The Ramsey branch of the British Legion has received a record total of £21,068 in donations this year.

This amounts to about £3 per Ramsey resident and represents an increase on last year’s total, which was about £19,000.

Ramsey British Legion poppy appeal organiser Alby Oldham said this was completely unexpected for this year, as with the TT or Manx Grand Prix having been cancelled, and the disruption caused by Covid-19, he was expecting that only £8,000 would have been collected at most.

The TT and MGP usually bring in about £2,000 each from the sale of bike-themed poppy pins.

Secondly, the island’s British Legion was mostly relying on its stock of poppy appeal merchandise from last year - which includes anything other than poppies like badges, teddy bears and crosses.

This was because of issues that the pandemic caused with the legion’s regular UK supplies.

UK British Legions were also limited in what merchandise they were able to sell, and so Ramsey British Legion even helped them out by sending some of their own stock.

This stock mainly went to UK motorcycle clubs, who would normally have come over for the TT and Manx Grand Prix - and included items like 150 bike-themed poppy appeal badges which went to clubs in Scotland.

Ten thousand custom Isle of Man poppy badges - which included a Three Legs of Man to commemorate the service of emergency workers during the pandemic - were also sold across the island this year.

Even under normal circumstances with the TT and MGP running, Mr Oldham said he would have only expected to match last year’s total of £19,000, but never to exceed it.

Mr Oldham attributes the unexpected record total to people ’coming together during the pandemic, and pulling all the stops out’, adding that everyone in the British Legion couldn’t be happier.

He said that the people of Ramsey had always been very generous and that also they may have had more money without having been able to take holidays this year due to the pandemic.

The total donations for all British Legions across the island is usually calculated and released in January.