We Remember

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

The boys have reached an age where I wanted to focus more on Remembrance Day than we have in previous years.

Prior to this we have always taken part in our church remembrance service, painted poppies and wore our own in pride.

I always found it difficult to discuss that we stuck something metaphorically onto our body to remember people that we lost where the boys were younger. William has been at an understanding age to appreciate the people we may have lost but James wouldn’t have and this has meant that I haven’t directly taught them the meaning behind wearing a poppy. Yet, recently the boys have shown a level of maturity where they could understand.

I wanted to do it properly and discuss why we wear poppies and then why we may wear different coloured poppies.

Red Poppy

In 1918, Moina Michael was inspired by the poem and published a poem of her own called "We Shall Keep the Faith". In tribute to McCrae's World War I poem "In Flanders Fields", she vowed to always wear a red remembrance poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who fought and helped in the war.

The remembrance poppy has commonly been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war and represents a common or field poppy from the above poem.

White Poppy

In 1926, a few years after the introduction of the red poppy in the UK, the idea of pacifists making their own poppies was put forward by a member of the No More War Movement. Their intention was to remember casualties of all wars, with the added meaning of a hope for the end of all wars; something that I am keen on promoting with the boys.

Black Poppy

The Black Poppy is a symbol created to remember all of our African/Black ancestors who contributed in many ways towards World War One. It is different to the red poppy as it solely represents and honours African history rather than honouring all that died.

This also provides a stance everywhere to hold pride, honour and glory for the tales and legends left behind by our ancestors and for the future generations to be empowered by their history regardless of gender or race.

Purple Poppy

The Purple poppies were introduced in 2006 to commemorate animal victims of war, implemented be Animal Aid in Britain, which can be worn alongside the traditional red one.

The sad truth about animals used within conflict and then the ones that were killed is that there isn’t a definite and clear number presented because unfortunately no one really kept a record of all of the animals that had died. There is, for example, an estimated 8 million horses that died in world war two.

It isn’t a poppy or a cause that is easily remembered but one that I want the boys to recognise and remember. I sometimes think that we all need a reminder that both humans and animals have been and continue to be victims of war and the purple poppy is great for that.

I wanted the boys to create a craft to represent all that they had learnt and thought that a post representing all of the poppies and the fallen would be a good idea. After looking online at several pictures the boys had an idea of what they wanted.

We started off with a reverse sheet of wallpaper.

The boys then painted two thirds of the paper black,

Then with a fine brush painted "grass" blades at the top of the sectioned black.

Using circular sponge ended "brushes" the boys made 6 circles above the grass.

Using a thick brush James painted the body of soldiers going down to the grass where William, with a finer brush, painted on details like hats and guns.

Using circular templates to keep the black centre of the poppy and using a crescent stencil to paint the leaves the boys took it in turns to paint each colour poppy. 

The boys eventually created a white, red, charcoal black and purple poppy heads.

Using masking tape to outline a straight line from the soldiers to the poppy the boys painted a corresponding line down.

Using green paint they made the poppy stalks and leaves.

Finally, I painted a title at the top for them.

This was a great little craft and one that I am glad I did with the boys. We now have a clear and distinctive poster available for future years and we also learnt some of the origins to the different colours poppies. Importantly, we took time and remembered and discussed the different types of people and animals that died in conflict.

Did you know about all of the different colours? What do you think of our poster? Have you done any activities in remembrance.