Poppy appeal organisers face a major crisis just weeks before Remembrance Sunday.

Brighton Royal British Legion says it has been unable to find a shop in the town to use as its storage depot.

Each year, the Legion opens a distribution centre, where tens of thousands of poppies are dispatched to schools and businesses.

Last year, the appeal raised £30,000, but there are fears that this year's collection will suffer because volunteers cannot find a headquarters and time is running out.

Gary Foster, the chairman of Brighton's RBL branch, said: "Every year we get a shop in Brighton without fail, and normally the landlord lets us have it for nothing over a six-week period.

"This year we have been offered a shop, but it is going to cost us £400, and we don't want to spend that money on rent when it could be going to the appeal."

Volunteer Nobby Clarke said the situation was getting desperate.

He said: "We need a shop because we have got so much stuff, including 50 boxes each containing 2,000 poppies.

"We also supply the wreaths to all the associations, so we need a big space. All the tins and boxes need labelling. A lot of work goes into it.

"We cannot order anything from the Legion's offices in Maidstone until we get a shop. We are now into October and things are getting desperate."

Anybody who can help should ring Mr Foster on 01273 692269 or Mr Clarke on 01273 620032.