A STALWART poppy collector is calling on a new generation to take up the mantle after 30 years service.

Betty Williams, of Upton, says she is the last collector remaining in the town and wants to see younger people get involved.

And the Royal British Legion says the problem is widespread - and that fresh support is desperately needed to keep the vital work of the Poppy Appeal going.

Mrs Williams, 76, who is also an Upton town councillor, said: "I have been selling poppies for 30 years. I seem to be the only poppy collector left in Upton.

"Lots of the people who used to do it have been have passed on or they can't stand for that length of time. In the town years ago you used to have four or five out but these days there's nobody left to do it.

"I'd love to see the youngsters coming forward to remember. It's not just the Second World War, it's all conflicts."

Mrs Williams' father and husband both served in the military and were members of the Royal British Legion.

"My father was in the Somme when he was 17 and my husband was with the Household Cavalry in Cyprus.

"My dad was born in 1898 and signed up for the war in the summer of 1914 when he was 15.

"My husband went in when he was 21, after he did an apprenticeship in Worcester. He went straight to Cyprus on National Service," she said.

Mrs Williams took a year off from selling the poppies when her husband Tony died in 2012.

She left the Royal British Legion after her husband's death, but is still provided with a collection tray by them.

Mrs Williams will be selling poppies at the Cross, in Upton, today and tomorrow and says that she would dearly love to see more poppy collectors joining her out on the streets.

David Lowe, Royal British Legion area manager for the South West Midlands, said: "It is a problem. We need the next generation to take up the mantle.

"Many people have died and need to be remembered. We have this stigma of being an elderly charity of veterans with berets walking past the Cenotaph.

"I have been working for the legion for 15 years and have seen poppy collectors getting older and older, along with myself.

"It's important the youngsters come onboard."