Poppy planting around the county

Mary Youlden
Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted Thursday, May 22, 2014 - 11:15am

School children have teamed up with their local churches to plant poppies in communities around Devon, as part of an initiative by the Diocese of Exeter to commemorate the centenary of World War One.

With the support of Paignton based Sutton Seeds, the Diocese sent out 500 packets of the Northlew poppy seeds before Easter.

Northlew, a small village near Okehampton, lost proportionally more of its enlisted men than anywhere else in the UK, when 24 died out of the 100 strong adult male population.

Landkey Primary School and St Paul's Church, Landkey joined forces to plant the seeds in a cross shaped flowerbed. They read the 'poppy prayer' sent out to schools from the diocese and sang a hymn.

And in Woodbury Salterton, children from the village primary school scattered seeds with headteacher Louise Lowes. Two people from the village were killed in the war.

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