SOUTH Somerset Council staff have raised £1174.15 for the Royal British Legion in a series of events organised by two members of the Housing and Welfare Team.

Lynsey Hodges and Sandie Hindle have been holding weekly cake sales, a raffle and sales of poppies, pins and wrist bands in the run up to Remembrance Day on 11 November.

A dress code day for staff to wear red and black was also held on 7 November.

Lynsey and Sandie have been inspired in their fund-raising by the RBL’s Every Man Remembered campaign which aims to ensure that there is remembrance of every person from the commonwealth who died in the services during WW1.

Staff at SSDC’s Petters House, Yeovil offices, created their own wall of remembrance to display the details for people that they have found through the Every Man Remembered website.

Sandie says: “I felt inspired to support Every Man Remembered by my grandmother. Her first two husbands both died in WW1 and she lost her third husband and one of her sons during the Second World War.

"When we looked on the Every Man Remembered website, we found that of 1.6 million lives lost, there are still almost a million waiting to be remembered”.

Lynsey adds: “Every life lost deserves to be remembered. Sandie and I feel passionate about this and have been saddened to see so many names still waiting to be remembered.

"It only takes a few moments of time to make a commemoration and remember a person who gave their life for our today.”

Mark Williams, Chief Executive of South Somerset District Council added: “Our staff have done a fantastic job in raising funds for the Royal British Legion, in particular Sandie and Lynsey who have really stepped up to the mark for this cause.

"Staff take part in many fund raising events through the year, but this has certainly been the biggest total raised for many years simply because it touched the hearts of so many people”.

If you would like to find someone to remember personally, log on to www.everymanremembered.com .

You can find a man or woman you already know about, someone from your home town or village, someone with a similar name or simply someone killed 100 years ago to the day.

You do not have to know someone who fought in WW1, it can be anyone and you can make as many commemorations as you like.

Lynsey and Sandie would like to thank everyone for their support in making their fund-raising such a success.