We received this letter from the RBL and our Councillors have decided to donates a number of these Poppies.
So, if you are wondering what we are doing displaying Poppies on Lamp posts across the Parish now you know. If you would like to contribute the details are below (you can, of course, contact our Clerk);
I am contacting you because The Royal British Legion and The Poppy Appeal is commemorating its Centenary on 15th May this year. This is an anniversary we hold dear in West Cheshire particularly as The Legion was started not too far from us in Birkenhead. The Legion was formed to support servicemen and women, ex-serving personnel and their families. In 2021, The Royal British Legion is still supporting those who serve through the Funds raised with its well-loved Poppy Appeal.
We are able to offer Lamppost Poppies which have proved very popular during the Poppy Appeal. However, local communities might like to use them to commemorate this special event and show their support during this time. The suggested donation is £5 each unit (lower for bulk orders) but they can also be re-used later in the year to show support for the Poppy Appeal.
Ruth E Jones Community Fundraiser – West Cheshire
Mobile: 0776 823 8875
Twitter: @CheshirePoppy Facebook:West Cheshire Poppy Appeal
One of our Councillors, Graham Stewart placed a series of Poppies around the Utkinton War Memorial and Shrine – and sent us this poem and picture;
THE BRITISH LEGION WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1921
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
THE POPPIES AROUND THE SHRINE MARK THIS.
A FIRST WORLD WAR POEM.
A young Soldier was returning, after leave, to France
He was on a train.
The train stopped at a lonely Rural station.
He looked out of the window.
~~
Adlestrop
Yes, I remember Adlestrop
The name, because one afternoon
of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform, What I saw
Was Adlestrop – only the name.
And willows willow-herb, and grass
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and around him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
~~
The Train pulled away and was gone.
The young Soldier
Never saw England Again.
Killed in 1917
He lies in a Flanders Field
Were Poppies grow row on row
