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Poppies at Remembrance

Every year at the beginning of November worshippers in the church are given the opportunity to buy poppies in support of the British Legion's Earl Haig Fund which offers support to disabled and injured ex-service men and women in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Why Poppies

The tradition of using poppies as a symbol of the sacrifice of men and women in war has its roots in a poem written by Major (later Colonel) John McCrae, a Scots-Canadian Medical Officer who served in Flanders during World War I. Major McCrae, during a lull in the second battle of Ypres in 1915, composed a short poem which was later published in Punch Magazine under the title In Flanders Fields. The poem reproduced right, linked the red poppies which flourished on the war-torn battlefields with the sacrifice of the soldiers who had died there. John McCrae himself did not survive the war: he died of pneumonia in France in January 1918. Shortly after the end of the war, paper poppies began to be sold initially in France and later Britain as a means of raising funds for the relief of needy servicemen and their families. The first Poppy Day was held in Britain on 11th November 1921, three years to the day from the signing of the Armistice which brought World War I to an end.

In Flanders' Fields

John McCrae, 1915 In Flanders' fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders' fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high, If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders' Fields.

Remembrance Service

They shall grow not old, as we that are left to grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them Adapted from "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon

Royal British Legion.