Poppy Calls

Poppy Calls in Derbyshire

The Royal British Legion have introduced a brand new Home Support service in Derbyshire and certain other Counties. The service, named Poppy Calls, has been created in response to a need in the ex-Service community, in particular the older members of that community aged over 75 years and those with a disability. It has emerged that these are the people who have the highest need of the services on offer.


Poppy Calls is designed to enable those people who are eligible to remain safely in their own homes and to improve their quality of life by undertaking small repair and maintenance jobs around the house.


The service will concentrate on smaller, handyman-type jobs. This can be anything from putting up a shelf or curtain rail, to replacing a washer on a dripping tap or changing a light bulb - many of these small jobs may seem insignificant in themselves, but can make a huge difference to those who find such tasks difficult or downright impossible to do themselves and cannot find an odd-job man they can afford or trust.


It has been shown that services such as this, are all in great demand by the elderly and disabled, and that there is also considerable scope for the installation of safety and security items such as door locks and bolts, and smoke detectors,  Also for the installation of mobility aids and adaptations, such as grab rails and ramps, which are done in conjunction with an Occupational Therapists.  All of the services provided by Poppy Calls will be delivered free of charge to the recipient, who will have been assessed for entitlement before any work is carried out.


The work will be carried out by Legion employees who will wear uniforms and will be immediately identifiable as a Poppy Calls Handy-Person, they will drive a Poppy Calls Vans, which is fully branded with The Royal British Legion and Poppy Calls logos.


In some Counties there are already existing schemes run by other organisations (Care and Repair, Anchor Staying Put, Age Concern, to name but a few) that provide a similar service to that of The Royal British Legion. The Legion has formed partnerships with some of those providers where the work they are carrying out is to an acceptable standard. In which case the vans will carry joint branding of the Poppy Calls service plus the logo of the partner organisation, the partner employs the Handy Person.

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Poppy Calls in Derbyshire

The work will be carried in Derbyshire by Andy Lloyd,  known locally as either Handy Van Man or Handy Andy.  He is a qualified fitter and drives a Poppy Calls van as shown above.  He has CRB clearance and carries an identity card which he will show at the time of his visit..  He is able to carry out a whole range of services about the homes of those in need.  The range of work is quite extensive such as:-

  • Basic assistance with minor repairs and improvements.
  • Basic security measures like fitting door and window locks and other security items.
  • Basic safety measures like fitting and testing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
  • Installation of home adaptations and mobility aids.
  • Laying of hard standings and ramps for electric powered vehicles (EPV's).
  • Changing light bulbs and tap washers.
  • Putting up shelves, fixing curtain rails and tacking down carpets.
  • Moving furniture.

The list is endless and Andy Lloyd the Poppy Calls person will get it done unless it is too large in which case he will refer the work to the County Welfare Officer to get the work carried out under the Poppy Funds scheme.  All the work he carries out will be free so do not worry about contacting The Royal British Legion to get Andy to do some work for you.



Andy Lloyd
Derbyshire Poppy Calls Person

If you are eligible as an ex-service man or woman or are a dependant or widow or widower of someone who served  contact Poppy Calls for assistance.  For People requiring help from Poppy Calls in Derbyshire contact Poppy Support in Derbyshire or contact the Poppy Calls Centre directly using the link to Poppy Calls.


Poppy Calls can also be contacted by:-

Telephone :   01480 478031

or

By letter to : Poppy Calls Centre
                   The Royal British Legion
                   Suite 2, Nelson House
                   Arlington Road
                   Little Barford
                   St Neots
                   Bedfordshire PE19 6YH

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