Sunderland children honour fallen heroes with creation of giant poppy waterfall

The poppies were created from the bottom of plastic bottles, with children from George Washington Primary School painting every poppy red and attaching it to a web which hangs from a tree in the school grounds.

The display was coordinated by the school’s higher level teaching assistant Lorraine Harrison who said: “I had seen a waterfall of poppies in Saltwell Park a few years ago and I thought it would be something we could replicate in school.

“Every child from Year R to Year 6 made at least one of the poppies which were then attached to the web to create the waterfall effect.

“The kids are really into remembrance and learning about the war and they really enjoyed putting together the poppy display.”

Over 400 children took part in creating the display.

One of those was Year 6 pupil Jamie who said: “I love the display and I love learning about WW1. I think it’s really good to have poppies to remember the soldiers who looked after our safety.”

Year 5 pupil Vinnie said: “Our display is beautiful, it was lots of hard work. We should remember the soldiers who fought in the war otherwise we wouldn’t have our freedom now.”

Year 4 pupil Emily added: “I like our display and I love the way it falls from the tree. I really enjoyed painting the poppies. It’s important to remember the war so hopefully it will never happen again.”

With all WWI veterans now having passed away and each year seeing fewer of our WWII veterans still with us, staff at the school feel it’s important to ensure their stories and sacrifices continue to live on in future generations.

Mrs Harrison said: “For us as a school it’s massively important to remember what these soldiers did for us. The children are very respectful and next Tuesday on Armistice Day we will have a remembrance assembly in which you will be able to hear a pin drop.”