COMMENT: Let's break the record as a send-offÂ to Louise

Is there anyone who epitomises the Royal British Legion's motto of '˜service, not self'Â more than Louise Purcell? For the past 11 years, she has worked tirelessly as head of Portsmouth's Poppy Appeal to raise as much money as possible to help veterans and their families.Â

What a huge difference she has made with her energy and enthusiasm. Before she took the reins the city's Poppy Appeal used to generate Â£25,000. Last year Louise and her amazing team raised a record-breaking Â£116,000.

We all knowÂ the people of Portsmouth are a generous lot. We look after our own here, never more so than if they are ex-servicemen and women. Nowhere else appreciates the armed forces quite like this city. But it has taken Louise's drive and organisational skills to ensureÂ people can show their support for the Poppy Appeal in increasing numbers.

The Portsmouth appeal has been run, appropriately, like a military operation, with Louise leading a small army of about 60 volunteers and coordinating the cash collected in more than 800 Poppy Appeal tins spread a