A TROWBRIDGE woman has been snubbed by the national Royal British Legion after spending a year making 5,000 commemorative teardrops which attach to poppies, only to be told she could no longer be associated with them.

Inspired by the repatriations at Wootton Bassett, Lynda Beaven, from Steeple Ashton, decided to create the crystal teardrops which attach to remembrance poppies, aiming to raise thousands of pounds for the RBL and other Armed Forces charities.

She enlisted the help of friends and relatives in the village and over the last year they have created 5,000 teardrops, which have been bought by people all over the country.

But on October 27, the day the 2011 Poppy Appeal was launched, she was told by RBL bosses in London that she could not promote the teardrops because she did not have the right to use the image of a poppy.

The 48-year-old charity worker said: “I started the project a year ago as a way of commemorating the repatriations at Wootton Bassett and I said all along that I wanted to raise money for RBL. To be told on the day that the Poppy Appeal is launched that they don’t want to know about it is a slap in the face.

“We’ve had a team of volunteers making them and I have organised everything in my spare time. We’ve put a lot of effort in and we’ve not taken a penny from it. This was all done to raise money for charity. It’s not very nice, the way I have been treated.”

Mrs Beaven has defied the ruling from London and ran a stall this week in The Shires shopping centre, alongside local veterans selling poppies, who have raised no objections to her project.

RBL national spokesman Robert Lee said: “This is not a David and Goliath scenario. She might be portraying herself as the sweet old lady in a village being beaten by the people in London but this is not the case.

“We object to the use of the poppy, which we have the intellectual rights to, for a charity that is raising money for other charities too.”

l THE Trowbridge branch of the Royal British Legion has had to pay £100 to the town council to display a cross of remembrance in Fore Street. The council charged the group for the grass box to be placed there. Town clerk Lance Allan said: “I would be happy to discuss the issue with a representative of the RBL at any time and will report on the matter to the next council meeting on December 15.”