Last weekend Brian and I went on an adventure to the Tower of London.

We were part of a volunteer team planting 888,246 ceramic poppies that will progressively fill the Tower’s famous moat over the summer. Each poppy represents a British military fatality during the 1st World War.   You can find out all the details by clicking here.

Brian is a veteran of the Royal Navy, having served 27 years and we both have family members who have served in the military in both peace times and war, it was something we both felt we needed to do, to honour those who have fallen.

It is so difficult to describe the enormity of this installation, I hope these pictures will do it justice.

Currently there are only about 300,000 poppies in the moat, so that’s 1/2 million more to go !

The poppies are all different and have been handmade from ceramic. They are so beautiful, and you can purchase them.  If you go to this link here they cost £25 and all net proceeds plus a guaranteed 10% from every poppy sold will be shared equally amongst six service charities.

They are 3 different heights, the tallest is about a metre or 3ft and the smallest about 15cm or 6″

The poppies are ‘planted’ using steel rods and washers, so part of the team made the stalks, I was rubbish at that !!!! and the rest of the team ‘planted’ with large hammers, that I was good at !!!

The team all wore red ‘volunteer’ t-shirts, have you noticed the huge range of weather, on this picture of Brian is is incredibly sunny, half an hour before it was monsoon rain……British weather at it’s very best.

Here I am with my trusty hammer, and that is my patch !

Once the next teams start our poppies will be surrounded by other poppies so we took this picture, so you can see mine!

My awesome husband and me, what a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, our team planted over 4,000 poppies.

I would urge you to volunteer if you can or visit or even purchase a poppy.