[Eric]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

This is absolutely outrageous.....who the hell is this oufit anyway? Do they have any retail outlets here in London? Tell me where....

Eric , if you're reading this, then you will know that the origin of the Poppy appeal originated from the Canadian John McCrae's poem:

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below...
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields...
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields...

McCrae is buried in Wimereau cemetary, outside Boulougne, a few graves down from a great uncle of mine (1st Irish Guards)...this is making me very, very, mad.

All Canadians are familiar with the poem ... it is printed on the back of the Canadian $10.00 bill ...

I'm really po'd at this too ... One of my earliest memories is of my granddad Ashton coughing himself to death in '48, finally losing his last battle against the whiff of gas he got in '17.