00:00The countdown has begun to the much-anticipated unveiling of the new poppy display in Skegness.
00:07Volunteers have been working all year in preparation.
00:12Poppy Appeal organiser Tracey Turner tells us more.
00:15It's been a very long ten months and it's soon coming to an end.
00:23Well, tell us all about the 2025 project.
00:26So, 2020-2025 project.
00:30So, as you know, we are going on to the high altitude this year.
00:34So, we're going to have five nets.
00:37Two of the nets have got over 20,000 poppies on each net.
00:43They're very densely placed.
00:46So, obviously, on a frame, if they were, you'd get no impact.
00:49And then there'll be a third one up front and then two on the side.
00:53So, we're starting putting those up on Saturday morning, 8 o'clock.
00:58We've got a crack team of helpers that are going to be up there on the frame and then also at the ground level.
01:06And then, as the morning progresses, we'll start seeing visitors arrive.
01:13We've got some VIP guests.
01:15So, we've got the Lord Lieutenant Toby Dennis coming from Lincolnshire.
01:22We've got Mark Atkinson, who is a Director General of the Royal British Legion.
01:27We have John Fornhill, who is a trustee of the Royal British Legion and the ex-National Parade Marshal.
01:34We've got various other celebrities, but for me, the VIP celebrities or VIPs are Fred Conway, our 100-year-old World War II Bermastar veteran.
01:49We then have Trevor Mitchell, who is our Chelsea pensioner.
01:53We have our Falklands veteran, Bernie.
01:57We also have a Marine veteran who served in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and the Far East.
02:05And he now oversees all five sites of the Imperial War Museum.
02:10And then, heading up the rear is our 18-year-old, Scott Adlington, who passed out from the Harrogate Apprentice College in August this year.
02:23So, from 18 to 100, we're going to give you 80 years of a living timeline of service.
02:32It's going to be very incredible.
02:35Very emotional, I can imagine.
02:37I can imagine. And not to forget the amazing community volunteers as well.
02:45Oh, that's what it's all about.
02:47You know, even if you've had a list of celebrities, it's not about them.
02:51Absolutely not. It is about the people.
02:54We've got Eve Lister. We're delighted that Eve Lister's joining us.
02:57Eve is 99 years old, our oldest knitter.
03:01And it was her poppy that I wore when I showed King Charles back in May.
03:06We've got Jill Thomas coming.
03:09Jill Thomas has been on her own personal mission.
03:13And she's done 8,250 poppies.
03:17We've got Bev Evans, who's done over 5,000.
03:22Angela Mastin's over 4,000.
03:25We've got Marion Alsop, who's done over 2,000.
03:27And we've got the lady that bought in the most wonkiest poppy with holes in it because she wanted to have a go.
03:34And all of those, all of them, are on that net.
03:37It doesn't make a difference whether it was one poppy or 8,000.
03:41They've all come together to create what we're going to put up on Saturday.
03:46Skegness Academy.
03:47Are you talking about that or is that going to be a surprise?
03:50Skegness Academy.
03:51Actually, I've just had a message from them.
03:53The horse is ready.
03:54So Skegness Academy last year on their curriculum, they did a remembrance month on their curriculum.
04:00They did the play poppies last year.
04:03So this year they bought their game and they have done a full size, I mean 17 point whatever hand.
04:09It's a full size war horse all covered in every colour of purple poppy that you can imagine.
04:15Because whilst the Legion don't, it's a separate charity, the purple, the animals, it is important that we still remember the animals.
04:24The horses, the dogs, the pigeons, everything from, even now, the bomb disposal dock.
04:31So yeah, it's very important and that's what the children decided they wanted to do.
04:35So we take delivery of her tomorrow.
04:37Looking forward to seeing her in all her glory.
04:40So if people want to come along and see, where should they go and what time?
04:47So if you want to come on Saturday, it's a public event.
04:50There will be limited seating.
04:52However, the seating is being prioritised to people that have helped with the project.
04:57So they've been given wristbands.
04:59If you find a seat with nobody sat on it, you would be more than welcome after.
05:05So it kicks off, the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Concert Band are coming.
05:10So they're a 21 piece band in all their ceremonial garb.
05:15And they're starting to play at one o'clock.
05:18So they'll be playing some music for about 45 minutes up to an hour.
05:25At two o'clock, we have a parade of standers coming in off Grand Parade.
05:29And they come down the slopes into the Down to the Jolly Fisherman fountain.
05:37And they'll do a couple of laps around there.
05:39Then go through the wooden arbour to the bandstand in the memorial gardens.
05:45And then it will all take place in the compass gardens.
05:49And at the end of the proceedings, we will be doing an act of remembrance, two-minute silence.
05:56And then we're going over to the refurbished war memorial that's taken as a week.
06:02There's a memorial stone.
06:04And we've had it all refurbed.
06:06So that will be unveiled.
06:08And then they'll have some wreath being laid there.
06:12And then it will be off to the ex-servicemen's club, who are very kindly, so kindly, putting on a finger buffet for not just our lot, everybody.
06:22Although wristband people do get priority for the sausage rolls first.
06:28Wow.
06:28Well, that's some event as well.
06:33And I guess at the end of that, you'll be starting for next year.
06:36Yeah.
06:38If Louise did you say that, she's going to absolutely kill me.
06:42I know.
06:43I mean, are you actually going to be able to relax when you go across the road?
06:49Or even eat anything?
06:51No.
06:52So, I mean, like next year.
06:53I mean, the plan next year has always been, it was always going to be a three-year plan.
06:58It was always going to be to turn the big wheel into a giant poppy.
07:03And we still want to do that.
07:04However, it will not be with knitted poppies because the big wheel will be moving.
07:09We'll do it somehow.
07:11We're just not sure how.
07:12But what we are going to do, because people have, it's hard to articulate how ingrained what we have done has gone in people's lives now.
07:24They are going to miss it.
07:25They're getting anxious.
07:27So, we are going to still be doing poppies, not on the scale we've been doing it, because quite frankly, we will not have any room to store any more poppy nets.
07:37But what we will do is we will do a programme of bringing one net in somewhere every couple of months, maybe once, twice a year, of the nets that are around the clock tower currently, and taking all them off because they're just tied on and putting them on securely and adding there.
07:58So, we'll just keep everyone busy.
08:01Yeah, it'll keep everybody's hands busy.
08:04And again, it'll just make one of the nets last year around the clock tower was quite sparse.
08:10And when you look at the photo, it's the one on which web where you're looking at, the one on the right or the one on the left.
08:14And every time I see a photo, I think it's...
08:17So, yeah, we will do that.
08:19And it also then, taking all the poppies off and then putting them on or making sure they're tied on, it just, it just, it proves it for future years.
08:28Because every time we move the nets, you know, you do lose them.
08:31So, there is a constant programme of every time we move them, picking them up, making sure they're all back on.
08:40So, there will be something.
08:41It will not be on the grand scale of what we've done last year.
08:44It'll certainly not be on the same scale of what we do this year.
08:47But we will do something.
08:49I think people need something.
08:52They want something.
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