A Living Poppy
Before Christmas I wrote a post, “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”, about the spectacular poppy installation at the Tower of London to commemorate the centenary of the start of World War 1. I meant to follow it up with a post about a huge ‘living’ poppy that was created locally at GCHQ. But 2014 ended as it had progressed, with accidents, emergencies and disasters of a medical, rather than domestic kind! Now that my own personal Annus Horribilis has ended, and a new year has begun, I am determined to continue with my blog. So here is my belated post on poppies and peace.
I have mentioned before that I live near ‘The Doughnut’, which is the local nickname for the building which houses the Government Communication Headquarters, GCHQ. Being an important part of our country’s security service, we rarely find out what is happening inside the building. They are brilliant at keeping things quiet! So it was a great surprise to find that many of the workforce, past and present had taken part in what can only be described as a ‘happening’!
The Gloucestershire branch of the Royal British Legion wanted to do something special, unusual and spectacular, to mark the centenary of World War 1 and GCHQ personnel volunteered to help. What they created was certainly spectacular and got quite a lot of press coverage although, unlike the Tower of London installation, no member of the public actually saw it for real!
A single giant poppy, representing ‘Remembrance of the past and hope for the future’, was created with military precision and great planning. 27 service people from the Royal Navy wore black uniforms to form the centre of the poppy. They were surrounded by 1308 GCHQ staff in red rain ponchos to form the petals. 73 other military personnel wearing green combat dress formed the stalk. Altogether 100 military and 1308 civilian staff were involved and the completed poppy measured 38 metres in diameter with a 28 metre long stalk. It took just over an hour to get everyone in position. I read that the GCHQ’s brass band, ‘Top Secret Brass’, provided rousing music to keep everyone’s spirits up. Aerial photographs were taken from a helicopter, and I am delighted to say that I have been given permission to use them in my blog. You can also watch the creation of the poppy here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc5ijfpXwK0
Participants were invited to make a donation to take part and £1730 was raised. The used ponchos were donated to local charities namely a number of scout groups in the local area and Bloodbikes, a charity providing out of hours emergency medical courier service to Gloucestershire and the surrounding counties.
In view of the amount of blood transfusions my husband has had recently, I have to say that is a cause very close to my heart.
Heavenhappens 
This is a powerful statement. LOVE IT.
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I am so sorry Judy that I did not reply to your comment earlier. My blogging life is sadly neglected at the moment due to my caring role! But I am so glad you enjoyed the post and thank you very much for commenting. I will now try to catch up with all the bloggers I have inadvertently and unwittingly offended or ignored!
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Reblogged this on the grizzle grist mill and commented:
Wow. Simply amazing, and a wonderful memorial to WWI and all those involved.
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Thank you that is very kind of you x
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That is simply awesome! It’s incredible what people can do when they come together in unity….another post for another day. 😉 Love this, especially, since poppies are my favorite flowers, second only to the rose. 🙂
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Thank you for the lovely comment. I enjoyed your sons cabin photo! Very thought provoking postn
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Freundliche Grüße, Wolfgang
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I am so sorry that I did not reply to your comment earlier. My blogging life is sadly neglected at the moment due to my caring role! But I am so glad you enjoyed the post and thank you very much for commenting. I will now try to catch up with all the bloggers I have inadvertently and unwittingly offended or ignored!
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This is so amazing and touched me deeply. My own father was KIA WWII (flew a B-24 with the US Army 8th out of Norfolk). Of course this has influenced my reaction to anything such as you you describe here. Thank you.
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I’m so glad it brought back memories if your own father x bear wishes Victoria.
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Inspiring blog today, and I hope that 2015 is a much calmer year for you, without medical emergencies. I have just been getting back to blogging myself after some challenging times. I hoping this will be a much brighter year. Happy New Year to you!
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I am so sorry that I did not reply to your comment earlier. My blogging life is sadly neglected at the moment due to my caring role! But I am so glad you enjoyed the post and thank you very much for commenting. I will now try to catch up with all the bloggers I have inadvertently and unwittingly offended or ignored!
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I came here to thank you for following my blog, but was also very impressed with the GCHQ installation. What a shame the public didn’t get to see it.
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Thanks Viv , I accidentally pressed unfollow on my phone with my butter fingers so had to quickly follow you again!!
I loved the fishing post and photo by the way!
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I am so sorry that I did not reply to your comment earlier. My blogging life is sadly neglected at the moment due to my caring role! But I am so glad you enjoyed the post and thank you very much for commenting. I will now try to catch up with all the bloggers I have inadvertently and unwittingly offended or ignored!
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🙂
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Wow! I never would have guessed that is what it was from the first picture. Very interesting and heartening to know a government organization would do something like this.
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Yes it’s pretty impressive and was very moving for everyone involved strangely x
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Amazing Ceremony …Wow 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed the post. Thank you for reading so many of my blogs! I will enjoy getting to read yours when i get some free time. Things are a bit busy here at the moment!
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Thanks for reading Jake and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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This is so beautiful! I was in London at the end of October and went to see the poppy installation around the Tower (me and another 500,000 Londoners…). It was incredible – the entire “mote” around the Tower was a sea of red.
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Oh yes i saw it and i blogged about it with lots of photos! I always imaging you living somewhere exotic and exciting like Manhattan! I dont imagine you being in london but im so glad you saw this installation. It was brilliant x
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Incredibly moving!
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Thank you Cindy x
Sent by Brenda Kimmins
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