Poppies from the tower to form new tribute to Masham war heroes

Sixty-five of the poppies are to be affixed around the existing honours board at Masham Town Hall for each of the servicemen from the town, and the nearby villages of Healey and Fearby, who fought and died in the conflict.

The poppies were originally used as part of the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red Rivers art installation at the Tower in 2014 to mark 100 years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the war.

But some are now due to be displayed in North Yorkshire after a fundraising campaign to purchase them by the Mashamshire Branch of the Royal British Legion.

The branch has asked former Secretary of State Lord Jopling to reveal the poppies during a ceremony in Masham Town Hall at 11am on Saturday, April 16. A concert later in the evening will then take place to boost legion funds.

The date of the ceremony has been chosen to coincide with the day 75 years earlier when a German bomber dropped its payload on the town’s White Bear Hotel, narrowly missing Bellfield House, where Lord Jopling was sleeping.

Edward Theakston, secretary of the local Royal British Legion branch, said the ceremony itself will be a poignant one.

“We are asking people to remember those service men and women who lost their lives in recent conflicts, and those who are currently being nursed back to health at specialist units like the Phoenix House rehabilitation centre at Catterick.

“As it is a little known fact that the Royal British Legion pays for the day to day running the new recovery units, we hope to raise a significant sum for the likes of Phoenix House with the evening concert, and by simply asking visitors and shoppers to give a donation.”

Tickets for the concert, which starts at 7.30pm later the same day, cost £10 from Mashamshire Community Office.