Boris Johnson and The Tower of London Poppies

Gremlin

Gremlin

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Went up to London yesterday to see this and it is just amazing, well worth a visit(y)

I was interviewed for BBc Radio asking why I was there, and then had a bombshell question thrown at me
It seems Boris Johnson wants to keep the poppies as a permanent display, what did I think ?

My answer was an immediate NO, leaving aside the fact that they have all been sold, my reasons
for this is that it is to commemorate something that happened 100 years ago and shaped all our lives
as did WW2.
To keep this wonderful display there permanently for obvious money making reasons is just wrong
and belittles those who's memory it is there to commemorate all 888,246 of them, one of whom I am
personally related to and I bet we all have lost at least one family member in WW1

So what do others think ?
 
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I agree with you completely Ingrid.
 
Boris is a complete diddy. The end.
 
I like it there. Nothing wrong with a daily memory. And there are loads of other people from the commonwealth who want to see it and pay their respect. I've heard of people who are travelling from all over the world for it.

It is all good and Boris his intentions are sound.
 
Gremlin said:
My answer was an immediate NO, leaving aside the fact that they have all been sold,
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Excellent response (y)

dejongj said:
I like it there. Nothing wrong with a daily memory. And there are loads of other people from the commonwealth who want to see it and pay their respect. I've heard of people who are travelling from all over the world for it..
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I can see that too, however the point of raising money was that they have all been sold,
there are going to be rather a lot of people, well that is 888,246, to be
precise that are going to be a tad miffed, I would suggest.
 
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Cobra said:
I can see that too, however the point of raising money was that they have all been sold,
are there are going to be rather a lot of people, well that is 888,246, to be
precise that are going to be a tad miffed, I would suggest.
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and that to me is far less important then what they stand for :(
 
Not a Boris fan, but to fair he was in discussions with HRP to extend it for an additional week, or possibly until the 1st of December, not forever so it seems like a little BBC stirring is going on.

HRP have confirmed that the decomissioning will begin as planned on 12th Nov.
 
Gremlin said:
and that to me is far less important then what they stand for :(
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So you suggest that people that have paid jointly £25 x 888,246, times ( I make that just over 22 million GBP BTW )
shouldn't get what they paid for?
But I understand what you are saying,
however if I'd bought a "commemorative something" in favour of a charity,
I'd expect it to turn up.
If there was no intention of letting people have what they paid for,
they should have had collection stations where people could donate instead.

Of course i see nothing wrong with it running a little longer to attract more visitors though
 
Cobra said:
So you suggest that people that have paid jointly £25 x 888,246, times ( I make that just over 22 million GBP BTW )
shouldn't get what they paid for?
But I understand what you are saying,
however if I'd bought a "commemorative something" in favour of a charity,
I'd expect it to turn up.
If there was no intention of letting people have what they paid for,
they should have had collection stations where people could donate instead.

Of course i see nothing wrong with it running a little longer to attract more visitors though
Click to expand...

I've had one bought for me, and I'd be more than happy for it to remain in situ a little while longer so that more people have the opportunity to see it.
 
viv1969 said:
I've had one bought for me, and I'd be more than happy for it to remain in situ a little while longer so that more people have the opportunity to see it.
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Cool :) I'd be the same, TBH.
Though as an after thought, I do wonder what they will fetch on ebay ;)
 
viv1969 said:
I've had one bought for me, and I'd be more than happy for it to remain in situ a little while longer so that more people have the opportunity to see it.
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Me too!
 
ive only heard they were thinking of extending it not permanently keeping them. after all they have all now been sold.

dont see the harm in extending it so more people can see them before they are taken down.
 
My relation was lost on the HMS Tipperary in the Battle of Jutland, his name was on the roll of honour, read at the Tower on 26th August.

To commemorate his paying the ultimate sacrifice and that of the others that died, I bought two poppies (a number of weeks ago) one for each of my children. If visitors going to the Tower can see the shear numbers of commonwealth soldiers that died and it gives people something to think about other than themselves, then perhaps those two poppies that I bought could stay in the moat for a long while longer.
 
Cobra said:
So you suggest that people that have paid jointly £25 x 888,246, times ( I make that just over 22 million GBP BTW ) shouldn't get what they paid for?
But I understand what you are saying,
however if I'd bought a "commemorative something" in favour of a charity,
I'd expect it to turn up.
If there was no intention of letting people have what they paid for,
they should have had collection stations where people could donate instead.

Of course i see nothing wrong with it running a little longer to attract more visitors though
Click to expand...

Don't put words into my mouth that is not what I am saying at all.
That money is already paid out, leaving the poppies there raises no more for the charities concerned
all it will do is raise more money for businesses etc, and London Tourism.
If my way of thinking happens then those that bought them will get them sooner and if you want to look
at it that way, the risk of serious weather damage will be reduced, remember they are ceramic and frost etc could
destroy them

Cobra said:
Cool :) I'd be the same, TBH.
Though as an after thought, I do wonder what they will fetch on ebay ;)
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Far more then was paid for them and I bet there are some that have bought them with that un mind:(
 
I don't really see a problem with leaving them there for a couple more weeks, to give more people chance to see them [it won't make much for the investors and HRP will only benefit from a few extra visitors that might actually pay to go inside the tower and you don't need to do that to see the poppies] but I agree they should not stay as permanent memorial. However, so far, it's a moot point as HRP have already said they will start to decommision on 12th as planned.
 
Gremlin said:
Don't put words into my mouth that is not what I am saying at all.
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Not point in answering as you are deliberately (or otherwise) misunderstand and missing the point
 
I would like to see it extended. I want to go and see it but can't get there before it's due to be taken down.
 
