A battle of the sexes is threatening to wreck a Sussex town's Poppy Day collection.

War has broken out among the ranks of the usually civilised British Legion Club in Hastings after the women threw down their collecting tins and said it was time the men had a go.

The women's group has run the annual appeal for several years and last year their efforts helped raise more than £18,000.

But now they have had enough. They are refusing to sell any more poppies on the streets unless the men, who they have accused of being lazy, pull their weight.

The men have retaliated, blaming the women for a potentially dramatic droop in poppy sales.

Refused

Club chairman William Robinson said: "It all started last year when the Poppy Appeal organiser from the women's section resigned and left us with all the work to do.

"The ladies have been doing it for years and know all the local volunteers. But last year they were annoyed by men who refused to help out, so this year they have left everything to us to teach us a lesson."

Mr Robinson has stepped in to take over the position of Poppy Appeal co-ordinator and is already feeling the strain.

He said: "People are more than happy to turn up on Poppy Day and march through the town for an hour or so, but when it comes to grabbing a collection tin and getting out on the streets selling poppies, they just aren't interested.

"Now the women are sitting back and watching us struggle. They had a hard time of it and they want everyone else to fall on their face."

Mr Robinson arrives at the appeal office in Devonshire Road each morning hoping the women may have changed their minds, but so far it is stalemate.

He said: "It's getting ridiculous. No one is coming forward to help.

"I think it's disgusting these so-called ladies won't help out. Now the appeal is suffering and they just sit back and watch."

The battle has taken on a new twist with the vice-chairwoman of the women's group, who did not want to be named, taking the men's side.

She is working alongside male colleagues to help recruit

more volunteers. She said: "We are in the middle of a volunteer crisis. I have been a member of the women's section for 25 years and I can't understand why the women won't help."

Shopper Janice Pritchard, 54, of Up-perton Road, East-bourne, who has already bought a poppy, said: "It sounds as though the women were being lumped with all the hard work while the men sat back and reaped the benefits. I say good on the women's section for making a stand."

But Derek Patterson, 62, of Seaside Road, Eastbourne, said: "They should stop bickering and get on with the most important thing - selling poppies and raising money for ex-Service men and women."

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