Ex-soldier Joe Munday hopes the gener-ous people of York will beat the £41,000 they helped raise in last year's local Poppy Appeal.

The 73-year-old, who served in France, Germany and Palestine, has armed him-self with 1,000 collection boxes and even more poppies ready for another year of collecting for charity.

The British Legion member is the City's Poppy Appeal organiser and has overseen the collection of the best part of £200,000 in his five years in the job.

"The people of York are very generous and we hoping this will continue," he said.

"I am going to keep doing this job as long as I have the energy."

This year's Poppy Appeal will be launched tomorrow by the Lord Mayor of York, Coun Shan Braund, and the Sheriff, Bar-rie Ferguson, at the Mansion House, York.

Star support will be provided by Christo-pher Chittell, who plays Eric Pollard in the ITV soap, Emmerdale.

He will present a poppy to Natasha Neale, from York, who will be 11 on No-vember 11.

Major General Keith Burch, who is presi-dent of the Royal British Legion for North Yorkshire, will also be in atten-dance.

The launch will also be marked with the display of a giant poppy on the side of Shepherd's Building Group headquarters in Fulford Road.

Paul Shepherd, the group chairman and managing director, will be making a do-nation of £1,500 to start of the 2000 Poppy Appeal in York.

York MP Hugh Bayley has also lent his support to this year's appeal.

He said: "We live in a free country with democratic elections only because people fought to defend those freedoms.

"In our century we need to remember those who gave their lives in wars in the last century. We can do this by giving money through the Poppy Appeal to sup-port those still living with their injuries from those wars."