‘I shall miss selling poppies but after 30 years, it is time to hand over to someone younger’

A woman is leaving her role as a town’s poppy appeal organiser after 30 years, with a mother and daughter duo taking over. Grace Knightall , 79, has been selling poppies for the Royal British Legion for over 50 years, and for 30 of them she has been doing it in Grantham . However, she is now leaving the role and Lynn McKinnon and her daughter Laura Booton will be taking over as lead and deputy lead organisers.

“Everything is on computers now in the legion and I have no intentions of learning about it - that’s why I thought it is time to give it to someone younger,” said Grace. Grace first joined the Royal British Legion when she was 17. She has since been involved in the poppy appeal, selling poppies in Cumbria, Newcastle and later Grantham.



Her husband, John Knightall , has also been involved within the Legion, having previously been chairman and president of the Grantham branch. She added: “I loved running the poppy stalls, especially at Wyndham Park. “Sometimes people just came down to see me and say hi! The park crowd has already asked me if I will be coming down to the stalls.

“All of the Grantham lot have helped me for many years and they have been great. “Everybody has been marvellous and they have looked after me. When I first started this I was a young woman with black hair.

“I shall miss it, but unfortunately time goes quick and these things happen. I can now sit back and relax.” New lead Lynn has been involved in the Grantham branch of the legion for several years.

She volunteered with the poppy appeal last year and decided she wanted to take on the challenge of lead. Laura applied for the deputy lead earlier this year after her mum was appointed. “It is a bigger project than we anticipated, but we can help each other out,” said Laura.

She added: “I am very honoured to take on the role and happy to support the charity. “The charity has helped our family, in particular my mum when my father passed away.” On working with her daughter, Lynn said: “Laura is wonderful.

“She works as a PA (personal assistant) so she has those organisational skills and she is really bossy, so she will keep me in line!” As they take on their new role, the pair wanted to thank Grace and John for their hard work over the years. Lynn said: “We could not step into John and Grace’s shoes. They have been wonderful.

“They have raised an incredible amount of money over the years and we will do our best!” This year’s poppy appeal begins on October 24. Laura and Lynn are seeking volunteers who want to help sell the poppies in Grantham for a few hours a day. Anyone who is interested in helping can contact Laura by email at laurajeanbooton@gmail.

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