ianstone
10-12-2010, 02:15 PM
German-owned Aldi bans war veterans from selling poppies in store
By James Tozer (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=James+Tozer)
Last updated at 6:40 PM on 12th October 2010
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German-owned supermarket chain Aldi has been branded 'heartless' by elderly veterans after they were banned from selling poppies inside a store.
Every autumn, volunteers from the Royal British Legion set up stall at the local Co-op in Great Harwood, Lancashire, to raise money in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.
This year, however, it is closed for a refit, so they wrote to the manager of the town's only other supermarket, Aldi, to see if he could help out - only to be told they had to stand outside in the cold, and on just two allotted days.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/12/article-1319906-0B94301B000005DC-538_468x311.jpg Angry: Len Myerscough, chairman of the Great Harwood Royal British Legion outside the town's Aldi after its management said he could not sell poppies inside the store this year
Their furious mood wasn't helped by the fact that the chain was founded by two brothers who fought for the Nazis in the Second World War, with the surviving sibling now Germany's richest man at the age of 90.
It is not the first time Aldi has been accused of failing to support the appeal, either - in 1993 a manager ejected two teenage Army cadets selling poppies at the entrance to a store, branding them a fire hazard.
'It's extremely mean of them,' said local British Legion chairman, 78-year-old Len Myerscough, today.
'I'm too old to stand outside in November, and so are most of our collectors. It seems quite heartless.
'The manager of the Co-op was always happy to accommodate our stall, and we raised most of our money from people doing their shopping there.
'So we're very cross that Aldi won't let us do the same thing, and the fact that it's a German company doesn't help things one bit.'
Last year well-wishers in the town, near Blackburn, raised around £4,000 for the Poppy Appeal, but the temporary closure of the Co-op forced the volunteers to have a rethink.
Mr Myerscough, who did National Service in the 1950s, said no shop or pub had ever turned them down, but the request to set up their stall inside the newly-opened Aldi this year was rejected by the manager.
Instead, they were told they could stand outside the entrance with their collection tins - but only on November 4 and 5.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/12/article-1319906-07197141000005DC-434_233x313.jpg Cross: The Garden of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey includes photos of members of the armed forces who have died in Afghanistan
'It's dreadful - this is such a worthwhile cause,' he said today. 'We are not asking for a contribution, just a little help.
'It is local people buying their products and I think they would be disgusted with the way the Royal British Legion is being treated.
'All the collectors are of a similar age and all we need is somewhere indoors where we can collect.
'We have a lot of support in the town and a supermarket is the ideal place to position ourselves in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.
'Now I don't know how we're going to raise as much money as we usually do which is a real shame, particularly when our troops are fighting for this country in Afghanistan.'
An increasingly familiar name on Britain's high streets with its low-price, no-frills approach, the Aldi chain was founded in Germany by the reclusive Albrecht brothers, Karl and Theo, both of whom had been conscripted to serve in Hitler's Wehrmacht.
Karl fought on the Russian front, where he was wounded, while Theo served with Rommel's Afrika Korps and was later captured by the Americans.
Theo died earlier this year, leaving Karl currently ranked the world's tenth richest man, worth £14.7billion.
Aldi initially struggled to adapt to the habits of British shoppers, and in 1993 two 15-year-olds selling poppies in their Army cadet uniform were ejected from a store in nearby Horwich for obstructing the entrance.
Last night the firm insisted it was supportive of the Poppy Appeal and had suggested the two dates because they were the days when it received the most customers.
It initially claimed that all collections had to take place beneath the 'protective overhead canopy' outside its stores because there was not enough room to set up a stall inside.
However after being contacted by the Daily Mail, Aldi revised its position and said the Great Harwood veterans could come in from the cold after all.
In a statement it said: 'Requests to collect in-store or leave collection tins in-store are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and due to Mr Myerscough's age, we will gladly allow him to collect in store.'
But it will still only be for two days rather than throughout the next month.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319906/Aldi-bans-war-veterans-selling-poppies-store.html#ixzz12AYzMhyj
IT IS A NAZI POINT OF VIEW. WE REMEMER OUR DEAD, IN ALL WARS. WHAT AN UTTER ASSHOLE !!!
