A POPPY appeal collector wishing to pay tribute to her war veteran father and uncle has urged a “disrespectful” council to allow her to lay wreaths at a memorial all year round.

Pensioner Jackie Lester says she has spent years lobbying Myland Community Council in Colchester asking it to stop the removal of poppy wreaths in the weeks following Remembrance Sunday.

Mrs Lester, 70, argues the wreaths are not the property of the council and it has no right to remove them.

She said: “My husband and I have checked many memorials in this area and most of them keep the wreaths for many months, many with means of securing the wreaths.

“I appreciate they do not last indefinitely, but I feel very strongly that to remove them so quickly is an insult and disrespectful to the names on the memorial and to the members of the public who placed them there.

“People pay for these wreaths, the money often goes to the Royal British Legion and they should be able to leave them at the memorial and expect them not to be removed so soon.

“My father went to war and came back broken both physically and mentally. He later took his own life.

“My uncle is buried at the Sangro River war grave in Italy alongside thousands.

“They certainly won’t remove tributes there.”

But the council, which maintains the war memorial site, in Nayland Road, Colchester, argues there is not a set policy on when it is deemed acceptable to remove wreaths.

Denise Humphris, who is the council’s clerk, said: “A lot of hard work had gone in to this by a lot of people - researching what to do and whether there was any set protocol.

“Subsequent to that research it was found there is no protocol.

“It is down to the relevant authority to decide how long the wreaths are left.

“It was put before the full council and there was a democratic decision to leave them there for six weeks.

“I advised that this was all done properly, however, she still wasn’t happy about that.”

Ms Humphris said she would try to help.

She said: “I spoke to the Royal British Legion, who said there are no guidelines around what you should or shouldn’t do.

“She was upset that six weeks fell on December 23 and she would have liked to have them there over Christmas so I said I would arrange to have them there over Christmas this year.

“We are in a position to delay the removal for two weeks.

“I understand she feels quite strongly about it, but equally there are some people who feel we shouldn’t even have a memorial at all.

“It is a difficult job to balance what everyone wants.”