At the November meeting Retired Col Jeremy Prescott gave members a moving and intriguing talk on the Remembrance Poppy.  Entitled “The Miracle Flower - From Flanders to The Tower” it explained how the Poppy became the flower and symbol of remembrance.

 

From John McCrae's iconic poem "In Flanders Fields", to America’s Moina Michael who named the poppy "The Miracle Flower" and initiated the poppy appeal in support of the sentiment expressed in the poem, to Anna Guerin who encouraged French widows and their children to make poppies for the British Legion. The influence of the opium poppy in the recent war in Afghanistan was covered with the end of British engagement coinciding with the uplifting project "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" at the Tower of London.

 

This meeting also included the AGM with reports confirming a club in a good financial position with an active membership of 51.