Posted on Friday 9th November 2018
John Henderson CB, Chief Executive Staffordshire County Council, Kerry Hutchings and Tracie Meredith from Staffordshire libraries and arts service and Philip Atkins OBE, leader of Staffordshire County Council
A display of over 1,000 hand-made poppies is on display at Staffordshire Place as part of the county’s plans to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the end of the Great War.
People from across Staffordshire have been using personal artefacts, archive material, photos, letters and objects to make poppies in remembrance of soldiers that have fought and died as well as the families at home whose domestic, everyday lives contributed to fighting the war on the home front.
The display includes a contribution of 100 poppies made by students from the Embassy International School in Krakow, Poland. Pupils from fourteen countries took part in the project, making a poignant reminder of how the war touched every corner of the globe. Poppies were created using reproduction letters, images and maps from war time Poland.
Staffordshire County Council’s Libraries and Arts service is behind the ‘Staffordshire Remembers’ project.
Philip Atkins, Leader at Staffordshire County Council explained that the display was the county’s way of commemorating the anniversary of the Armistice and remembering those affected by the devastation of war.
Philip said:
“I’d like to thank everyone who took part in the project and submitted a poppy. It’s truly a unique and individual collection of poppies made in contribution for this significant time of remembrance.”
John Henderson CB, Chief Executive of Staffordshire County Council added:
“This is a particularly poignant year as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice and we’re proud to be playing our part in marking the event.
“Our poppy display looks great and I would like to thank everyone who submitted their own poppy. We are thrilled to have received poppies all the way from Poland, which have taken a proud position in the display.”
Also, within the display, is a collection of poppies, slightly different in style and shape, which represent ‘Trailblazers—World War One’s Inspirational Women ’ – funded by the Big Ideas Fund. Local artist Jennifer Collier led poppy making workshops, bringing together school pupils & community groups to create poppies inspired by the incredible lives of women from the Great War era, to the present day.
The display will be open in Staffordshire Place One foyer, adjacent to Stafford Library from Monday – Friday (8am – 6pm), 9 November – 14 December.