Olympian collects for Poppy Appeal

AN OLYMPIC gold medal rower is the Henley Poppy Appeal’s newest volunteer.

James Cracknell, 52, had his first shift for this year’s fundraising effort by taking donations outside Waitrose on Monday.

Mr Cracknell, who recently moved back to Henley, was asked by appeal organiser Richard Pinches if he could help.

He said: “I’ve been a member of the Royal British Legion before and I’ve done poppy appeals and some fundraising events so it was a no brainer. It’s just a fantastic organisation.

“It makes me proud to be British, just the response to Remembrance Day and people coming up to donate money and just listening to the struggles people have these days, to see the generosity that people have is really cool.

“There were plenty of donations today, it’s not a hard sell, you don’t have to be a good salesman to do it. The cause sells itself. The biggest challenge was that sometimes the wi-fi dropped out for the card reader. Huge thanks to everyone who has already donated, everyone has been really generous.”

Volunteers from the Henley branch of the Legion are also collecting at the train station, Tesco, off Reading Road, and in Market Place.