The organisation of the children’s forging element of this event is now fully underway and many schools in Belgium and France have been contacted and given the opportunity to take part in this activity. English schools have been made aware of this event through ‘School Tour Companies’ and the Website.
Rotas have been completed to ensure school children can take part during their school day, (mornings and early afternoons) with further opportunities for the general public to take part late afternoons until 6 pm and the weekend from 9.00am until 6 pm.
All schools will pre book their session, while for the general public a ‘timed ticket system’ will operate to insure there is limited waiting and equal opportunities for all to forge.
It is anticipated that each session will take 20 to 25 minutes.
This is a FREE activity with all safety clothing, together with the necessary tools provided for the children/public to use, and all participants will work individually with their own, designated blacksmith.
The activity will be run in accordance with current Health and Safety and Child Protection Guidelines and Parents or Guardians will be required to sign to say that they will allow their children to participate.
It is hoped that during the 6 days of the event around 450 children’s poppies will be made, these poppies will be placed in an area around the Cenotaph exclusively designated for them.
It is proposed that Poppies forged by children before the Event will be made into a Wreath or Wreaths which when complete will be placed at the Menin Gate. It is hoped that many children from different nationalities will be involved in poppy production – the wreaths will truly be a global enterprise.
Stem production is well under way for these poppies with current production standing at 250 and with a target of 500 by the start of next year.
Stem making is a complex process with each stem going through 8 stages of production, they are hand made and produced in batches of 50-100.
Details of how you can participate in this event can be found on this website as it is updated.
