POPPY MARKS WW1 CENTENARY WITH COMPETITION WIN
A local school pupil helped to commemorate the First World War after winning a competition run by the Tesco store in Hoyland.
The new Tesco store, on Wombwell Road, invited local primary school pupils to design a poster marking this important anniversary and store manager Matthew Pickthall and his team had the difficult task of picking a winner.
Ten year old Poppy from Hoyland Common Primary School wowed Matthew with her poignant design which showed a lone soldier standing in no-man’s land with the heading ‘Lest We Forget’.
“The 100 year anniversary of the start of WW1 is a massive part of our history and we felt that it was important that we helped to mark it in some way”, said Matthew. “When we saw Poppy’s design we could tell that she’d put a lot of thought into it and she really captured the message we wanted to get across”.
Poppy’s design has now been transferred on to limited edition hessian bags and given away at the store in the lead up to Remembrance Day on Sunday 9th November. Along with a group of her classmates, Poppy was invited in to store to see her bags for the first time and be presented with a cheque for £200 for her school as part of her prize and meet veteran Chris Davis.
“Our Autumn term topic has been ‘Lest We Forget’ and we have been learning all about World War 1 and why it is important to remember it”, said Poppy. “I used what I’d learnt in class and from our school trip to the Imperial War Museum North to help design my poster”.
Poppy’s school will also receive a WW1 themed cookery workshop which will teach the children about rationing and food shortages as well as making a war cake using only ingredients that would have been available at the time.
Matthew and his team also made a £500 donation the Hoyland and District branch of the Royal British Legion.
Vice Chairman of the branch, Chris Davis, said: “It was a privilege to attend the presentation at Tesco Hoyland and to meet Poppy and her classmates. As a veteran, it is so encouraging to hear that the children of today are remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice especially on the 100 year anniversary of World War 1”.
“We were honoured to have Chris, Poppy and her classmates with us”, added Matthew. “It was great that the children could share what they’d been learning in class and get to know even more about the First World War from Chris”.
