The amount of money donated to the Royal British Legion through Poppy Appeal collections in the Bristol area has rocketed this year.

Collectors were out in force in shops and supermarkets for two weeks in November and tins were left in churches, schools and community centres for people to fill with donations in support of British servicemen and women and their families.

The Legion's Staple Hill branch saw a 17 per cent increase in donations compared with last year and Bristol branch is expected to record an eight per cent rise.

Reg Hill, chairman of the Staple Hill branch, said £55,000 had been collected during the fortnight compared with £47,000 last year.

He said the publicity surrounding the deaths of soldiers in Afghanistan and the regular repatriation services in Wiltshire could have prompted the increase in donations.

Mr Hill, who has a team of 40 poppy tin collectors, says the branch's biggest collection, totalling £16,000, was gathered at Sainbury's in Emersons Green. A further £10,300 was collected at Tesco in Eastville, £8,000 in Morrisons in Fishponds and £5,000 at Ikea in Eastville.

The chairman said only two of the Staple Hill branch's tins were stolen, and both were empty when they were taken at the beginning of the fundraising drive from shops in Staple Hill.

Praising his team of collectors, he said: "We even have one woman in her 80s who goes out on her pedal bike and goes to her friends and comes back with £180.

"We used almost 90,000 poppies this year. I took over this branch nine years ago and then we were raising £11,000. It has grown and grown since then but this is definitely the highest amount we've collected since I took over."

He added: "What's been happening in Afghanistan has definitely helped increase donations – especially seeing the coffins coming back into the country."

Roger Duddridge, the chairman of the Legion's Bristol branch, said the total for his branch had not been finalised but estimated there had been a seven or eight per cent increase on last year's total.

He said: "Patchway are up £4,000 on last year, Bishopston and Horfield are up and St Silas are up about £4,000 or £5,000. It's absolutely magnificent. People are being very generous."

Last month, the Evening Post reported that thieves stole more than 30 collection tins from bars, restaurants and banks in Bristol during the collection fortnight.

The thefts are estimated to have deprived the Legion's Poppy Appeal of about £3,000 in lost donations.