The Royal British Legion (RBL) will move into the YMCA unit in Clevedon for two weeks during its poppy appeal.

The shop, in Marson Road, will stock the usual paper or silk poppies and a limited amount of metal badges for 2020 and the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

The shop will be open from Saturday to November 7 from 10am-4pm daily excluding Sundays.

The YMCA has been using the shop to host youth workshops, after school café’s and half term classes during lockdown.

Phyl Blackwell, Clevedon’s poppy appeal organiser, said: “This year things will be very different because of coronavirus, this has had a devastating effect on people in many ways and the poppy appeal is no different.

“Initially we thought it would not be possible to organise a local collection at all but since restrictions have been lifted somewhat, it has been decided that a much toned down event could take place.

“Restrictions mean that we cannot do street or fact-to-face collections in the supermarkets as we normally do, but they can be done across a table as long as social distancing is observed.

“This is where the YMCA have come to the rescue with the generous loan of a shop which will enable the poppy collectors to sit behind a table wearing personal protective equipment and members of the public can come in and donate to the poppy appeal. We are very grateful to the YMCA for its help in this unprecedented year, without this support we would not have been able to do much of a collection as most of our collectors are in the older age group.

“The people of Clevedon have always been very generous in their support of the poppy appeal and we are therefore asking them to visit the shop and bring their donations there.

“Please support the poppy appeal again this year and wear your poppy with pride to say thank you to those who have given so much for our freedom.”

There will also be a limited amount of trays of poppies in West End post office, the pier shop, the golf club, three shops in Hill Road, Teatro, Asda and Marks & Spencer Food.