00:00The Royal British Legion has been looking after the armed forces and their families
00:04for years and years and years. I can remember as a child my mother collecting for the poppy appeal,
00:09all of us were at school wearing poppies on our berets or on our coats or our school hats and
00:14things and it was just a symbol and it didn't really strike home to me exactly how important
00:19it was not only for the people who are still serving or have served but the families and being
00:25an army family, being a service family because I was also an army brat, I know exactly what it's for
00:31and I think it's completely wonderful and deserves all our support. It does so much good.
00:36Dame Joanna Lumley said she does not think the UK has spent enough on defence and encouraged the
00:42public to learn a skill that could be of use in the event of war. The 80 year old actress
00:47whose father
00:47served as a major in the 6th Gurkha Rifles was among the supporters for the Royal British Legion's
00:542026 poppy appeal which launched on Thursday. I think one of the best ways to support the
01:00veterans and to remember those who've given their lives or those who've given their families,
01:05offered their sons, their fathers, their uncles, brothers, so on, is to buy a poppy and to wear it
01:10with pride. I think it's the simplest message, buy a poppy, wear it with pride. It's nothing to do with
01:15celebrating warfare. Some people go oh no I'm anti-war and you go no this is anti-war, this is
01:19actually just
01:20for the bravery of people who are prepared to lay down their lives for us and to remember those who
01:25are still suffering the impact of having lost people and families who are struggling a bit,
01:30to show them the respect and love that was due to them. The Gurkhas have always been a huge part
01:34of my life because my father served the Gurkhas all his working life in the army. He was with them
01:39before the war, during war and after the war and he was chindled out in Burma in the grimest days
01:45of
01:45that of that Far Eastern war. But afterwards I mean the reason I was born in India and then
01:51travelled out and spent my childhood in Hong Kong and in what is now Malaysia in Balea during the
01:56time of the emergency is simply because we were following the regiment to wherever it went.
02:01And so I have a special place in my heart, always will have for the Gurkhas.
02:04At the moment the Royal British Legion is supporting 8,000 individuals. Last year we supported
02:1120,000 households which went to support people with accommodation, food, clothing and essential
02:22items. At the moment the Royal British Legion is supporting 8,000 individuals. Last year we supported
02:3020,000 households. It's a team of around £9 million which went to support people with accommodation,
02:38food, clothing and essential items. It's really important to wear your property, wear your property
02:45with pride, you know, because when people who are part of the armed forces community see people
02:50wearing that property, it means so much. It's very, very meaningful to see people wearing that property.
