The Poppy Appeal collection box was taken sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday (November 15 or 16) and was according to the club’s manager Steve Sharman full of notes and coins donated by visiting guests and members.

Following the theft many regulars have been putting more money into a replacement tin, while they wait to discover whether or not the culprit was caught on the club’s CCTV cameras.

Mr Sharman, mirroring the feelings of club members, said: “I’d like to wring their necks! Who would steal from such a worthy cause?”