Background to the Project
2022 marked the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the Newport, Wormit and Forgan war memorial. To mark this centenary, the Newport History Group embarked on a remembrance project, entitled Lest We Forget. We also wanted to involve our two local primary schools so that the pupils might gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and significance of our memorial.
On the memorial are the names of 84 young men from Newport, Wormit and Forgan who perished in World War I. On the plaques opposite were added a further 44 names of those who died in World War II. Of these 128 casualties, we identified 100 about whom we know a fair bit: where they lived, what work they did, who their families were, and how and where they died. Our plan was to place a poppy at each of the houses occupied by these casualties.
We approached Newport and Wormit Primary Schools and asked if the pupils might make the poppies. The poppies would have to be made from recycled or biodegradable materials, and of course must be weatherproof! The schools embraced the task with huge enthusiasm and the results were impressive. Who knew that such beautiful poppies could be made from empty plastic bottles?!
On Saturday 29th October we held an exhibition in the Blyth Hall, at which we exhibited all the poppies, along with information about each casualty, as well as other related material.
Following the exhibition, and in good time for Remembrance Day, the poppies were positioned in their rightful locations, outside the homes of the casualties. With each poppy was a laminated A5 card giving the story of each casualty.
We did not forgot the remaining 28 casualties on the memorial. They were not included, either because they live outside the villages or because we know little about them. We also placed poppies at the memorial in acknowledgement of them.
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