Copyright jerseyeveningpost
ISLANDERS may be well versed with the return of the Jersey Poppy Appeal each November but as global uncertainties continue to flood national headlines – the theme of remembrance becomes more evocative. In her seventh year of organising the local fundraising operation for the Jersey branch of the Royal British Legion, Alison Opfermann, as the daughter and granddaughter of British Army veterans, understands the continued need for marking Armistice Day and its affiliated fundraisers. A Royal Court Jurat and linguist, Mrs Opfermann is passionate about the continued need for remembrance and support of the veterans’ support charity – even if Islanders today do not directly feel the effects of military service that she did growing up. Although the efforts of RBL are mostly in the spotlight during the fortnightly tide of remembrance toward Remembrance Sunday each year – Mrs Opfermann explained how the charity is there to support servicemen and women year-round. “Covid was an obvious one [when veterans needed the charity],” she said. “Storm Ciaran was one we didn’t really see coming but quite a lot of the most severe damage was to some of the homes owned or rented by veterans in St Clement.” “So that was the British Legion in action, trying to get that damage sorted. But events like that bring it home to people, how in this day and age, just because we haven’t got hundreds of young men and women going off in uniform somewhere, doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a very strong need.” Like previous years since she took the helm in 2019, Mrs Opfermann predicts that over £200,000 will be raised through this year’s Jersey Poppy Appeal via the 850 collection tins, Parish coffee mornings and merchandise sales in the former Paperchase building on King Street. Mrs Opfermann estimated that a “sensible” figure for the number of retired and serving military personnel living in Jersey right now is around five thousand. That figure proves that although the Island’s living World War Two veterans are thought to be in the single digits, the work of the charity supports a network of people around three times the size of St Mary – the RBL never knows for sure as they operate on a self-declaring basis. Moreover, remembrance in its literal sense is not about those who are still with us. It is also about those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The purple poppy furthers that remembrance for the huge numbers of animals who were killed in action, while the white poppy declares a person’s desire for peace altogether. Mrs Opfermann added that although living in wartime may be mostly in distant memory for Islanders, the long-lasting trauma of conflict for servicemen and women continues. Buying a paper poppy or a teddy bear, Christmas card or tie allows the charity to deliver vital services that no other agency would for veterans, such as financial support, travel to medical appointments or directing them to mental health professionals when they may be in crisis. Referencing the unrelenting conflict in Ukraine and the unsettled situation in the Middle East, Mrs Opfermann added that supporting the Poppy Appeal today is a way to carry forward remembrance so that peace can continue to prevail. “We must take up the cudgel. We are the guardians of remembrance,” she said. “In as much as we’ve hoped that the peace we’ve generally had since the end of the Second World War would last, there’s no guarantee of that,” Mrs Opfermann reflected. “I think that there is a certain extent to which wearing a poppy, thinking about the Poppy Appeal, about what happened to other people, makes you hope that it will not happen again.” “It’s about responsibility,” she added. Upcoming events in aid of the Jersey Poppy Appeal: Friday 7 November Parish of St Mary Coffee morning, 10am – 12:30pm, St Mary Parish Hall Parish of St Brelade Brunch, 11am – 2pm, St Brelade’s Parish Hall, Parish of St Helier Afternoon Tea, 2:30pm – 4:30pm, St Helier Town Hall Saturday 8 November Parish of St Ouen Coffee Morning, 10am-12pm, St Ouen’s Parish Hall Parish of St John Coffee Morning, 10am – 12pm, St John’s Parish Hall Parish of Trinity Coffee Morning, 10am – 12pm, Trinity Parish Hall Parish of St Peter Coffee Morning, 10am – 12pm, St Peter’s Parish Hall Parish of St Clement Coffee Morning, 10:30am – 12pm, St Clement Parish Hall Sunday 9 November The Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph,10.30am. Tea and coffee will be served afterwards around the Cenotaph or inside the Town Hall dependent on weather.
