A GIANT poppy has been created by Redditch Recorded Through Art Group (RRTAG) to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War.
The work is to commemorate the 309 servicemen Shot at Dawn during the first world war and finally pardoned in 2006, following a long campaign by relatives and John Giles Hipkin – famously the UK’s youngest prisoner of war.
RRTAG has up to a dozen members that meet weekly.
A spokesperson for the group said: “The idea stems from that feeling of nostalgia when you rummage through a button box and wonder about the garments they once held together and the people that wore them.
“Over the years RRTAG were given vintage buttons, some of them clearly military, the stripping of buttons from military garments was also one of the punishments administered to those whom it was felt had failed the standards required.
“This led to thoughts of those ‘Shot at Dawn’.
“It was shocking and sad to read the many stories of those victims of war and immediately the idea was born to commemorate them using a button to represent each life cut short in this tragic way.”
The work features a huge poppy with a 309 buttons at its heart, with each name machine embroidered by member Myra Burton.
Myra, former secretary for the Royal British Legion Ivy Leaf Club, will unveil the finish work for the eleventh hour on November 11 in Redditch Library.
