Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Back in 2019 (in those carefree days pre-Covid), I set up my first campaign to raise money for RBL by selling crocheted poppies. My aim was to make 100 and raise £250. I ended up selling around 300 poppies and collecting £960.

I kept the same JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ShawlyKnot for the following two years but with Covid keeping most people put of the office, didn't do as well as I'd have liked. I've decided to start with a clean sheet to keep better track of this year's donations.

This year, I'm hoping to claw some of the Covid deficit back by making more poppies and improving the variety to encourage multi-buys.

I have made a handful of the standard poppy shape in other colours.

• Red poppy: Memorial to World War One and following conflicts
  
• Purple poppy: To remember animal victims of war
  
• Black poppy: Remembering African, black and Caribbean communities' contribution
  
• White poppy: Remembers people who died in conflict with a focus on an end to war
  

For extra variety, I've tried out some other patterns away from the standard 2-petal version. I've also made some from satin and organza which are pretty enough to be worn all year around.

I'm selling them at work with all proceeds to the Royal British Legion. £2.50 minimum donation for the standard and slightly smaller sized ones, £4 for the more organic looking crocheted ones (for the faff-factor!) and £5 for the satin/organza ones (danger money as these involved a lit candle and a hot glue gun and I'm still waiting for my fingerprints to grown back!)

My mascot bear has proved popular and although not intended for sale, I have made them to order @ £15 each with £12.50 of that going to the charity, the rest to cover bear-specific yarn , stuffing, eyes etc.

Button badges and handbag mirrors have been added for more variety along with some bought-in silver tone lapel badges from the RBL shop, marked up to make a reasonable donation amount.

Yarn, safety pins and time all given freely by myself as in previous years. I will however, take a small amount to cover the costs of button badge and mirror blanks, lapel badges and for the materials for the bears (with no profit made for myself).

This JustGiving page is set up for anyone who would prefer to pay by card/PayPal for their poppies (or just donate) and for me to pay in any cash donations so that there is visibility of how well the project is doing and that the money is going where it is intended.

This is just a short list of where your money could go:

£5 could:

• supply and fit grab rails for someone who has been injured
  
• help with travel costs to allow a family to visit a loved one in hospital
  
• help with travel costs to get to employment related training
  

£25 could help with:

• emergency accommodation in a hotel or bed-and-breakfast
  
• tuition fees for an online learning course for a veteran
  

£45 could provide:

• business attire for a job interview or new career

£50 could help with:

• food vouchers for a family facing financial hardship
  
• travel costs for a family to attend a break centre
  
• installation of a care phone, enabling vital telephone support for a vulnerable beneficiary
  

£135 could provide:

• temporary accommodation and food vouchers for a family facing financial hardship

£150 could provide:

• a household starter pack to help a family in a new home

£250 could provide:

• a veteran's license fee for Security Industry Authority (SIA) registration
  
• emergency funding to assist a Gurkha settling in the UK
  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.