Why you should buy a poppy

Love from me too, GA. Edinburgh is lovely so enjoy your break. xx

Just watched your daughter on Songs of Praise grannyactivist. You must be so proud. What a lovely girl, inside and out. Lovely grandson too.

I think she has done much this year to remind people that poppies are still relevant.

GA happy holiday. Wore my poppy and thought about your lovely daughter and all the bereaved partners left to carry on. Got very excited when I saw her on our local news and was able to share her story with my sister who was staying.
Jacey... liked the idea from Swansea a reminder, no doubt, of those who served in both the the Royal and Merchant Navies.

You deserve some R&R ...well done to you all GA ...including DH who had to hold the fort in isolation...away from you and DD

Artygran ...like you will wear lapel pin all year. For all thos paper ones ...I liked the idea that was used in Swansea this year ...floating in water. Understand that not a long term solution ...but if you took the stalks off ...arrange in a small dish ...that could hold a candle in the centre??

Have a nice break and sending ((hugs)) to you and your lovely brave family x

Enjoy your break, GA. You and your lovely and brave daughter need time to draw breath after the week - and year - you've had. Not to mention your DH who is obviously a rock for all of you. .

Had a wonderful afternoon yesterday on Mothecombe beach with the dog and all I could think about was you and your lovely family. Bless you and enjoy your break.

Just got a few minutes to say a heartfelt THANK YOU for all your many kind messages, poems and tributes to my incredible daughter - and most importantly for supporting the RBL's Poppy Appeal.

I've spent my time since Thursday accompanying my daughter to several events in different places. If you saw her on Daybreak it's hard to imagine that we'd had only three hours sleep due to hiccups in travel arrangements the previous night. Immediately following that interview we travelled to the Wootton Bassett 11.11.11.11 service. (That's where the newspaper photographs were taken.) Last night we were in the Royal Albert Hall - then a taxi through the night back to the Southwest so that she could attend the Exeter service of remembrance this morning and be reunited with her son. We're both exhausted, physically and emotionally.

Three cheers for Grandad who took wonderful care of a very lively and vocal grandson whilst we were away!! I'm off to Edinburgh for a couple of days tomorrow for some R&R and to reacquaint myself with my husband. Will catch up when I'm back.

Grannyactivist Your daughter is a credit to you and your wonderful mothering skills. How proud you must feel, and rightly so.

Grannyactivist The lovely photo of your beautiful, brave daughter on the front page of The Times left me tearful. My heart goes out to her and the many like her.

grannyactivist Your daughter has reminded me that there are many different kinds of courage. Your grandson is a joy.

I have mine on a photograph of DSs when they where both in Irag at same time I have the same poppy every year now at it holds memories for me but I give to the appeal and take a poppy for one of my DGCs.

What do we all do with our poppies after Remembrance Sunday? I can't bring myself to throw them away and have amassed quite a few over the years. They are now in a box in the loft! We used to put one above each of my husband's collection of regimental shields (you seem to come away with one from each posting, bearing the badge of the unit), with two for Northern Ireland, which has particularly sad connotations for us, but now we have nowhere to display them. This year I bought a wrist band, and a lapel badge which I will wear all year, but DH always has a traditional poppy. Like Ariadne, my husband felt lucky to have come away from Ulster in the early seventies with just a couple of near misses, but we lost friends and colleagues and they were very tense times for all the families. My heart goes out all service dependents (we tend to forget about the ladies serving there) with partners in theatres of conflict.

grannyactivist your beautiful daughter on the front of the Times today brought a tear to my eye. No young woman should have to be in that position.

Apparently Scottish poppies have four petals and no leaf but English ones have two petals and a leaf. Apparently you're supposed to wear your poppy above your heart and, if it has a leaf the leaf should point to eleven o'clock. I was at a Remembrance Service Scout flag-bearers' rehearsal last night and was told these things by the Guide Leader. My poppy was attached to my coat collar, on the right!

ga - I just saw your daughter on News at Ten - how proud, how sad, how full of love you must be......................xxxxxx

Thank you, Jacey - a beautiful, thoughtful website.

You might like to access this site ...

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Remembrance.html

I have just got home from a meeting where a gentleman ( no other word is appropriate) talked, in a typically understated way, about his time in Stalagluft 3, and his release after 3 years. They waked for 2 weeks in deep snow. He was the same age that my father would have been, and the whole tone was "just got on with it." And they did. And they do. We must never forget.

To me the white poppy has overtones of the white feathers which were presented to young men not in uniform during WW1. I know there is absolutely no connection - quite the opposite intention in fact - but there is disapproval echoing from them - as though those who wear a red poppy were thirsting for blood and violence, not mourning the victims of that violence.

In some cultures, white is the colour of death. I could understand it if in those countries they used a white flower, but not here - Flanders fields were filled with red poppies, not white, after the destruction and disturbance of trench warfare.

"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."

DH & I always stand by the War Memorial at 11am on Remembrance Sunday and it is good to see so many young people with their children observing the 2 minutes silence.

I haven't personally lost family in conflict (other than in WW1 long before my birth) but have great respect for those brave young men and women who have given their lives and enormous empathy for the families left bereaved. To me the poppy is a mark of respect for them all.

I think the red poppies are about peace and the constant reminder of the devastation that war leaves behind, and the grief of the bereaved. I don't think a white poppy is necessary, or saying anything new.

Since they started selling white poppies how many wars have they actually stopped through their education for peace?

Give your money to the people who can do some good with it.

I don't feel it is necessary to wear a special white poppy to show that you do not approve of war and killing. There is not a single widow, orphan, or war-injured serviceman who approves of death and destruction. We wear a red poppy to symbolise the blood that was shed and the grief that was caused, not to glory in bloodshed.

The Peace Pledge Union supply White Poppies every year.
Benjemin Zephonia (spelt wrong I'm sure: the poet) was wearing one on television the other night I noticed.

Read about it on http://www.ppu.org.uk/whitepoppy/index.html