We’re delighted to announce our sponsorship of 300 poppies to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World “Great” War as part of a centenery event organised by Friends of Morningside Cemetery.
300 specially commissioned 10-inch silk poppies are being sold in and around the local community in order to raise funds to purchase a matching poppy for 300 graves of veterans and fallen heros – many of whom are local and multi-generational. As the longest serving local funeral director in the Morningside/Marchmont area, we have pledged to buy a further 300 poppies to lay around the Cross of Sacrifice in Morningside Cemetery – intended to provide a visual reminder of the huge numbers involved in one war.
Twelve months ago, the Friends and a team of local volunteers, set about to transform Morningside Cemetery from a run-down graveyard to a welcoming place for local residents and visitors alike. There are up to 300 graves of veterans from battles across France, Belgium and Italy, some having died in well-known conflicts such as Gallipolli and Ypres. The graves also mark the lives of many veterans who died closer to home in hospitals such as Craiglockhart (now Napier University). Craiglockhart Hdyropathic was famous for treating war-related conditions and where PTSD pioneer, Dr Rivers, treated patients from local heros to the war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.
To commemorate this historic anniversary, the 300 individual poppies will be laid on each war grave, and a further 300 on the Cross of Sacrifice, in Morningside Cemetery on Saturday 10 November 2018, at xxx. The event will be led by the Very Rev Derek Browning of Morningside Parish Church, with representation from the British Legion, William Purves, the local Council, local traders, schools and the many volunteers that have led or supported this campaign. Information about the event is available from Rona Robertson on 0131 447 3038.
