UK to go on poppy offensive to remember WWI

LONDON: The British Prime Minister David Cameron has asked the country to conduct the world's biggest poppy planting drive to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War.

Cameron launched the Royal British Legion Centenary campaign with school children at Number 10 Downing Street garden. The PM and his culture secretary Sajid Javid joined schoolchildren in planting poppy seeds to encourage others to sow seeds and cover the UK in poppies.

The Royal British Legion has launched an educational kit for schools containing a packet of Flanders poppy seeds. The schools pack has been made possible by a £100,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Cameron said, "The First World War centenary programme is about recognition and remembrance, focusing particularly on young people and helping them make a connection with the events that changed the world a century ago. This Poppy initiative is a great idea that will help the next generation understand the significance of what happened during the First World War and commemorate the sacrifice of those who died."

Javid said, "The poppy is a powerful symbol of remembrance. I hope that young people in schools enjoy sowing the poppy seeds and watching them flourish and that it provides them with a vibrant connection between past and present generations. May and June are ideal planting times to ensure the flowers bloom by August 4th, the date that war was declared 100 years ago."

The First World War Centenary Partnership led by Imperial War Museums will mark the centenary by a four-year cultural programme that includes over 500 new exhibitions and 1,500 events.

The poppy's distinctive red flower is a potent symbol of remembrance of the sacrifices made in wars. Scarlet corn poppies grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. In 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were ripped open as WWI raged. Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields.

The significance of the poppy as a lasting memorial symbol to the fallen was realized by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy came to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in WW1 and later conflicts.

It was adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their Poppy Appeal in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921.