Moonraker Posted 23 November , 2014 Share Posted 23 November , 2014 The last 11 posts (12 now!) have had nothing at all to do with poppies at the Tower and is getting unpleasant. Could a Mod either delete the off-topic posts or move them to "About this Forum", where we're due for one of those periodic wailings about how the GWF has gone downhill, so many members are impolite and so on. (And perhaps the thread title has become out-dated, as we're longer in a preview situation but an after-view one.) Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 23 November , 2014 Share Posted 23 November , 2014 The subject of the poppies and their sale is a perfectly legitimate topic for discussion - and in my experience, members of the forum come and go, and have many reasons for doing so. But that is not what this thread is about. I will remove the word "Preview" from the title - and back to the topic of the poppies please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandy hall Posted 24 November , 2014 Share Posted 24 November , 2014 An email arrived this morning to advise my poppy was on its way. The poppy arrived this afternoon, it was dropped over my back gate and luckily survived the fall and this evening's frost. I have just retrieved it. I ordered early August, surname as above and I am on the 2 mins from the sea in West Sussex. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechhill Posted 25 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 25 November , 2014 I'm sorry.....but I thought this forum was all about the Great War...not a shopping channel... Please read the postings for the last few days on this topic with an open mind and you'll see what I mean. I've heard comments about the forum "going downhill" from other respected members and this topic is probably the nadir... Tom As the op and certified ww1 ignorant (for which I try to compensate through curiosity and fascination) I just might feel quite unwelcome on the GWF. Fortunately I've generally been met by warm hospitality and understanding. Thank you all for this. So I'll certainly keep popping in to absorb the amazing knowledge of the forum and feed my inner anorak, whether I'm degrading the forum standard or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 25 November , 2014 Share Posted 25 November , 2014 As the op and certified ww1 ignorant (for which I try to compensate through curiosity and fascination) I just might feel quite unwelcome on the GWF. Fortunately I've generally been met by warm hospitality and understanding. Thank you all for this. So I'll certainly keep popping in to absorb the amazing knowledge of the forum and feed my inner anorak, whether I'm degrading the forum standard or not. You're not degrading the forum in the slightest - please keep posting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechhill Posted 25 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 25 November , 2014 Cheers, Alan! Words as heartwarming as the nice IPA I plan on enjoying come pub time. On topic, I really enjoy the christmassy feeling surrounding the arrival of the coveted poppies. Receiving a "gift" in the spirit of those who gave all makes me slightly misty-eyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 29 November , 2014 Share Posted 29 November , 2014 While there was all the fuss about 'Black Friday' going on in the media yesterday (28th November) the last poppy was removed from the Tower by the eldest and youngest volunteer with, apparently, considerably less: Last of the Tower poppies finally removed NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelPack Posted 29 November , 2014 Share Posted 29 November , 2014 the last poppy was removed from the Tower by the eldest and youngest volunteer Does this mean that I have missed yet another 'Diana' moment to emote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnW Posted 28 March , 2015 Share Posted 28 March , 2015 Well my 3 arrived safe and sound. I took one to Gibraltar where it now resides at my folks place. I too was fortunate enough too attend a removal shift, so glad i did, having missed 2 planting shifts due too illness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
better ole Posted 9 April , 2015 Share Posted 9 April , 2015 Just had a 'Thank you', email from the Tower, giving details of donations to charities and final few delivery dates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anneca Posted 9 April , 2015 Share Posted 9 April , 2015 Same here. I didn't expect this but it is nice to have a "thank you" and to see where the donations have gone. Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 9 April , 2015 Share Posted 9 April , 2015 Me too. Good to see each charity got at least £1.2 million. That's £1.2 MILLION each they wouldn't have had if this art installation hadn't happened. It would be nice to know how much was raised through the chocolate bars too - but that's a whole other story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
better ole Posted 9 April , 2015 Share Posted 9 April , 2015 Looked on the Sainsbury's web site regarding the chocolate, couldn't find anything. However, it appears that the company has been 'supporting' the RBL for almost 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheapchippy Posted 19 April , 2015 Share Posted 19 April , 2015 Hi All, Our local community has been knitting poppies to help Port Pirie Return Services League - Sub Branch [south Australia] with decorating the building façade. We have just put up 2 camo nets housing about 11000 poppies. See poppies in photos We have been very busy in making replica boxes, tinned food, buying mannequins and uniforms, dressing them for Maxim display, WW1 nurse, Command Bunker etc etc See poppies in photos Im not sure how to post photos so I will include my photos in my panaramio link. Paste into your browser... http://www.panoramio.com/user/4939605 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyH Posted 19 April , 2015 Share Posted 19 April , 2015 cheapchippy, That is certainly an impressive display, very well done! Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mythologist Posted 25 April , 2015 Share Posted 25 April , 2015 I am not at all sure about this art installation. The problem with art criticism is that everyone believes they have a right to criticise and the free ability to do so even if they know nothing about art more than "I know what I like". For me this work seems to be as much about tourist incomes, establishment art and a willingness to exploit the 100 year anniversary of slaughter as it is about any personal sense of memory captured in the individual poppies. Again though, that is just my own feeling and I cannot see this uneasiness on a personal level has any merit in being translated into a dogmatic view. What I do actually object to is the use of the word "remembrance" when it is constructed in little more than what could be seen as lip service. All around our country we have memorials with the list of names carved into their surface. Always are the words "We will remember them.". On a personal note, I never walk past a memorial without taking the very short time required to read all of the names. I hope others do the same. But rather than spend tax money on splendidly commissioned works of art for hoards of tourists to pose in front of for their selfies, I would like to see more connection between our existing monuments and our schools. Our memory and its retention needs to be connected to our youth in order to have any truly meaningful longevity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelcave Posted 25 April , 2015 Share Posted 25 April , 2015 Possibly so, but I rather got the impression that the Tower poppy display was (i) self financing and (ii) that it made a profit, which went to service related charities. The work was largely done by volunteers (therefore remembering) and the display visually emphasised the message of remembrance of those who have died (and possibly remembrance of those who suffered) as a consequence of war. It seems to me that it emphasised the cost of war and in its context the reality that we, ie the human race, repeatedly and with nauseating regularity inflict the same punishment on ourselves over and over again. But then I could be reading too much into it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadier Posted 25 April , 2015 Share Posted 25 April , 2015 I also believe that the number of visitors to the installation totally exceeded the wildest expectations. It was the great British public (and overseas visitors) who made it the tourist attraction which it became. I am sure that the income it generated (apart from the sale of the poppies) did not form part of the justification for the installation. Despite all the criticism (and everybody is entitled to their opinion) it was the public who made it the success it was. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 25 April , 2015 Share Posted 25 April , 2015 There are more forms of remembrance than conventional war memorials, and that fact that the display, which I thought was superb form of remembrance, attracted so many people shows how the unconventional can attract attention and perhaps provoke more thought about conflict and its consequences. It also gave those who lost relatives a chance to make a more personal mark than they might otherwise might have been able to, as well as being able to pass that mark onto future generations of their families. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waggoner Posted 25 April , 2015 Share Posted 25 April , 2015 My poppy arrived at our daughter's home in Ontario a couple of weeks ago. It was supposed to come to us but the delivery company on the Contenent must have been geography challenged! However, they are coming to visit next month and will bring it with them! I am looking forward to seeing it! All the best, Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 26 April , 2015 Share Posted 26 April , 2015 Gary, this may be a daft question, how did the postman know your daughter was in Ontario if the item was addressed to you in New Brunswick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waggoner Posted 26 April , 2015 Share Posted 26 April , 2015 I really don't know. She had bought a poppy too so she may have not indicated different addresses on the order form. Or, they were both sent to her as the purchaser and any other instructions were ignored. Who knows? All the best, Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 31 July , 2015 Share Posted 31 July , 2015 Poppy sculpture tour Centenary News Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 28 May , 2016 Share Posted 28 May , 2016 Interesting article about the Poppies display in today's Daily Telegraph magazine, focusing on Tom Piper, who helped to create the installation. The display wasn't his idea, but that of Derbyshire ceramic artist Paul Cummins. Two "sculptures" (scaffolding-like structures that supported thousands of flowers) from the original display were bought by the Backstage Trust and the Clore Duffield Foundation and are touring Britain until 2018. The "Weeping Window" illusion is currently at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney. Thirty thousand volunteers were recruited to plant about 80,000 poppies every week. The last poppy was put in place at 11am on November 11. "The poppies only reached stillness for one day, which was rather beautiful," said Piper. "Then we took them all out, quickly. It was brutal, muddy. When we had finished, the whole moat looked like the Somme." The proceeds raised £9.5 million, which was distributed equally between six service charities. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 28 May , 2016 Share Posted 28 May , 2016 I'm afraid that I went along with some of the cynical comments made on the Forum at the time the poppies were being installed at the Tower-and as a result I'll regret to my dying day that I didn't go to see them. I made a point of visiting the 'weeping window' when it was put up in Liverpool but it wasn't quite the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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