Swindon MPs Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson are calling on the people of Swindon to decorate their windows with Poppies to mark this year’s Remembrance Day. This comes as local Remembrance Day events across the country are expected to be cancelled due to COVID 19, including the annual parade and service at the Cenotaph here in Swindon on November 8th.
This news will come as a huge disappointment to the hundreds of people here in the town who attend both the annual parade at the Cenotaph and the service held at Radnor Street Cemetery each year.
Robert and Justin explained:
“As a local community, we in Swindon have a great tradition of support for our armed forces. Serving members of our armed forces, plus a significant number of veterans, live locally, and we are always very glad to meet them and their families as we go out and about. There are few families that will not have had members who served in our armed forces.
“Remembrance Sunday is an extremely important occasion in our nation’s calendar. It is a day for our nation to commemorate and honour those who have sacrificed themselves to secure and protect our freedom, in conflicts past and present.
“Each year, we play our part in the wreath laying ceremony at the Swindon Cenotaph in Regents Circus. Each year, the number of people who come to pay their respects grows and grows, so it will be of great disappointment to many people here in Swindon, that this year, due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, we will be unable to attend the parade and services.
“That doesn’t mean that Remembrance Day itself is cancelled this year, we just need to find other ways to come together as a local community to mark this occasion and pay our respects in a different way.
“We are encouraging people here in the town to do this by decorating their windows with poppies.
“Printable Royal British Legion Poppies will be available on our websites and social media pages to download and to colour.
“We are also calling on local schools and businesses to become involved and display poppies.
“We are asking local children to send us a picture of their poppies so that these can be proudly displayed in a gallery on our website. We are also asking children to send us their poppies in the post so that we can display these in our offices in both North and South Swindon.”
Please email your poppy pictures to justin.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk or send them to Justin Tomlinson MP, First Floor, Customer Service Hub, Orbital Shopping Park, Thamesdown Drive, Swindon, SN25 4AN
Please consider making a donation if you can, in return for your printed poppy to the 2020 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/ways-to-give/donate
