SHE has been selling poppies almost all of her life.

Every year Dionis MacNair MBE has joined an army of fundraisers who walk through their neighbourhoods raising millions for the Royal British Legion.

Now the charity has thanked her for almost 80 years of service.

The 85-year-old from the New Forest began selling poppies at seven-years-old alongside her mother Ruth (nee Dent).

Ruth, an artist and wife of a naval officer, had supported The Royal British Legion since it was launched in 1921 but began bringing Dionis with her after the family moved from Burley to Alverstoke in Gosport.

Dionis said: "We had only just moved in and my mother took me around poppy selling. It was a very good way of meeting the neighbours and as a result we had a wonderful free childhood without realising that people were keeping an eye on us.

"My mother was always involved in the Royal British Legion, right from the very beginning. I used to go around rattling the tin and she would have the tray. She was a poppy seller for the rest of her life and I gradually took over from her.

"On the whole people have been good and very generous when we have gone around selling poppies."

The family moved again to Malta and Gibralta, where Dionis's father Ian served in the Royal Navy during the war before they returned to Dionis's maternal grandmother's home in Burley where she still lives today.

Ian had trained alongside the then Princes Edward and Bertie, who went on to become Kings Edward VIII and George VI, at the Osborne Royal Naval college on the Isle of Wight and in the Second World War served as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to Admiral Sir Dudley North in Gibraltar.

Dionis was presented with an award and certificate by Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire Brigadier David Harrison JP DL recognising her work for the Royal British Legion.

During the 78 years since she first sold the paper flowers with her mother she has raised thousands for the charity which supports servicemen and women, veterans and their families.

Last year she joined hundreds of poppy sellers across Hampshire who raised more than £1,497,692 for the Royal British Legion.

But she said her work was not yet done and she would continue to support the Poppy Appeal.

The award comes after Dionis was presented with an MBE in 2010 for her services to the New Forest.

As well as being the first woman to be elected as a New Forest Verderer, she has also written a book about New Forest ponies and was secretary of the New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society for more than 30 years.