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Tower Poppies: Remembrance Day round up

As it’s just been announced the hugely popular Tower Poppies display at the Tower of London, the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation, will be kept on until the end of the month, we wanted to look back to the very start of this record-breaking emotive display as we remember the fallen this Armistice Day. Originally, the Tower Poppies were to commemorate the fallen soldiers of World War I, but it’s safe to say that the stirring installation has exceeded all and any expectations, and touched the hearts of even more people than ever anticipated. The first hand-crafted ceramic poppy was planted in the moat of the Tower of London on the 5th August to mark the centenary of the outbreak of WWI. The installation was the brain-child of the artist Paul Cummins who produced 888,246 ceramic poppies to be bought and planted around the moat. You can watch a video of how the poppies were made, here: The money raised from the sale of the poppies was to go towards six main military-focused charities including Help for Heroes and The British Royal Legion. Each of the 888,246 poppies planted was to represent every one of the fallen British men in the First World War. Alongside this visual mark of respect, at sunset the names of 180 Commonwealth troops have been read out as part of a Roll of Honour, followed by the Last Post. Nearly four million people are expected to have visited the Tower Poppies display at the Tower of London by the 12th November and because of its ongoing popularity, and through the victory of a public vote, the display will be extended past the 11th November until the end of the month. Once the display has officially ended, the poppies will be touring the country before finally ending up in a permanent exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London. So don't worry if you won't catch the real thing, you can still enjoy the exhibition when it's up at the IWM! The Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation has been one of the most impactful campaigns for Remembrance Day we have ever seen. Other landmarks around the city will be commemorating Armistace Day and the First World War centenary through their own displays, such as Westminster Abbey’s field of remembrance which will free for visitors until the 16th November; as well as a bronze sculpture of a Centenary Soldier standing at Trafalgar Square until the 16th November, before it embarks on a four year tour of the United Kingdom. This statue is particularly symbolic and it represents the ‘unknown soldier’ in support of the Every Man Remembered charitable campaign. Don't forget the minute's silence held at Trafalgar Square at 11am, 11th November.

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