Friday was a day for celebration as Poppyscotland arrived to present our Pineapple Squad (Izzy White, Ava Lily Orr-Ewing and Maya McNeill) with their prize for winning the National Fundraising in Action category of Poppyscotland’s national competition. The girls took the initiative to create and sell hand-made crafts to raise money in support of Poppyscotland and won in a national polling vote of entries.
Poppyscotland was created 100 years ago to raise funds to support the needs of veterans and their families living in Scotland. Our partnership schools always honour Remembrance Day; learning about the sacrifices of men and women, both in times of war and in their peacekeeping duties today.
By kind permission from Dumfries and Galloway Council, the children had the opportunity to visit Poppyscotland’s travelling Bud Bus at Lagwinnan. This bus is a mobile exhibition truck that provides an interactive learning experience about the heritage and work of Poppyscotland. Members of our community took great interest in the bus. Laura and John, who facilitated the exhibition, remarked on how friendly and welcoming everyone has been to the during their visit.
Our ‘workforce‘ clocked-on ready to begin their visit to the Bud Bus:
The children were able to tour the bus, but unfortunately due to Covid restrictions, they were limited on what they were able to handle. That didn’t stop them enjoyed the experience one bit though.
The boys and girls learned that five million poppies are made every year, enough for every person living in Scotland, should they wish to buy one. We were able to look at the different styles of fundraising poppy that are produced around the world. Lady Haig designed Scotland’s botanically correct poppy with four petals and no leaf.
The children were able to make their own poppy using the same equipment the veterans use in the Lady Haig poppy factory in Edinburgh. The factory employs ex-service men and women to hand-assemble each and every poppy.
Gordon Mitchie, head of fundraising for Poppyscotland and an RAF veteran, presided over the prize giving ceremony. Our Pineapple squad have already received £500 in vouchers for our school. They were also given a framed certificate to commemorate their achievement and a goodie bag each.
Friday was also the 100 year anniversary of the creation the Royal British Legion Scotland. The children participated in a national commemoration of the event that was happening all around Scotland that day. They laid a wreath at our village war memorial with Gordon Mitchie, who gave an honorary salute to the fallen.
Our boys and girls participated in a photoshoot for Poppyscotland, with kind support from our local Free Press and photographer Jim Ryder. The photographs will be used to promote future fundraising activities for the charity. As soon as these are available, we will share them here.
As a wee treat for everyone, the boys and girls enjoyed a wee ice-cream outdoors in the sunshine together to bring the day to a close.
Click to enlarge to see everyone enjoying their treat.
Many thanks to Poppyscotland for organising the event and travelling all this way to make the occasion so special for our children. Thank you also to Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Free Press and Jim Ryder.
Well done Pineapple Squad!
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