VISIT TO POPPY FACTORY, RICHMOND THURSDAY 17 MARCH 2016.

40 members left a sunny Trowbridge at the respectable time of 9.30am to make the journey to Richmond. We had a coffee and comfort stop at Fleet services on the M3 on the way.

We arrived in good time and were warmly greeted by our guide for the afternoon. Before the tour we had a light lunch of homemade vegetable soup followed by apple crumble and custard.

Waiting for lunch – The poppy wreathes of the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry on wall in background

The tour commenced with an illustrated talk about the history of the Poppy Factory and its founder

Major George Howson MC. We were able to wander around the factory floor, watching the workers making wreathes and poppies. We even made our own poppy. We were shown the machinery used to cut out the various component parts – some of us even bought home some of the waste – it looked like a big roll of red bunting!

Look what we’ve made

After a visit to the small shop and a slight wait for the coach, we were on our way back by 4.30pm.