Wychbury Poppy Campaign 2010

We are one month away from Remembrance Sunday and you might remember my blog post of last year explaining my reasons for getting involved with the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal and making a donation from the sale of my poppy corsages.

This year, my local area has seen the funerals of several young men killed in action abroad. My husband is a registrar at our local cemetery and helped to teach several 18 and 19 year old soldiers how to correctly and honourably carry the coffin of their friend into the chapel. In my last post I drew attention to the soldiers of the last century who weren't given a choice as to whether or not to fight, but through their sacrifice earned a choice for the generations that followed. I can't help but wonder how capable some of these young men are of making the right choice when they join the armed forces, I wonder where they find the drive to leave their families and friends, babies and young wives - then I wonder even more what would happen if they didn't.

Last year we raised £70 for the Poppy Appeal and have already raised £10 for the 2010 campaign from sales from our stall. This year I have repackaged the range and added some new items too, hopefully they will sell just as well and we can raise even more money. The items, prices and donation amounts are:

Classic Poppy Corsage - £9.00 (donation of £1.00 for each one sold)

Tiny Poppy Pin - £5.75 (donation of £0.70)

Pair of Hairclips - £8.50 (donation of £1.00)

Single Hair Clip - £4.50 (donation of £0.50)

Limited edition Fascinator Band - £16.00 (donation of £2.00).

I can also make custom poppy items such as chokers, bridal hair accessory sets etc and will donate 10% of the sale price of all custom items.

The Poppies are also available in our Etsy shop priced in US dollar$ and will soon be available on Wychbury's website. I will continue to recommend fabulous Folksy though, for it's ease in ordering multiple items.

If you bought a Wychbury Poppy last year and plan to wear it again (which we would strongly encourage in the name of sustainability!), please, please still donate some change to a Legion Poppy seller.

Paula x

Poppies Everywhere.

Thank you to Illusio, Wild Woman Jewelry and The Cycling Artist for including our Poppies in their Remembrance Day treasuries today. As it stands the figure on Wychbury's Blue Peter style totaliser for the Poppy appeal is £48 and FIFTY EIGHT poppies, large and small have been sold so far - mainly from our Folksy shop.

This is absolutely phenomenal and we'd like to say a HUGE 'Thank you' to everyone who has helped us to help the appeal so much more than we normally would both by purchasing and promoting our brooches. The tiny poppy pins are almost sold out but there are still a few in our online shops, they will be back on general sale as soon as we get more supplies. The large ones will continue to be sold for as long as people want to buy them and we will continue to make the £1 donation to the Poppy Appeal.

Paula x

A Bit About Remembrance

I have never been one for thinking about war, I try to be a big ostrich because I just cannot bear all the awful negative emotions that arise from thought of so much pain and loss. I think maybe I always considered the wearing of red poppy on remembrance sunday to be a too painful reminder of that. However, I am thankful that (I hope) my children will never be in a position where they are not given a choice about whether or not they join the armed forces and end up in a controversial war. I realise that choice has been earned for them by people, our own ancestors, who weren't given a choice but fought their asses off anyway and died somewhere awful. My Great Grandmother recieved the 'Dead Man's Penny' instead of her husband after World War 1, and my young Great Grandfather and his baby son (my lovely Grandad Bob) never met.

I never knew this about him until I researched my family tree and my Dad produced the bronze plaque for me to see. Also called 'the Widow's Penny' it is so heavy and cold that I can't imagine the grief my Great Grandmother must have felt as she held it.


Recently, a few of my Poppy Corsages have been bought by people who wanted to wear them specifically for the run up to Poppy Day and Remembrance Sunday itself on the 8th November. Although I never thought my brooches would be worn for this reason, now I know they are I will always associate them with remembrance and promise to be an ostrich no more!



I figure that since my customers would normally have bought a British Legion poppy pin that their donation will go unmade unless I make it on their behalf when they buy mine instead. That being so I have decided to make two brand new versions of the Poppy corsage, one large and one small and make a donation for each one sold from our online shops. The larger corsages are £8.50 and £1 donation will be made and from the £5 smaller pins I will donate 50p each.

You can make an independant donation by buying a poppy from a British Legion Seller or visit their website for other ways to give. http://www.poppy.org.uk/

Paula x