Our commune will this year for the first time in three years hold the full remembrance ceremony on 11th November. For the last two years it’s been very low key, without the traditional public parade and after ceremony vin d’honneur etc at the Salle des Fetes, for obvious reasons.
There will be a number of British and Commonwealth citizens there I have no doubt, myself included. In 2019 there must have been a dozen or so of us. The Bleuet de France will be on sale, and I will happily contribute to their appeal once again.
But I have no realistic way to buy a British Legion poppy or other remembrance item anywhere nearby (I’m in the 37). The RBL have stopped selling their items to EU residents because Brexit means the cost of sending the items outweighs their value. Thanks once again Brexiteers. According to their website, this does not affect the distribution of paper poppies to EU countries.
So I contacted the RBL to ask where to buy them. Their reply: “You will be able to find the paper poppies with any local Royal British Legion seller in your area, as long as that seller is selling them”. About as helpful as a chocolate teapot. The RBL branches in France are (a) nowhere near me, and (b) not giving many clues as to how to buy from them even if I was close by. It seems I could do a 5-600 mile round trip to the Pas de Calais region where I might find them in one of the WW1 museums, but that seems to be it.
Searching posts here, there doesn’t seem to be any recent info on this. Does anyone have any clues? I’m willing to travel within the 37/36/86 departments if there is a seller in any of these and I’ll buy a few poppies so I can offer them here next Friday.
My mum died 3 years ago and these were in her things. I can send you something if you like. No ordinary poppies though and two of the little pins are dated. I am in 22.
Looks very similar to those made by a friend some years ago… with a small safety pin stiched onto the reverse to fix onto coat lapel/wherever…
She handed them round and we all made a donation to RBL .
Talking of dear old dad… I remember his anger at the government of the time which forbade Poppy Sellers to rattle collecting boxes to encourage folk to buy a poppy…
That is begging!! One must wait quietly for Joe Public to approach and request a poppy!!
(those were instructions and poppy sellers could be prosecuted if the guidelines were not followed…)
No, it’s not appropriate for me. But I will go down this afternoon and decorate the sides of the memorial with bluets, as I am on the flower team in the village.
We had a wonderful turnout and, as usual, my eyes filled with tears as all the names were read aloud… plus the names of those more recent victims…
Phew, sold lots of bleuets to all nationalities
and there were about a dozen crocheted poppies being worn with bleuets alongside…
Speeches, flags, and glorious music…
and I forgot to mention the 1 minute of silence… which really was silent !!
Sadly, no refreshments afterwards, as we have an outbreak of covid locally… but we’ve all noted “8 mai” in our diaries… as the Maire has promised us a good time next year…
Do they read all of the 1914-1918 names on the monument as well as those of those killed this year? We only read out those killed in the army this year, 2 in Mali.
