Veteran fundraiser Irene Willis doesn’t believe in doing things by halves.

So to celebrate this year’s 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, Guiseley resident Mrs Willis has organised not one but two major benefit concerts.

As well as the annual event she stages in Otley each autumn, the octogenarian has arranged a performance by the Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment, in Yeadon, next month.

A pair of Chelsea Pensioners will also attend both the Yeadon Town Hall event, which takes place on Saturday, October 15, and the Otley concert, at Prince Henry’s Grammar School, on Saturday, November 5.

Mrs Willis, who has raised many thousands of pounds by holding more than 20 poppy appeal concerts, said: “Because it’s the 90th anniversary of the founding of Earl Haig’s Poppy Appeal, this year I had been asked by quite a few people if I could do something in Yeadon.

“A lot of people from Yeadon come down to support the Otley concert each year but they wanted something in Yeadon this time too.

“Well I live and was brought up in Aireborough, so I had to give it a try and I’m delighted that the RAF’s military band has agreed to come and play — I’d applied six months ago but they’re always so busy it takes that long for a decision to come through.

“They're a big band, about 40 of them are coming up, and they’re all professional. The programme they’ll play, from what they’ve told me, is going to be fabulous.

“It will include Elgar’s Nimrod and the RAF March Past, as well as some of the old-time tunes people will recognise from the war.

“Then at Otley we’ll have the Drighlington Brass Band again, who are fantastic, and of course the Chelsea Pensioners at both events.

“It is going to be a bit hectic but it’s all for the poppy appeal, and I hope that between them these shows will help us raise quite a bit.”

Tickets for both events and more details — the Yeadon show costs £12.50, the Otley one £9 — can be obtained by calling 01943 872148 or 01943 467199.

The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment has played in Sarajevo, Budapest and Brussels and entertained troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo and Oman.

In the UK the poppy was adopted as a national symbol of remembrance in 1921 by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, one of the British Legion’s founders.