while marking the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Organisers Pat and Richard Mott launched the appeal, which runs nationally, on Saturday.

Pat, 68, who has been involved with the organisation for six years, said: “It will be a lot of hard work to reach the total but we hope we will get there.

“People have been very generous already and I think that might have something do with the centenary.

“The money we raise goes to helping injured soldiers and their families, so it is important that we do it. And that costs of a lot , so we need to raise a lot of money.”

Pat said the pair had a lot of plans up their sleeves about how to reach their target, but were working hard on the poppy appeal at the moment.

She said: “It is the most important time and the time when we get the most donations.

“We have been quite lucky with volunteers this year and have plenty of people helping out.

“A lot of hard work goes into it, and I don’t think people realise that.”

Over the past few months Pat and Richard, also 68, have been organising collections, finding and assigning volunteers and working with supermarkets in Stevenage to find homes for collection boxes.

Pat said: “We should be able to do £100,000 this year.”

Last year £85,000 was raised in the run up to Remembrance Sunday, which this year takes place on Sunday, November 9.

The annual campaign runs every year from the end of October to Remembrance Sunday and was founded in 1921 to help those who had returned from the First World War.

This year the Royal British Legion aims to raise £40 million across the country.