OVER the last few days thousands of Gwent residents have been paying their respects to those that have given their lives in times of conflict.

After Remembrance Sunday and as we approach Armistice Day on November 11, many people will be wearing their poppies with pride and taking a moment to pay tribute to the great sacrifices that previous generations have made to ensure not only our freedom, but our way of life.

As people have been kindly donating their money to the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal many will have been asking one simple question: just where does the money go?

Who does it benefit? How much are they getting every year?

Put simply, all net Poppy Appeal income raised goes into the Royal British Legion Benevolent Fund, and is made available to beneficiaries according to need, regardless of where they live, and includes beneficiaries who qualify overseas.

To find out who benefits and where the money goes to in Gwent I spoke to Mike Jones, who is the co-ordinator of Gwent Poppy Appeal, and Lynne Woodyatt, the Royal British Legion community fundraiser for south east and mid Wales.

The annual fundraising appeal was launched last month by schoolchildren from across Newport taking part in a ceremony at Duffryn High School, before record numbers took part in the Great Gwent Poppy Run a few days later.

Last week Mr Jones also took part in a sale of 456 handmade poppies, made in the traditional way before they were factory processed, from Gwent Police Cadets at the Asda supermarket in Spytty Park. A total of £467.84 was raised in aid of the poppy appeal.

The poppies had been made in memory of all the service personnel who lost their lives in the Afghanistan conflict.

“It’s important that we get the young generation involved and that they recognise the sacrifices people have made and that they carry on the Poppy Appeal,” said Mr Jones.

“They are the ones that will live on and take this forward.”

He added about where the money goes from the fundraising poppy appeal.

“It covers essential welfare and support for former servicemen and women 365 days a year.

“I was delighted that we exceeded our expectations of fundraising last year.

“I’m now hoping that we can build on that and improve next year.”

Lynne Woodyatt, who has helped orchestrate the fundraising across Gwent and south east Wales, said that the Royal British Legion did more than just support ex-servicemen and women, by investing in a wide range of other initiatives that would also benefit them.

“The Legion’s role remains as contemporary and as vital as it has ever been supporting today’s generation of Armed Forces families’ and veterans, whether living with an injury or illness, coping with bereavement or finding employment,” she said.

“However, the Legion does so much more, including funding research into blast injury studies, providing holidays at Legion owned seaside centres around the UK, delivering specialist dementia support, funding theatre recovery projects and working with partner charities in our Pop in Centres.

“As Custodian of Remembrance we ensure the memories of those who have fought and sacrificed in the British Armed Forces live on through the generations.”

Counting up the costs, she added: “We spend £10,000 every hour of every day in support of those who need us; this is equivalent to £240,000 per day or £1.6 million per week. The money raised through the Poppy Appeal goes directly to the Royal British Legions work providing through life support to anyone who is currently serving in the British Armed Forces, who has previously served, and their families. The poppy is a powerful symbol worn to commemorate the sacrifice and to show support to all those still serving and their loved ones.”

This all shows the importance of the poppy appeal in raising money to cover the cost of supporting all those that need it. But it doesn’t show how much is raised annually to cover the costs.

Last year was a bumper year for the Poppy Appeal in Gwent, with the total of £326,000 more than £45,000 higher than the previous year and a record for the county.

More than £1million was also raised across south east Wales, with the Royal British Legion beating its target of £41million as it marked the centenary of the start of the First World War.

But in recent years the amount raised across the Royal British Legion hasn’t always increased annually.

Figures released by the Royal British Legion showed that donations to the Poppy Appeal fell by £3.3million between 2011 and 2012, after more than half a decade of annual growth.

This came after a rise from £23.5million in 2005 to £42.8million in 2011.

But the following year the total raised fell to £39.5m, which included £36.9m from on-street collections.

Figures for 2013 show while the on-street collection figure had risen to £38.9m, it had still not reached the 2011 on-street amount of £40m, suggesting the overall figure, once other donations had been taken into consideration, had also remained lower.

In challenging economic times, with people trying to scrimp and save as much as they can, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone people chose not to donate to the annual fundraising appeal.

But Mr Jones, who has led the Gwent Poppy Appeal for around five years, said that he had always been well supported and that his hard work, through appeals through social media and more traditional platforms like that of the Argus, had always paid off.

“The public are very supportive of the Poppy Appeal. They recognise that we do a fantastic job in supporting our ex-service personnel who have given so much to our community,” he said.

The success of the annual poppy appeal relies hugely on the strength of its volunteers standing out in the rain in towns and cities across the UK, diligently handing out poppies in return for donations.

During this year’s Poppy Appeal 45 million poppies will be distributed by 350,000 dedicated volunteer collectors. The fundraising target for the Poppy Appeal 2015 is a record-breaking total of more than £41million.

Ms Woodyatt added: “The Royal British Legion’s vital work is entirely dependent on the public’s generous support and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for giving so generously and all the poppy organisers and volunteers that work so hard behind the scenes to make the Poppy Appeal what it is today.

“Our armed forces enjoy huge support from across our country, and for me it is a privilege to work on their behalf to deliver the RBL commitment to keep alive the memory of the fallen and to support the future of the living.

“Please give generously and wear your poppy with pride. Through our welfare work we help the armed forces, veterans and their families to live on to a more hopeful future.”

It’s interesting to look back at the history of the poppy and why it came to represent a symbol of remembrance. The poppy is red because of the natural colour of field poppies. It is described by the Royal British Legion as ‘a humble, neutral and universal symbol of Remembrance and hope’.

The poppy has become a powerful symbol worn to commemorate the sacrifice and to show support to all those still serving and their loved ones.

The first Poppy Day was held on November 11, 1921 – three years to the day after the 1918 Armistice.

Nine million poppies were sold in November 1921. The poppies sold out almost immediately and that first ever 'Poppy Appeal' raised over £106,000, a considerable amount of money at the time, equivalent today to £4.4million, which was used to help WW1 veterans with employment, housing etc.

Regardless of how much money is raised over the next few weeks, it’s clear to see that not a penny will be wasted in the pursuit of caring for those who need and deserve it the most.

To donate go to www.poppy.org.uk