Two sisters and their classmates have created their own Poppy Appeal for Remembrance Day, by selling handmade crosses and poppies.

Girl Guide Jessica Salter, 10, came up with the idea a year ago after seeing older pupils selling poppies, when she came home from school and told her family she wanted to run her own Poppy Appeal stall, but selling handmade items instead of official poppies.

At first her parents thought Jessica, from Dartford, might lose interest in the idea but the primary school pupil never stopped planning.

She enlisted the help of her eight-year-old sister, Alexandra, and two classmates.

Jessica, Alex and their friends, all pupils at Fleetdown Primary Academy, made poppies out of felt and paper, and handmade wooden crosses at their dad's workshop. They also made bookmarks and cards.

The group also painted a banner and posters with information about their stall.

The sisters' dad, railway engineer Vincent Salter, reached out to the Royal British Legion which provided the girls with an official collection pot for their campaign.

Jessica, Alex, and one of their classmates have been holding stalls in Dartford town centre spending more than three hours, dressed in their Guides and Brownies uniforms.

Because of the rain they were forced to find shelter near McDonald's but still received support and compliments from the public.

The trio were joined by another classmate at their stall outside Fleetdown Library on Tuesday although the bad weather rendered it less successful than before.

The girls' mum, retail worker Svetlana Salter, said: "As parents we are super proud. We were surprised when her plan lasted the whole year, but we are very proud.

"There was a good response from the public on Saturday, which we didn't expect because of the bad weather.

"They were very excited, and they didn't even want our help with the stall. They were happy chatting to the public themselves.

"We won't know how much they've raised until the collection pot is returned to the Royal British Legion but a man from the Legion came to visit the stall and he was very impressed by the weight of it."

The girls were also thrilled to notice one of the handmade wooden crosses they sold had been placed on a war memorial.