The record total for a town’s poppy appeal has been surpassed by thousand of pounds.

Royal British Legion collectors in Stowmarket were busy gathering in donations during the two-week period held for the cause last year.

The final sums reveal that a total of £25,000 has been raised beating the previous record of £18,000.

The organiser of Stowmarket’s poppy appeal is Rachel Oakley, she said the level of awareness had increased.

“We’ve had a lot of support and help, we’ve got more people out there,” she said.

“It helps in Stowmarket to have the three major supermarkets where we had collectors based. We had the best part of 75 to 100 people helping with the poppy appeal in Stowmarket. When the collectors kept seeing the money come in it helped them keep going.”

Collectors went out on the streets as well as making door-to-door enquiries for donations.

Last year the town’s appeal raised £13,800.