Poppy Day - Remembrance Day - is the day when the dead of two World Wars and other armed conflicts are remembered in the UK. The Armistice at the end of the First World War of 1914 - 1918 was signed on November 11th at precisely 11 am - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For this reason, Remembrance Day is on the 11th of November each year although church services and many parades are held on the Sunday nearest that date - in 2000 this will be on 12th November.
Remembrance Day parade and service at the new War Memorial, Paull,
Yorkshire, with WW2 Veterans side by side with Guides, Scouts and Cadets.
The Poppy was adopted as the symbol of remembrance because it was so widespread on the sites of the battlefields of Europe after the First World War : the seeds of the common Field Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) germinate best in newly-cultivated soil, which is why it was such a common weed of cornfields until the widespread use of selective weedkillers relegated it to a wayside flower. The soil disturbances caused by trench-digging and shellfire produced ideal conditions for poppies to grow, and they appeared in vast numbers bringing a delicate beauty to areas which had seen such terrible scenes only a short while before.
Field Marshal Earl Haig (1861 -1928), commander of the allied forces on the Western Front, founded the Haig Fund to assist ex-servicemen disabled during WWI. This fund is now administered by the
Royal British Legion and supports ex-servicemen and their dependents, and the Poppy Appeal continues to raise funds for this cause by selling small paper or fabric poppies, which are worn in November by the vast majority of the British public to signify their support and as a memorial to the victims of all wars.
Recent years have seen the reintroduction of the two minutes' silence on November 11th. Whilst the majority of public parades and Remembrance services are held on the Sunday nearest the 11th, in order to allow the maximum number of people to attend, the actual anniversary of the end of WWI is on the 11th of November and at precisely eleven o'clock most schools, factories, shops, offices, public buildings etc. come to a standstill as the two minutes silence is observed. Although this is purely voluntary and a matter for the individual's conscience, there has been widespread public support.