Kendal Castle Poppy Bid New Discussion Post


Kendal Castle Remembrance Poppy Bid

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It is over a week since I last visited the castle, sitting within the grounds the enormity of both the structure and the project overall was somewhat numbing, it has taken me until this week to come to terms with the amount of work that must be done to cloak the castle with poppies; moreso, the number of poppies that will need to be woven into the netting that will hang over the side of the battlements to the ground, in some parts of the structure a distance in excess of 30 metres, only now, having come to terms with the sheer size of the building it is time to get back to start the survey in ernest firstly however a trip to the local library where there might already be records of earlier surveys.

Following up on a suggestion from Simon from CMU, the creative co-operative that is responsible for the promotional video currently being put together (completion scheduled for 17th March) I have spoken with Mark, a poet and singer/song writer who, I hope, will take on the task of putting together a Poppy Tribute song, I have not given him any brief as yet and only intend to give him some of the links to the Flanders Fields Poem and others, he has no military background as I would like the lyrics to be fresh and from someone not connected.

As far as finding a group to put their voices to the words I have written to the Chelsea Pensioners ( http://www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/men-in-scarlet ) who have had a huge success with their album ' Men in Scarlet ' that was released on 8th November 2010.

The Chelsea Pensioners Charity is based at The Royal Hospital Chelsea and was founded in 1682 by King Charles II, to provide a fitting home for retired soldiers and is now home to 310 ex servicemen and women.

The 'Men in Scarlet ' Group is formed from 7 of these Chelsea Pensioners and was borne of a desire to help the Chelsea Pensioners' Appeal raise funds to refurbish the old dormitories built by Sir Christopher Wren. each pensioner calls a 9ft x9ft wooden room with no windows home, and 36 men share 4 lavatories and 2 showers. he 7 men have a total age of 546, the oldest (John) being 88 and the youngest is (Michael) being 67 .

The album has been produced by Nick Patrick who produced last years double platinum album by the Soldiers. joining the men in their album is Dame Vera Lynn, Katherine Jenkins and Janey Cutler (from Britain’s Got Talent).

Anyway, that is the plan,, I await a reply from the Gentlemen with fingers crossed, primarily their cause is the Charity that they are part of but hopefully they might extend this to the Castle and the Poppy Tribute.

For now, I rest for a few days, I have a meeting with John, a friend of mine who has some knowledge and experience as to the inner workings of Local Town Council that I hope with my trip into that region of the unknown, a twilight zone for me that can only serve as another huge learning curve for future projects.

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