Lothian’s Poppy Bus unveiled today

This year’s Poppy Bus was unveiled in the city centre today.

The bus has a lovely modern pattern of bright red poppies on a red background. Try and spot it on your route, as it will be used all over the city.

Today at St Andrew Square the Edinburgh Poppy Day event is taking place. On 11 November you will be able to see the bus outside the Field of Remembrance in Princes Street Gardens. Former service personnel who now work for Lothian Buses attended the event today.

Gordon Michie, Head of Fundraising at Poppyscotland said: “The poppy bus is a stunning tribute and underlines Lothian’s continued support of Poppyscotland. We are incredibly grateful to them for their ongoing commitment to the charity, and in turn to the Armed Forces community.  Together, we are Behind Them. Always. The poppy bus will help to remind the people of Edinburgh and the surrounding area about the importance of the Scottish Poppy Appeal and the Remembrance period.  We hope it will encourage the public to dig deep so we can continue to provide our life-changing support in the year ahead.”

As well as the specially created ‘Poppy Bus’, the company fundraises internally by making poppies and remembrance garden crosses available for sale to its staff. The company will also be offering a free hot drink for all current and ex-services personnel every morning in November from its CoffeeHub inside the Shandwick Place TravelHub.

Richard Hall, Lothian’s Managing Director, said: “Lothian is proud to have many employees across our business who currently serve in the reserves or are ex-armed forces personnel and the Poppyscotland appeal is particularly close to the hearts of both our staff and our customers.

“We hope that our various activities running throughout the month of November, along with this years Poppy bus, will help raise both awareness and vital funds for this great charity to allow them to continue to support the Armed Forces Community across Scotland.”