The Poppies Wave by night.

I featured the Poppies Wave installation at the Naval War memorial on Plymouth Hoe,

in bright summer sunlight on my post of 26th August.

Here they are on a crisp autumn night.

The Poppies Wave

 

Some of the poppies which attracted huge crowds to the Tower of London in 2014, have come to Plymouth.

 

The ceramic poppies marking British and colonial casualties of World War One have been sculpted into a wave at the Naval Memorial on the Hoe.

The Poppies will be in the city 

till 19th November  

Click to visit the BBC website to view a short video clip which sets this event in context.

The city is the only one in the UK to host the display on a war memorial

Lest we forget.

Today is Remembrance Sunday

when we remember those who died in armed conflict.

Every village, town and city in the United Kingdom has its War Memorial,

in memory of  its sons and daughters who gave their lives for their country.

 In Saltash, a small town just across the River Tamar from Plymouth, in Cornwall,

these seats commemorate those who died in conflict.

For those who died in the First World War, !914 - 1918.

For those who died in the Second World War, 1939 - 1945.

For those who have died in war and conflict since 1945 to the present.

The Battle of the Somme.1916

Yesterday (1st July) was the Centenary of the first and bloodiest day of the Battle of the Somme.

 

The Allies bombarded the German trenches for seven days and then sent 100,000 men over the top to attack the German lines.The day was an utter disaster for the British.

The Germans had weathered the artillery barrage in deep trenches and came up fighting. 

As the British advanced, they were mown down by machine gun fire and 19,240 men were killed.

It was, and remains, the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.

 

Click here for Where? What? Who? etc.

 

All round the country Acts of Remembrance took place.

This group of young men, the same age as many who were killed that day and wearing uniforms of the time, marched silently along the Waterfront. The leader handed a simple card bearing the name of a man from the local regiment who died that day, to bystanders as they passed.

 

The Wilted Rose

This is a panel on the Boer War Memorial on Plymouth Hoe.

I wonder who put the flower there?

I wonder why they put it there?

Do they do it on a regular basis?

For the story of this memorial Click Here

Remembering the Merchant Seamen of this country who perished in war.

 Last week, on the Barbican, there was a short, but moving, wreath laying service to remember the sacrifice made countless numbers of British merchant seamen as they helped to keep vital supplies getting through to the British Isles in times of war.

It was disappointing to see that some people simply moved through the participants during their  ceremony, rather than move around the group or wait till they had finished.

 If you look at the image below you see a "dog walker" on the left, who has simply walked through the group, and a "ducker" on the right who moved in front of the group rather than pass behind the Standard Bearers

Guardians of the deep

These two have come down from the plinths 

from where they guard the entrance to the

Royal Naval War Memorial on Plymouth Hoe.

The Naval War Memorial on Plymouth Hoe.

        

                                               They shall grow not old, as we that are left 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.