Saturday 19 July 2014

Proud Romance


And would it not be proud romance
  Falling in some obscure advance,
To rise, a poppy field of France?     

      - William A. Percy "Poppy Fields"


I've updated the window at work. This is how I spent the Wimbledon final.

Work was hosting a VIP night on the following Tuesday, so we needed a new look. The frame company we were hosting it with, their branding is red, so I got to kill three birds with one stone, firstly the colour branding for the evening.

Secondly, I have been promising the ladies at work for years that I would build a Wizard of Oz themed display, so the fact that I miscalculated the amount of polystyrene (which went it far easier than I ever expected!) for the full length of the window, was beneficial, as I could also lay a yellow brick road between the poppies. There's also advertising for a green transition lens, which if I can find a poster, will act as the Emerald City at some point soon.

Thirdly, 2014 is the centenary of the start of the First World War. This was the main reason for making not far off a 1,000 poppies, to mark this occasion. The poppy isn't a marker for death, or a sign of supporting going to war, it is a simple marker for people to commemorate the events from July 28th 1914 to November 11th 1918 and the people who fought.


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, through poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- Lt. Col. John McCrae "In Flanders Fields"


I'm also serious about the nearly 1,000 poppies, I had four hundred on one of the scraps of polystyrene I was transporting them on, two hundred a piece on two others and at least another hundred on another...yep, I went poppy mad. But it doesn't feel like that many when you're making them in bundles of tens and are determined to finish a reel of green garden wire.

Did I mention I was insane?

Link | WW1 Centenary - The Royal British Legion
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Listening: Love and War (11/11/46) - Rilo Kiley

3 comments:

David said...

You new display looks amazing! Although it's no less than I've come to expect from you :)

Emily Boyd said...

Thank you, David. :)

I'm still debating whether I should try and fill the yellow brick road section into full poppies for next week (the 4th of August marking the start of the First World War), or leaving it as is. I have a piece of Polystyrene left, but would have to source some wire and make the poppies. But I feel like it might fitting.

What do you think?

David said...

I think it looks lovely the way it is, but I know that anything you do will be fantastic.

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