Stunning poppies prove city centre draw

And judging by the attention it is already attracting, many more will be coming to see the stunning Weeping Window sculpture in Hull’s Queen Victoria Square.

The Maritime Museum is providing a striking background for a cascade of 5,500 poppies, part of the original installation at the Tower of London, pouring to the ground from a high window.

A former Royal Marine, who served in Northern Ireland and Yemen, was among onlookers. He said: “It just brings back memories, you think of the people all the time. It is great Hull has brought it here.”

The museum, the former Dock Offices, hosts a memorial to the seamen of the Merchant Navy and bore witness to the mass recruitment of men for local Hull Pals battalions in WW1, over 200 of whom died in the Battle of Oppy Wood a century ago.

Coun Terry Geraghty, who served in the Merchant Navy in the 1950s, said it offered a chance to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice: “Hull being a maritime city, people have many relatives in the Merchant Navy or trawlermen. Quite frankly it has never been recognised and thousands were lost in both Wars.”

Artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper were at today’s unveiling. Mr Piper said: “It does mean something to people - they find it very moving when you think each represents a life and it is just a small fragment of the 888,246 (poppies, one to honour every death in the forces in WW1) They are like a liquid, like blood; the red is very symbolic.

“We wanted something to express the spirit of lost humanity and all that energy rather than solemn formality.”

Weeping Window will continue to tour the country as part of the 14-18 NOW arts programme, before arriving at the Imperial War Museum in London next autumn.

Weeping Window is in Hull until May 14