Ladies' Guild Meeting - August 2010
On 4th August, we set off to the Poppy Factory in Richmond. Our guide for the visit was Shaun Johnson, who had left the Army in 1994 after eleven years’ service, including two in Belfast. He found a job with Immigration and worked at numerous Airports, including Luton, until he became unwell. A fit, healthy young man, now unable to work. He was diagnosed with Combat Stress and referred to Leatherhead for treatment and is still under their watchful eye. A year ago, he became a member of staff at the Poppy Factory. Apparently, Combat Stress or PST is suffered by 60% of our soldiers.
The Ladies' Guild
In August 1914, after the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand England was at war. A Canadian and field surgeon, John McCrae, joined the battlefield in Ypres in 1915. He lost Alexis Helmer, his friend and former student in the battle. This event and the fields of poppies all around, inspired him to write the poem ‘In Flanders Fields.’ A young officer read the poem and sent a copy to ‘Punch’ magazine. It was published on 8th December, 1915. John McCrae died from serious ill-health in 1918.
An American lady, Moina Bell Michael, a teacher and worker for the YMCA, was so moved by McCrae’s poem that she travelled to France and then the UK. She wrote a poem ‘We Shall Keep the Faith’ and this with ‘In Flanders Fields’ was printed in the middle pages of ‘Ladies Home Journal’. When she wanted to return to the USA she was given a safe passage. On arriving home she gave 10 dollars to ‘La Wannamakers’ to produce 25 silk poppies which she sold to her friends to raise money for injured servicemen. In 1920, she persuaded the USA to proclaim the poppy as its national emblem of remembrance. She wore a poppy on her coat everyday until 1944.
Madame E Guerin liked this idea and took it back to France where they began to manufacture poppies. In 1921 she sent French women to London to sell these poppies and raised £106,000. In 1922, Earl Douglas Haig, seeing the popularity of the poppy in the USA and France, and with a little persuasion from Madame Guerin decided it would be a suitable symbol for the British Legion. George Howson, holder of the Military Cross, founded the Poppy Factory in England. He had been in North Borneo and suffered dysentery, yellow fever, malaria and more. In those days, there were no social services and so together with JJ Curran he formed the Disabled Society. They won a tender in 1922 to make poppies, although they had no staff and no building. They were given £2,000 from the Unity Relief Fund and set up a small factory off the Old Kent Road with 5 ex-servicemen. By 1924, he employed 184 men; 80% of whom were suffering injuries. The artificial poppies were designed so that they could be made by someone who had lost a hand.
In 1925, they merged with the British Legion, later to become the Royal British Legion, and found a place in Richmond with 4 acres of land, on which he built flats for his workers.
George Howson, the founder, was a very sick man. When he knew he was dying and was being moved to a Nursing Home he asked his driver to take him to the Poppy Factory where all the workers sang ‘Old Soldiers Never Die’. He died in 1936 aged 50 years. His body was placed in the factory for 3 days and 3 nights; the factory workers stood on guard all the time.
Today, there are only 35 staff, mostly ex servicemen or their families. There are also about 50 outworkers, within a 10 mile radius of the factory. Poppies are also made by prisoners. As soon as they finish this year's orders, they begin work for the following year.
Making a Poppy Wreath
The factory produces 1.5 million small wooden crosses with a poppy on each year. They also produce the Star of David (for the Jewish community), a half moon (for Muslims) and a plain stick for those with no religion. They make 115,000 wreaths and hold 1,000 different regiment badges. They also produce for the Commonwealth and often get requests from Wootton Bassett and Afghanistan. We saw the wreaths that will be laid at the Cenotaph by the Queen, Prince Charles, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Andrew. The plume of feathers in Prince Charles’ wreath takes two weeks to make and is of a fine silky white tissue.
At the festival of Remembrance, at the Royal Albert Hall, on 4th November, a million poppy petals are dropped down, each one representing a dead serviceman or woman. Sadly each year this number is still increasing. We were shown the Poppy buttonholes worn by the Queen Mother and the Queen. These are theirs alone and will never be reproduced.
Poppies
In 2009, 90,000 wooden crosses were planted in the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey. Now it was time to walk around the factory and watch everybody busy at work doing their part to get everything ready for the next Remembrance Day.
Later, as we stood waiting for our coach, lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder. I felt this was a reminder of what was happening to our soldiers everyday, in Afghanistan, except they are seeing and hearing gunshots and explosions! Much, much worse than our little storm! Let us remember them. A most interesting, informative and at times emotional talk, relayed to us by a man whose heart was very much in what he was doing.