MR WHITE’S plea (letters, November 6) for a bumper Poppy Appeal falls on deaf ears where Wiltshire Council is concerned.

The official dates allowed for street collections this year were November 6 and 7. Wiltshire, and Bradford on Avon Council before them, have only ever allowed two days for street collections since it started some years ago.

I collect my poppies on October 24 and were it not for our local supermarket, would be sat at home twiddling my thumbs or writing letters to the Wiltshire Times.

For the past three years Budgens have allowed me and my volunteer helpers to stand outside their property from October 25, it being private land, and this year we started on the same day as the monthly Sunday market, which should boost our takings considerably. Please allow us at least a week.

However all is not gloom and doom. My lasting memory of this year’s campaign is the day I arrived at Budgens to find my pitch occupied by a beggar sat on the floor with a begging bowl at his feet.

“Cheek” I thought. The next minute he took all the coins from his bowl and put them in my collection box in exchange for a poppy. It made my day.

Gareth Jones, Church Street, Bradford on Avon