By James Tozer (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=James+Tozer)
Last updated at 6:40 PM on 12th October 2010
Comments (0) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319906/Aldi-bans-war-veterans-selling-poppies-store.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319906/Aldi-bans-war-veterans-selling-poppies-store.html)
German-owned supermarket chain Aldi has been branded 'heartless' by elderly veterans after they were banned from selling poppies inside a store.
Every autumn, volunteers from the Royal British Legion set up stall at the local Co-op in Great Harwood, Lancashire, to raise money in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.
This year, however, it is closed for a refit, so they wrote to the manager of the town's only other supermarket, Aldi, to see if he could help out - only to be told they had to stand outside in the cold, and on just two allotted days.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/12/article-1319906-0B94301B000005DC-538_468x311.jpg Angry: Len Myerscough, chairman of the Great Harwood Royal British Legion outside the town's Aldi after its management said he could not sell poppies inside the store this year
Their furious mood wasn't helped by the fact that the chain was founded by two brothers who fought for the Nazis in the Second World War, with the surviving sibling now Germany's richest man at the age of 90.
It is not the first time Aldi has been accused of failing to support the appeal, either - in 1993 a manager ejected two teenage Army cadets selling poppies at the entrance to a store, branding them a fire hazard.
'It's extremely mean of them,' said local British Legion chairman, 78-year-old Len Myerscough, today.
'I'm too old to stand outside in November, and so are most of our collectors. It seems quite heartless.
'The manager of the Co-op was always happy to accommodate our stall, and we raised most of our money from people doing their shopping there.
'So we're very cross that Aldi won't let us do the same thing, and the fact that it's a German company doesn't help things one bit.'
Last year well-wishers in the town, near Blackburn, raised around £4,000 for the Poppy Appeal, but the temporary closure of the Co-op forced the volunteers to have a rethink.
Mr Myerscough, who did National Service in the 1950s, said no shop or pub had ever turned them down, but the request to set up their stall inside the newly-opened Aldi this year was rejected by the manager.
Instead, they were told they could stand outside the entrance with their collection tins - but only on November 4 and 5.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/12/article-1319906-07197141000005DC-434_233x313.jpg Cross: The Garden of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey includes photos of members of the armed forces who have died in Afghanistan
'It's dreadful - this is such a worthwhile cause,' he said today. 'We are not asking for a contribution, just a little help.
'It is local people buying their products and I think they would be disgusted with the way the Royal British Legion is being treated.
'All the collectors are of a similar age and all we need is somewhere indoors where we can collect.
'We have a lot of support in the town and a supermarket is the ideal place to position ourselves in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.
'Now I don't know how we're going to raise as much money as we usually do which is a real shame, particularly when our troops are fighting for this country in Afghanistan.'
An increasingly familiar name on Britain's high streets with its low-price, no-frills approach, the Aldi chain was founded in Germany by the reclusive Albrecht brothers, Karl and Theo, both of whom had been conscripted to serve in Hitler's Wehrmacht.
Karl fought on the Russian front, where he was wounded, while Theo served with Rommel's Afrika Korps and was later captured by the Americans.
Theo died earlier this year, leaving Karl currently ranked the world's tenth richest man, worth £14.7billion.
Aldi initially struggled to adapt to the habits of British shoppers, and in 1993 two 15-year-olds selling poppies in their Army cadet uniform were ejected from a store in nearby Horwich for obstructing the entrance.
Last night the firm insisted it was supportive of the Poppy Appeal and had suggested the two dates because they were the days when it received the most customers.
It initially claimed that all collections had to take place beneath the 'protective overhead canopy' outside its stores because there was not enough room to set up a stall inside.
However after being contacted by the Daily Mail, Aldi revised its position and said the Great Harwood veterans could come in from the cold after all.
In a statement it said: 'Requests to collect in-store or leave collection tins in-store are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and due to Mr Myerscough's age, we will gladly allow him to collect in store.'
But it will still only be for two days rather than throughout the next month.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319906/Aldi-bans-war-veterans-selling-poppies-store.html#ixzz12AYzMhyj
IT IS A NAZI POINT OF VIEW. WE REMEMER OUR DEAD, IN ALL WARS. WHAT AN UTTER ASSHOLE !!!