A GIANT poppy created by Redditch Recorded Through Art Group (RRTAG) to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War has been unveiled at Redditch Library.
On Armistice Day, at the 11th hour, RRTAG member and former secretary for the Royal British Legion Ivy Leaf Club Myra Burton showed the finish work.
The poppy was produced 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.
A group spokesperson 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 who wore them.
“Over the years RRTAG was 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 Myra.
The poppy will now stay as an exhibit at the library for all to see.
