Poppies posted to former homes of Great War heroes
A SPECIAL project is underway to mark the lives of the town’s brave soldiers who lost their lives in the Great War.
Volunteers from the World War One commemoration group, AFTERMATH100, have been posting poppies through hundreds of letter boxes across Macclesfield.
Each red poppy sticker is personalised with the name of the soldier who had at one time lived at that address.
But of the 700 men who died from Macclesfield, only around 400 of their homes remain standing.
Trevor Druce, who is the founder of AFTERMATH100, recruited the help of local historians, Rosie Rowley, at Macclesfield Reflects website, and veteran Harry Carlisle to track down the names and address of the soldiers.
The poppies have been funded by microbrewery Five Clouds Tap and Bottle, based on Market Place.
The project is part of the group’s ongoing work to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War.
Trevor told the Express the project has been two years in the making and is about keeping these soldiers’ memories alive.
He said: “Every one of those men was some mother’s son, they were loved and they gave love. They played important roles in their families and they were suddenly gone.
“Every family has their own story and it’s easy to look as a cenotaph and see lots of lads lost but by doing this we are making it more personal. Each poppy has the soldier’s name on it, handwritten, they are not just a statistic.”
Along with his partners Marilyn Clare, Diane Bailey, and Midge Mayers, Trevor have delivered almost all of the poppies.
But despite walking miles around the town to deliver them, he said it is something they had to do. He added: “It is a massive task but if we don’t do it then who will? If we don’t do it then these soldiers will be forgotten forever, that’s what keeps us going.”
AFTERMATH100 has created a number of maps showing the location of each poppy, which will be placed across the town over the coming weeks.
Trevor added: “We have had five maps of the town from 1909 made and we are going to put red dots on them to show where each soldier lived. It is so people can go and see how devastating it was for the town to lose those men.”
Macclesfield Library, Grosvenor Centre, and the Royal British Legion have all agreed to display a map.