Cobra said:
Cool :) I'd be the same, TBH.
Though as an after thought, I do wonder what they will fetch on ebay ;)
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Ebay have sensibly refused to list them
 
I see no problem in leaving them there for longer. I wear a red poppy every day of the year in remembrance and so does my red chariot.

I'm a great fan of Boris anyway.
 
I'd like to see them there for longer.
I'd actually like to have seen them, and if they were there for longer that could be possible.
I expect many others feel the same.
 
Volunteers were used to plant them (me included), and the same system has already been put in place to remove them which would have to be adjusted if they were to remain longer.

I am in the take them down as planned party.

They were started in July so there has been plenty of time to go and look at them and it only seems to have had mass media coverage in the last couple of weeks. It will take a similar time to disassemble them I would have thought so they are not going to vanish overnight. Go and see them while you can! :)
 
I've been seeing mass media coverage since August.
And no...I haven't had the opportunity to go and see them.
 
neil_g said:
Why not? That's a huge assumption.
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Poppies have all been sold already.
Perhaps you could say how you believe more funds can be raised:thinking:

Tigger.ufo said:
Volunteers were used to plant them (me included), and the same system has already been put in place to remove them which would have to be adjusted if they were to remain longer.

I am in the take them down as planned party
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Wow Heather, well done, thank you and all the others involved (y)
 
Gremlin said:
Poppies have all been sold already.
Perhaps you could say how you believe more funds can be raised:thinking:
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In fairness, flipping the coin, how exactly will the businesses involved make more money? As far as I can ascertain from the website, the dedications, which are the only way left to donate money to this specifically as the poppies are all sold, and once expences are covered are also split between investor, artist and charities - ergo, one doesn't make money without the other. So as I see it, the only way either can make further money by leaving them there is if people are inspired to send a dedication. Away from that, as I said earlier, the only additional I can see is that the Tower of London might make more money from people visiting the poppies deciding to pay to go in, and as they are themselves a charity that that money to keep the 5 palaces they maintain going, I am not sure that can be classed as a bad thing? :thinking:
 
I suppose I knew when I started this thread that it would come down to the money side of things which
wasn't what I started it for.
It was purely my thoughts that this is a very special anniversary of a truly horrific event and as such
should remain so.
 
Gremlin said:
I suppose I knew when I started this thread that it would come down to the money side of things which
wasn't what I started it for.
It was purely my thoughts that this is a very special anniversary of a truly horrific event and as such
should remain so.
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As I see it, leaving them there for a short while longer could only have served to remind even more people of the importance of the anniversary, and give them the opportunity to perhaps see it for themselves.
No one harmed. No memories tarnished or disrespected.
Nothing to do with money whatsoever.
 
Having read others opinions on this, I can understand why it should be left for more people to view, kinda makes sense to be honest.
 
Gremlin said:
I suppose I knew when I started this thread that it would come down to the money side of things which
wasn't what I started it for.
It was purely my thoughts that this is a very special anniversary of a truly horrific event and as such
should remain so.
Click to expand...

I have actually been wondering what they will do in 2018, if anything, something hugely commemorative without necessarily being celebrative [is this even a word?], if that makes sense?
 
Yv said:
I have actually been wondering what they will do in 2018, if anything, something hugely commemorative without necessarily being celebrative [is this even a word?], if that makes sense?
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I don't think celebrative would be out of order, to be honest.
Yes, all the deaths were awful, and will never be forgotten...I think that's already been proved.
I personally think a 100 year anniversary of the end of the great war should be celebrated, as it was at the time.
 
viv1969 said:
I don't think celebrative would be out of order, to be honest.
Yes, all the deaths were awful, and will never be forgotten...I think that's already been proved.
I personally think a 100 year anniversary of the end of the great war should be celebrated, as it was at the time.
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I know what you mean, it is one of those things that has me swinging one way then the other opinion-wise. It was certainly right that it was celebrated at the time, though had they known where they were going to be 20 years later... I am more thinking of it being a bit too overboard in celebration, when commemoration should, for me, be the over riding feel of anything they may decide to do, given that as a nation, indeed as a species, it sometimes feel like we have learnt nothing about living in peace. ;) Seriously though, I don't mind a little celebration too.

ETA: sorry, just want to clarify, by 'they' I mean the powers that be generally, any large scale event or attraction for the end of war anniversary, I am not talking about the Tower of London specifically.
 
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Yv said:
, given that as a nation, indeed as a species, it sometimes feel like we have learnt nothing about living in peace.
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Sadly I don't think we ever will.
As long as those in power covet the things of others, they will always see fit to try to take them by force; and that trickles all the way down.
 
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Just for info btw, I have reason to check where the money donated goes so I just checked the T&C's on the dedications [straight donations inspired by the installation, as opposed to actually buying a ceramic poppy] and apart from Just Givings usual small admin percentage, the rest is being split between the charities, not the artist, investors, etc. So, thats even better. If someone else wants to read this and make sure I haven't missed anything,please do.

http://poppies.hrp.org.uk/terms-dedicate
 
I guess the question is are the poppies a Memorial or a tourist attraction?

I feel that extending the stay will reduce the impact of finishing on Armistice day.
 
huffy said:
I guess the question is are the poppies a Memorial or a tourist attraction?

I feel that extending the stay will reduce the impact of finishing on Armistice day.
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In which case, should they not have been placed under cover and revealed for Armistice, day...perhaps being unveiled today as part of the remembrance day happenings?
They've been attracting visitors for over three months. A short time longer harms nothing and no one.
 
I have to agree with Mark. I know a short time longer harms no-one, I think part of the poignancy was the end on armistice day. To me, it made the beauty of it that bit more moving. Just MHO though
 
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