At the Botanics

Went to the Botanics this morning with a few women from my photography group, Wifie. We looked at an exhibition which was part of the ACTINIC Festival.

I hadn't been to the Botanics for quite a while and it was good to see some new displays, in particular a memorial to the First World War with a swathe of cornflowers and yellow and white daises with a few poppies. The poem In Flanders Fields and the story behind the Remembrance Day poppy were commemorated on a carved wooden panel. In the spring of 1915 poppies sprang up on the battlefields of Belgium, France and Gallipoli and became associated with the battlefields of the First World War. After the war an American woman, Moina Michael, campaigned to have the poppy adopted as a symbol of remembrance. It was adopted in 1920 in the USA and 1921 it was taken up in Canada, the UK, France, New Zealand and Australia.

I came across a good website on the 1st WW while I was looking into remembrance poppies:

http://www.greatwar.co.uk

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, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.