DEVIZES musicians are aiming to top the charts with their song for this year’s Poppy Appeal.

The crew of Devizes TV have joined forces with two local musicians to write Poppy of Peace, a song aiming to raise money and top the charts for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

Bill Huntly, presenter on Devizes TV, said: “We were kicking round with this idea of writing an anthem to raise money for the Poppy Appeal. Something that celebrated the fortitude of the people who gave their lives for freedom. As this year makes 70 years of the appeal we thought we would do something really big. We think is that racism is a crime, but being patriotic certainly isn’t.

“Chris Stone and Pete Lamb of local band The Heartbeats have written an anthem, as opposed to a downbeat song. All the money raised will go directly to the Poppy Appeal.”

Jerry Bradley, promoter and Facebook moderator for Devizes TV, said: “When we started off we knew we had to do something big. I said to Bill that I was going to write a song, he looked at me like I was a clown. I have no background in music, I do not play music or sing.

“I went away saying I am going to write a song after everyone laughed at me, especially Bill. I listened to every poppy song written that I could find, and spent hours and hours researching. I wrote all of the words and sentences that I wanted included on a piece of A4 paper and showed Bill, who then put me in touch with Chris Stone.

“I spent two hours with Chris saying that I had a song in my head, I was going to screw up the bit of paper but Chris said he wanted it. He then wrote the song on the back of the paper, using all of the main points that I had written down after I explained how I wanted it. We wanted it to be respectful and not dingy. We want to inspire people to think and look back at what these people did for our town.”

Mr Huntly added: “We are selling the CD for £3 with all of the money going straight to the appeal, and we are also releasing it on Itunes where it will sell for 79p. So far everyone that has heard it has liked it and bought it. There are two tracks on the CD, an instrumental and one with vocals, so it is good value for money.

“We will be selling it at The Shambles every day except Wednesdays and a number of shops in Devizes will also be selling it for us.”

Poppy for Peace is now available in The Shambles, Devizes, for £3 and will be available on Itunes very soon, with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion.