Tower of London Poppies Commemorate The Great War and #LightsOut

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Today marks 100 years since Europe (and later America) and other parts of the world were caught up in the first great war. To remember this, everyone in the UK is invited to turn out their lights from 10:00pm-11:00pm or to leave a single light or candle lit. This is called LightsOut, and it's currently being publicised on social media (Twitter hashtag #lightsout). I will be well and truly asleep by that time, but there are also events going on and more information and videos can be found on the official 14-18NOW website for those who do not need to get to sleep as early: http://www.1418now.org.uk/lights-out/

The Tower of London commemorates the fallen of the first World War in a new installation 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red', which features a field of ceramic poppies. The installation is in place until November 11. Paul Cummins is the ceramic artist, and the stage and setting designer is Tom Piper. The last poppy will be planted on November 11. I took a walk to the Tower of London to see the red poppies being planted in the moat at the beginning of last week.

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A total of 888,246 ceramic poppies will be planted. The number represents a British or Colonial soldier that was killed during the Great War. (I'm not sure how they know the exact number here, but that is quite a large number, and seeing all of those poppies really invokes the scale of the number of lives lost in just British and Colonial soldiers. Imagine how many more soldiers of other countries and civilians were killed.)

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During the installation period, names of those who served and died during the first World War will be read out and a single bugle call will play. Names can be nominated to be read out. For more information, visit http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/firstworldwar/TheTowerofLondonRemembers

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After the end of the installation, the poppies will be sold for £25.00 each after the installation, and the amount is raised for military-related charities. For more information and to register your interest in purchasing a poppy, visit http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/firstworldwar/TheTowerofLondonRemembers

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