THIS year’s Poppy Appeal has had a boost from eight new recruits who will sell poppies.

The new volunteers are members of the Combined Cadet Force, all of whom are in the sixth form at the Bournemouth School for boys in East Way.

Head Dr Dorian Lewis said he is proud of his students, who are making the most of their free periods to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

“We have a long tradition here of supporting the Poppy Appeal,” he said. “On Friday, we will hold a remembrance service in the school to which we invite some of our old students.

“We have a World War One and a World War Two memorial, and we’ll lay poppy wreaths by those, and then we have the Last Post at 11am before the school falls silent for two minutes.

“I think it’s one of the best things we do as a school.”

This week, the school was visited by Tony Garland, who organises the Poppy Appeal in Charminster and Castlepoint with Kevin Conroy.

He handed out hundreds of poppies to his new volunteers, and said he is delighted they will join the appeal this year.

“We have some fantastic volunteers. We’re very happy to have these young men selling poppies.”

Dr Lewis said: “The boys looked at their timetables and noted when they have non-contact periods.

“Then they organised to go out to sell poppies during those times.

“They’ll even be doing some hours after school, so they will be working hard to raise money for such a wonderful cause.

“They’re super lads, and the school is very proud of them”