99-year-old Newport man named 'Britain's oldest poppy seller'

A soldier from Newport is thought to be Britain's oldest poppy seller.

At the age of 99 Ron Jones has been selling the flower pins for more than 40 years.

And while this year's Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal is no different for Ron, he's decided he's finally going to hang up his boots, agreeing to sell poppies for only two more weeks.

Ron Jones released a book based on his experiences called the 'The Auschwitz Goalkeeper'. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

Ron has lived an extremely interesting life.

He was taken to Auschwitz as a prisoner of war more than 70 years ago.

He witnessed the atrocities carried out by the Nazi regime against the Jews.

He also found himself playing as the goalkeeper in a Welsh football team alongside other prisoners.

The father-of-one revisited Auschwitz three years ago and told how the horrors of war continue to drive him forward in selling poppies.

Ron was selected as a goalkeeper while at Auschwitz over 70 years ago. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

Mr Jones left the camp near the end of 1945 as part of the Auschwitz death march.

For more than four months he was marched 900 miles across Europe before eventually being freed by American troops.

He lost half his body weight on the march and had to watch more than a hundred of his allied comrades die in the freezing conditions.

But he survived the ordeal and eventually returned to his home to be reunited with his wife Gwladys.

Ron will continue selling poppies along with other veterans at the Tesco supermarket in Spytty, Newport for the next two weeks.

We caught up with him while he was on shift: