Our Poppy Boards Return — and 5% of November's Exchange Revenue Goes to the RAF Benevolent Fund

Remembrance has mattered to us since day one.

We're a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant, and every year around Remembrance Sunday we try to do something that goes a little beyond a social-media post. Last year it was Combat Stress. This year, there are two parts to it.

The Poppy Boards Are Back

You'll have spotted them last year — our usual black-and-orange For Sale boards swapped out for a poppy-red version, with a poppy on the top plate, right through Remembrance season.

It's a small thing. But every time one of them goes up outside a house in Chorley town centre, in Astley Village, in Clayton-le-Woods, in Buckshaw Village, in Euxton — or over in Worsley and Monton — it's a prompt. A reminder on the walk to the shops. A nudge to pop into the Royal British Legion. A conversation starter at the school gate.

If you spot one of our poppy boards and want to buy a Poppy Appeal donation yourself, you can do so at the Royal British Legion website or at any of the Poppy Appeal collection points around Chorley.

Why the RAF Benevolent Fund This Year

Last year we donated to Combat Stress — the UK's leading charity for veterans' mental health. It mattered then and it matters still. This year we wanted to continue the commitment but direct it somewhere different, to spread the support across the Armed Forces community over time.

The RAF Benevolent Fund is the RAF's leading welfare charity. It supports serving personnel, veterans and their families — from financial hardship grants and mobility aid to counselling, respite breaks for carers, and support for RAF children with additional needs. In the last year alone, the Fund has helped more than 40,000 members of the RAF family.

You can find out more about their work at rafbf.org.

How the 5% Works

For every property that completes through Clarke Residential during November 2026, we'll donate 5% of our commission to the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Completion means the sale has legally gone through — contracts exchanged, keys handed over, money moved. If your sale was agreed earlier in the year but completes in November, it counts. If it exchanges in November but completes in December, we'll still count it. We'd rather err on the side of generosity than quibble over dates.

We'll publish the final total in early December, with a photo of the handover. No gimmicks, no "up to" nonsense. If we complete on five sales, five sales fund the donation. If we complete on fifteen, so much the better.

If You're Selling in November

You don't need to do anything differently. If you're already in the process with us and your sale completes in November, it's included automatically. If you've been thinking about putting your home on the market, now's a decent time — you'd be helping fund the RAF Benevolent Fund as a side-effect of your move.

If you want to book a free valuation, request a written personalised report, or just have a chat about where the local market is, call 01257 781 557 for Chorley and Lancashire, or 0161 399 0828 for Greater Manchester.

The Armed Forces Covenant

Clarke Residential has been a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant since 2024. It's a commitment to recognise the value serving personnel, veterans and military families bring to our country — and to make sure they're treated fairly as customers, employees, and members of our community.

In practical terms, that means we actively support serving and ex-serving clients through the quirks of military life — Forces Help to Buy, flexible viewing arrangements for deployed personnel, understanding how posting dates affect completion windows, and being on the end of a phone when a solicitor needs the human context behind a buyer's postcode history.

If you're serving, a veteran, or a military family member looking to buy or sell in Chorley, Lancashire or Greater Manchester, say so when you call. We'll take it from there.

Lest We Forget

Remembrance Sunday falls on Sunday 8 November 2026. Chorley's service of remembrance takes place at the Chorley War Memorial on Union Street, with the parade from the Town Hall. The two-minute silence is observed at 11am.

Whether you can make it to the service or not, take a moment at 11.00. On behalf of everyone at Clarke Residential — thank you to those who served, those still serving, and the families who stand behind them.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."