WITH this year’s Poppy Appeal well underway, organisers in Marlow have revealed the size of the task they have set themselves following a bumper fundraising effort last year.

Marlow’s Royal British Legion announced it raised £ 30,539.03 during the year-long effort to the end of September.

The impressive figure comes after residents and visitors gave generously during the town's huge Remembrance Day parade - one of the best-attended in the country.

Coffers were also boosted by Marlow's award-winning RBL club, which pulled in £3,000 from its special Remembrance brew ‘Lest We Forget’ along with Long Crendon brewer XT.

Marlow branch chairman Shaun Murphy said: "We are really very pleased indeed, and want to say thank you for everyone’s support."

This year's appeal was given a boost at the weekend when celebrity Ricky Gervais stopped to buy his poppy from two young cadets in Marlow.

Marlow's appeal then went global after the movie star retweeted the photo to his six million Twitter followers a few days later, following a story on the BFP site.