On Sunday 6th September, we gathered in Hayle, Cornwall, with a fabulous group of volunteers to assemble our first ever art installation.

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Inspired by the incredible life and sacrifice of Hayle-born Rick Rescorla, we created a very ambitious plan to create a stunning installation of poppies - one for every person who lost their life as a result of the terrible attacks on 9/11.

Weeks had been spent cleaning and painting more than 6000 scallop shells which had been kindly donated by W Stevenson & Sons in Newlyn.

On Sunday 6th September, a small group of amazing volunteers grafted in the sun 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 volunteer 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.

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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:

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• 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

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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.

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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."

On Friday 11th 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.

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Our sincere thanks go to:

Hayle Town Council and Cllr Jeremy Martin

W Stevenson & Sons

Riviera Produce

Akzo Noble/Dulux

B&Q

and the wonderful volunteers who gave so much of their time and energy to help make this happen!

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A special wreath dedicated to Rick Rescorla, which we have also created using shells is due to arrive in the USA this week and will be laid at the 9/11 Memorial site by a Veteran of the USMC. The wreath has been adorned with pins of the various forces that Rick served with during his life. Our thanks to Mark Otto of United War Veterans Council for his kind help in receiving and laying the wreath in New York.