WOW … good afternoon all … I haven’t posted for a while, in fact, it’s been over a month. Where did that time go?
So a huge welcome to all the newest members of our team. We seem to have stabilised at around 12,300ish members on the facebook group now … but there are many, many others who are not facebook connected. It’s impossible to know just how many of you are out there making poppies, but I suspect there are many.
Every week when the mail comes in, it’s like Christmas for us … another step closer to our two rather lofty targets (50,000/62,000), and apart from all of the wonderful poppies … there are also your cards, and stories and dedications … and recording these dedications and the contributors is just as important to the Project as the making of the poppies. Yes we make poppies with love in our hearts and in gratitude for the service and sacrifice of our servicemen and women … but this is a rather historical project in its own right and we are trying to be sure to keep as accurate a record as we can. That being said, we are slowly catching up with the admin work thanks to Deb Lewis. Poppies sent to poppy headquarters are documented weekly, and others including those arriving at the War Memorial and the collection points will follow once we receive the information.
Last week we reached another milestone … 30,000 poppies collected for the RSL for the 2018 poppy appeal (only 20,000 to go) and we are up to somewhere in the vicinity of 12,000 collected at PHQ for the AWM … we know there are many more out there … but we haven’t received paperwork on them yet … it will follow over time. We will do a call-in in early December to reconcile where we are at and to enable us to start 2018 with a clear idea of what we still need to achieve our goals. Meanwhile … we keep making.
This photo is of my son Evan at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last year meeting the gorgeous and very gracious Demi Moore (just ‘cos I can).
A couple of key points though … we are receiving hundreds if not thousands of poppies without the ends sewn in … these unfinished poppies are not suitable for either of our projects, and so need considerable work to make them ready for use … we would prefer to receive less finished poppies than hundreds of unfinished poppies … so if it’s a toss up for you, we would be happy for you to make fewer finished poppies, ends sewn in, buttons or other centres firmly attached. This makes the task for the small teams in both Melbourne and Canberra much easier when it comes to attaching your poppies to stems.
The second is, if you are POSTING your poppies … please POST to 5000 Poppies, P.O. Box 115, Ashburton 3147. Otherwise you are welcome to drop off to any of the collection points on the blog including the AWM.
And, if you haven’t already, you should read the FAQ on the blog or the pinned post on the facebook group … lots of juicy information about the whys and wherefores there for you.
It is so exciting to see these wonderful projects progressing as well as they are.
Love your work!!!
5000 POPPIES 
To whom it may concern
I have sent you 30 poppies to date. I am currently completing 50 poppies for the Kenmore-Moggill RSL in Brisbane for this Remembrance Day 2017.
I am planning to make another 70 for you for the War Memorial and will send as many as I can before Christmas. I will have to take a break in December to deal with a Christmas project for The Smith Family which will tie me up considerably but then I will get back to poppies for you. I will be away in April and May bit will be making poppies as I travel in Europe. I will do the dedication form in January when I am less busy.
S count on at least another 70 from me and there might be more.
Best wishes
Jean Clarke
Ph: 07 337 0205
Email: jean.russclarke@bigpond.com
Lovely lovely lovely Jean.
Thank you so much.
Lynn
All sounds good. If it would be possible for a batch of the unfinished poppies to be dropped off at the pascoe vale rsl, l could collect them from there and finish them off for you….tidy up the loose threads ….????…200 or 300 perhaps? ls that any use to you? l am also making some poppies for you but mine will have the ends crocheted it. lol I have a back problem so cant drive far, that is why l am suggesting the RSL in Pascoe vale . my name is Cherry Collins and you can email me if you wish……cherryacollins@gmail.com cheers
Hi Cherry,
That is a wonderful offer, but I am not sure that we have anyone who lives in that area to do the drop off … we work our way slowly through the unfinished ones at PHQ … will be in touch if we need more help and can organise some way of getting them to you.
Enjoy making.
Kind regards,
Lynn Berry
I have been wondering if the original poppies on the nets or stems (from Melbourne and Chelsea) will also be part of the installation next November, or if it will only be the “new” poppies?
Hi Katherine,
The original net poppies will not form part of the installation at the AWM … but the original stemmed poppies, plus new will be included. It will be beautiful.
We do, however, have a VERY exciting installation planned for the nets, also in Canberra, but we are still working on the details and have not yet finalised. Suffice to say it will also be rather magnificent.
Excited here.
Kind regards,
Lynn Berry
I dropped off 69 (I ran out of red yarn just one poppy short of a round number!) with safety pins attached at the YPRL on the weekend. My original 250 would be on the nets from 2015, I made 12 more for stems for Chelsea, and I think I am finished. Wonderful to see how the project has taken off.
Thank you so much for your contribution Katherine. Can’t wait til next year … without wishing my life away of course. It will be amazing.
Lynn