White Poppy Wreath
Monday, 14 November 2022
Around 40 people gathered at the war memorial in Hebden Bridge's Memorial Gardens on Friday morning to witness the laying of a white poppy wreath by the memorial and listen to some poems about the futility of war and conflict.
Kathy Pitt, of the organising group, Calder Valley CND for Peace and Justice, explained: "We meet together every year on Armistice Day at 11 am to remember the victims of all wars and conflicts all over the world throughout the ages, as well as of current on-going conflicts and including civilians.
"We hope that this act of remembrance encourages everyone to think of ways to work towards a more peaceful world and how they may take actions to tackle underlying causes of war, such as competition over resources, increasingly caused by climate change, and inequalities in society. We also hope it will spur people on to think about the militarization of society and the massive world trade in arms which fuels conflict, and how we can counter these."
White poppies were first produced in the 1933 by the Co-operative Women's Guild by women who had lost their menfolk in the First World War, to oppose the glorification of war, amidst growing concern that the First World War would be followed by another war. They symbolise a commitment to work for a more peaceful world.