FUNDRAISERS last night thanked YOU – the people of Oxfordshire – for helping raise more than £500,000 for ex-servicemen during last year’s Poppy Appeal.

Donations beat the total for 2008. And the Royal British Legion said the county raised £540,871.65, topping the £535,881.43 collected in 2008.

RBL county chairman Mike Henderson said it was the second highest total collected in Oxfordshire.

Mr Henderson, 62, said: “We’re ecstatic, because we didn’t think we would beat last year’s figure, what with everything that has been going on. money has been very tight.

“This is a tribute to all the volunteers who stood out in the cold collecting and to all those who gave money.”

More money was banked in 2007, but only due to one single donation of £100,000.

Mr Henderson said: “The people we collect from might not necessarily know anyone in the forces, but often they have a friend of a friend who is in Afghanistan.

“The repatriations, with people outside the John Radcliffe Hospital paying their respects, also brings it home to a lot of people.

“In Oxfordshire we have noticed that younger people, especially between 18 and 25, who previously were not particularly forthcoming with donations, are really coming through.”

Corporal Tom Neathway, 26, of 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, lost both legs and his left arm when an improvised explosive device went off while he was on patrol in Afghan-istan in July 2008.

Cpl Neathway, who has been fitted with two prosthetic legs, now works as an administrator at RAF Brize Norton, near Carterton.

He said: “People’s generosity is amazing. The Royal British Legion help me with my compensation claims and if I need anything. They always help if they can. They’re great.”

In Oxford, the RBL collected £52,872 compared with £51,899.32 in 2008.

Headington branch chairman Terry Cox said: “We’ve gone from £7,800 to just over £11,000 this year.

“We had one poppy collector come in to the office with £125 just in notes and we know of one person who donated £50 on the doorstep.

“We even had the kids on the estate handing over 50p from their pocket money.”

Marston branch secretary Jim Lewendon said: “We were up again this year at the branch. It’s staggering. In Marston alone, people donated about £8,100.”

Retired Brigadier Harry Salmon, 89, has been collecting money for the Poppy Appeal for the past 18 years in the north of the county.

He said: “Every year it seems to go up.”

You can still donate online at the Poppy Appeal website.