Maidstone's County Hall has been covered with poppies to mark the start of the Royal British Legion 2011 Poppy Appeal in Kent.

As many as 90 poppies have been pinned onto the gates of the building - symbolising the 90 years the charity has been running.

Ex-servicemen and women, who had been helped by the legion in the past, also stood "shoulder to shoulder" pinning poppies on each other.

This year in Kent alone, more than 1,300 veterans have been supported by the appeal which helps them to get their lives back on track after returning from conflict.

Nicholas Bennion, 32, from Gillingham and pictured below, served with the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales Regiment for seven years. After serving in the Balkans and Iraq he said it was not easy returning back to normal life: "It was difficult for me to understand laws outside of army life. The money that I was earning was not as much as I was earning in the armed forces.

But it was the British Legion that has brought me here today - without them my family and I would still be struggling."

The ex-serviceman now works as a warehouse assistant but believes more should be done to help soldiers returning from the front line: "The blood of servicemen and women brings so much glory to leaders of a country so the government should do more for them - rather than just leaving it to the Royal British Legion."