Market Harborough Building Society will light up red every night to support and showcase this year’s Poppy Appeal

Market Harborough Building Society is being lit up red every night to support and showcase this year’s Poppy Appeal.

The society’s headquarters in the town centre is shining striking red after dark as it casts its vivid light across the town’s War Memorial just yards away on The Square.

Standing beside the Memorial Gardens, the building society is marking its 150th anniversary this year after being founded in 1870 – a full 44 years before the First World War broke out in 1914.

Stewart Harrison, chairman of the Market Harborough branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “This red light salute to highlight the Poppy Appeal conjures up a supremely powerful image.

“Market Harborough Building Society is an iconic building at the heart of our town in its own right.

“But to light it up red every night in the run-up to Remembrance Day evoking the blood that so many of our servicemen and women have spilled over the years is very dramatic and very moving.”

The ex-Army and RAF veteran added: “We are very grateful to the building society for getting behind us and the many people that we support.

“It’s clearly a difficult year for the Legion and the Poppy Appeal.

“But bold, stirring action such as this helps to bring home to all of us just how much we owe to the men and women who have died over the decades to keep us free.”

Market Harborough Building Society is one of over 30 buildings in Leicestershire and hundreds nationwide backing the ‘light it red’ initiative spearheaded by the Royal British Legion.