We are getting there …. countdown to Chelsea

With only 12 weeks to RHS Chelsea to go … we are working at a fever pitch to ensure that our panels and stems are completed.  Many, many thousands of woman (and man) hours in the making, I am thrilled to say that we are almost to the ready stage.  More than  20,000 stems are under construction with over 16,000 completed and returned already, and we have completed the refurbishment of 78/80 of our beautiful nets.  An amazing accomplishment.  Our final date for completion of the Chelsea Installation is 17 March, and we will wearing green that day for St Patrick’s day as we  place the last of our poppies on the 80th panel and then it will be party time.  So from midday onwards it’s open house at Poppy Headquarters for a nibble and a champers.  Feel free to join us if you are able (bring a plate or a bottle to share if you would like).   If you don’t know where we are you can pm me on facebook or you can email me.  Suffice to say Glen Iris Victoria Australia.  However, don’t let a little geography stop you from celebrating locally if you can’t make it here.  We are getting excited!

There will still be work to do once we have completed all the nets and stems.  We still need to check the returned nets (that have been on loan) for any minor repairs needed – although in truth we are expecting very little will need to be done; we are creating an additional 5000 stems (icorded and ready for poppies) to send over to the UK in the hope that we can add some poppies from the UK to the display (that’s exciting); we will also be sewing individual duffel bags for each of the nets to protect them in transit (I expect there will be a sewing bee at PHQ announced shortly on facebook (BYO sewing machine) and we will be creating a small but meaningful display for Anzac Day in Melbourne.  We are also looking forward to seeing all the poppies come out for Anzac Day in many other areas around Australia.  Don’t forget to post your pics on facebook to share with the whole group.  We love to see your poppy pics.

So the work will not stop in the short term.

Looking forward to our post Chelsea plans … we are still hoping to take at least part of the installation to the Western Front … in particular Pozieres (Windmill site) in July and Phillip’s team has already started work on the design.  This is obviously funding dependent, and so there is still a lot of work to be done on making it a reality.  And if it works it will be amazing, but if it doesn’t we will be incredibly proud of what we have already achieved.

So, we hope you can make it on the 17th March.

Feel free to join in the conversation on facebook if you’d like to follow us more closely.

Again, I would like to thank Phillip Johnson and his team at Phillip Johnson Landscapes for their amazing commitment to the project, and of course State Government of Victoria for helping to make our Chelsea dream a reality … I still pinch myself everyday!