On Sunday 6 September, a team from charity gathered in Hayle, Cornwall, with a group of volunteers to assemble a poignant art installation on King George’s Walk.
Inspired by the incredible life and sacrifice of Hayle-born Veteran, Rick Rescorla, the ambitious plan was to create a stunning installation of hand-made poppies – one for every person who lost their life as a result of the terrible attacks on 9/11.
In the weeks building up to the installation day, more than 6000 scallop shells, which had been kindly donated by W Stevenson & Sons in Newlyn, were cleaned and painted.
On Sunday, a small group of amazing volunteers grafted in the sunshine to assemble the shells, two per poppy, onto bamboo canes which had been donated by Riviera Produce. The completed poppies were touched up with fresh paint where needed and put out to dry in the sun. Amongst the volunteers was Rick Rescorla’s cousin, Jon Daniels who had come to help honour his heroic relative.
A team, led by Cllr Jeremy Martin, Mayor of Hayle, prepared the ground along King George’s Walk and then ‘planted’ the 2977 poppies which will remain on display throughout September.
Among the display are a number of poppies which pay particular respects to representatives of the various emergency services which were deployed on 11th September 2001. These include:
- 344 with black/red ribbons to honour fire service personnel
- 70 blue poppies to honour police officers
- 8 with green/yellow ribbons to honour Emergency Medical Services personnel
- A single purple poppy to honour Police Dog, Sirius
The idea was created by one of our Trustees, Iain Henderson who said
“We wanted something that actually could involve the community and really bring people together. We’ve got young and old here and it’s just been a fitting tribute for the 25th anniversary of 9/11.”
Iain is a former RAF and Metropolitan Police Dog Handler and laid the final poppy, a single purple one dedicated to Police Dog, Sirius, who was tragically killed when the towers collapsed.
The day was covered by both ITV News and BBC News and the display has already been visited by hundreds of people who have come to pay their respects.
Danny Greeno, CEO of The Veterans Charity said,
“we are so grateful to everyone who has supported this wonderful and poignant initiative and we are proud to have been able to play a part in honouring those who lost their lives on that awful day 25 years ago. As a charity which has supported so many who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, we wanted to play our part in remembering the awful events which led to military action over the next two decades.”
On Friday 11 September, the 25th anniversary of the attacks, people will gather in Hayle for a special parade and service to honour Rick Rescorla and to remember not only the 2977 people who lost their lives that day but also to think of those affected by what resulted including more than 150,000 British service personnel who were deployed to Afghanistan.
A special wreath dedicated to Rick Rescorla, has also been created using shells is due to arrive in the USA this week and will be laid at the 9/11 Memorial site by Mark Otto, a Veteran of the USMC and President of the United War Veterans Council. The wreath has been adorned with pins of the various forces that Rick served with during his life.
