REMEMBERANCE SERVICE. 10:45 13th November 2022
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT REMEMBRANCE POPPIES

Kyiv Post Ukraine embraces poppy as war remembrance symbol By Olena Goncharova, Mark Rachkevych. Published May 8, 2015.
The Ukrainian Poppy
In Ukraine, the Remembrance Poppy symbol was first used publicly in May 2014. Kharkiv-based designer Serhiy Mishakin came up with a Ukrainian version of a red poppy symbol for the Victory Day. It replaced the orange-and-black St. George’s Ribbon, the Victory Day symbol imposed by Russia and previously used in Ukraine too. In 2014, the ribbon began to associate with Russia-backed separatists in Crimea and Ukraine’s east and their supporters.
The Ukrainian Poppy
In Ukraine, the Remembrance Poppy symbol was first used publicly in May 2014. Kharkiv-based designer Serhiy Mishakin came up with a Ukrainian version of a red poppy symbol for the Victory Day. It replaced the orange-and-black St. George’s Ribbon, the Victory Day symbol imposed by Russia and previously used in Ukraine too. In 2014, the ribbon began to associate with Russia-backed separatists in Crimea and Ukraine’s east and their supporters.
In an interview to Ukrainska Pravda, Mishakin explained that the red poppy looks like a wound. The image shows an allusion, resembling a trail of blood.
Official Ukrainian version of the Remembrance Poppy was designed with the assistance of Ukrainian National Memory Institute and the National Television Company of Ukraine. The poppy is accompanied by a motto that reads, “Never Again.”
“We tried to find a solution that was graphically simple,” Mishakin was quoted as saying. “When you pin it (to your clothes), it’s like you try on a bullet wound.”
Official Ukrainian version of the Remembrance Poppy was designed with the assistance of Ukrainian National Memory Institute and the National Television Company of Ukraine. The poppy is accompanied by a motto that reads, “Never Again.”
“We tried to find a solution that was graphically simple,” Mishakin was quoted as saying. “When you pin it (to your clothes), it’s like you try on a bullet wound.”

In 1921 Earl Haig noticed some French widows - inspired by Lt Col John McCrae’s iconic poem “In Flanders Fields” - selling silk poppies to raise funds for disabled ex-Servicemen.
The poppy, which is central to the poem, was one of the few plants that survived in the churned up battlefields of Flanders, growing by the thousands amidst chaos and destruction.
Earl Haig's first poppy factory was in Richmond in1922 but demand for poppies was so high that few reached Scotland.
The poppy, which is central to the poem, was one of the few plants that survived in the churned up battlefields of Flanders, growing by the thousands amidst chaos and destruction.
Earl Haig's first poppy factory was in Richmond in1922 but demand for poppies was so high that few reached Scotland.

In 1926, Lady Haig established a factory in Edinburgh to produce poppies exclusively for Scotland.
Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory is still there today and a team of disabled veterans produce over 2 million poppies by hand for the Scottish Poppy Appeal each year.
The Scottish Poppy
Upon establishing the Lady Haig Poppy Factory in 1926, Lady Haig designed a poppy with four petals and no leaf, whereas the version produced in Richmond had two petals and a leaf. This difference remains today.
Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory is still there today and a team of disabled veterans produce over 2 million poppies by hand for the Scottish Poppy Appeal each year.
The Scottish Poppy
Upon establishing the Lady Haig Poppy Factory in 1926, Lady Haig designed a poppy with four petals and no leaf, whereas the version produced in Richmond had two petals and a leaf. This difference remains today.