A POPPY organiser and his team are celebrating a decade of fundraising success at a motorway service station.

Dennis Harper, a member of Woodstock Royal British Legion, has organised the collection at Cherwell Valley Services, off junction 10 of the M40, for the past decade.

The former Army craftsman, of Bear Close, Woodstock, organises a rota of 20 volunteers for eight days each year — including his daughter Glenda Grant, 53, wife Josephine, and his oldest collector, 96-year-old Len Rudman.

Mr Harper’s work has now paid off after Legion members worked out he has raised more than £78,000 for the Poppy Appeal — almost £8,000 every year.

He celebrated the achievement with his family today — at the service station, selling more poppies.

Mr Harper, 78, said: “When we first started doing it we shared the collection with the North Leigh branch and we were collecting about £3,000 in two weeks. Now we collect about £8,000 in a week, so it’s a massive jump.

“We get an excellent response from people. Most people that come through the service station are from big cities travelling on the motorway and they are overjoyed to see poppy collectors because they don’t have them where they are from. In some places it’s not safe for people to be out on the street selling poppies.

“We never have a negative attitude at all, they are always pleased to see us.

“Most people give a pound and sometimes you get lots of £5 and even £20 notes.

“We are inside so it’s very comfortable.

“The service station is always very good to us, providing us with a free meal and coffee.”

He added: “The Poppy Appeal means a lot to me because I am an ex-serviceman and I lived through the Second World War and I saw all the suffering and I can do my little bit this way.”

Mrs Grant said she was not surprised by the amount.

She said: “People are always very generous to this appeal.”

Poppy sellers from Woodstock British Legion will be at Cherwell Valley Services every day between 9am and 5pm until Saturday.