A POPPY appeal organiser whose grandfather survived the notorious Burma Railway is hoping to smash her fundraising record.

Mary Cadogan, 31, took over co-ordinating Abingdon’s poppy appeal three years ago when the main organiser fell ill.

Last year, her team at Abingdon Royal British Legion raised more than £20,000 for the appeal — the highest amount in its history.

Last night, she spoke about how her grandfather, Major Michael Halliday, who served with the East Surrey Regiment, inspired her to join the legion.

Maj Halliday, who died nine years ago this weekend, spent four years on the Burma Railway after he was captured by the Japanese in Singapore in 1942.

The Burma-Siam railway was built by British, Australian, Dutch and American prisoners of war and was designed to help maintain the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, more than 16,000 prisoners died, mainly of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion.

They were buried alongside the railway line.

Maj Halliday was released in August 1945 after Japan surrendered.

Miss Cadogan, one of the county’s youngest poppy appeal organisers, said: “He didn’t speak about it an awful lot. All I know was that when he came back he was six stone lighter.

“A lot of them didn’t speak about it — I think they wanted to leave their memories behind and never talk about it again.

“My mum said he was very thin and very quiet when he came back.

“He probably inspired me to join the British Legion. My mother was in the forces as well, so I grew up with it.”

Miss Cadogan’s mother, Jane Cadogan, of Metcalf Close, Abingdon, remembered her father’s tales of how he survived.

She said: “They used to have a prisoner’s wage. It was only very small and he used it to buy an egg a week and he always said that saved him. Their food was rationed so they had a cup of rice a day, but no protein and a lot of them got beriberi and died.

“What courage they had. What they went through was unbelievable and they all helped each other. They all used to teach each other their trades, so he learned a bit about accounting and a bit about law. Whatever their subjects were, they taught them just to get through it.”

Miss Cadogan, of Willowbrook, has already run out of poppies, but has ordered in an additional 2,000 to cope with demand.

She said: “It’s going really well. I hope we beat last year’s target. It’s nice that people recognise how important the appeal is.”