Remembrance Day – is it time to upgrade your poppy?

Ok so maybe the title doesn’t say it all, but as Remembrance Day approaches we wanted to tell you how you could support the excellent work of the Royal British Legion.  The Royal British Legion is the nation’s “custodian of remembrance” as well as doing impressive work to support existing and former members of the armed forces and their families.

Like me you may only start thinking about Remembrance Day once the poppies start appearing on your local high street or station, for a number of years now I have sought out the poppy pin badges which vary from year to year as a more permanent way of commemorating the annual events, as I find I can get away with wearing them for many months whereas my paper poppy seems to cause me nothing but trouble (I am too incompetent to manage to pin one on so they tend to loiter around buttonholes…)

It may seem a little early, but I want to give you the chance to explore what alternative ways of supporting the cause are on offer, particularly in this year, the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

Poppies have moved on a lot in recent years, and I’m not just talking pin badges and ceramic poppies at the Tower of London.  There’s an entire site dedicated to the poppy related accouterments produced in support of the Royal British Legion, from umbrellas to stationary, and (unsurprisingly since we’re talking about it on this blog!) jewellery.

The jewellery collections from the Poppy Shop span several ranges, and the variety available is immense, here are a few of our favourite items:

The real flower poppy heart range comprises a bangle, earrings and necklace made from real miniature poppies – we like these because the use of real flowers really interesting, it’s a trend that is becoming more and more popular and the variation of having a heart shaped feature on these is really nice.  It’s also a really nice way to wear the poppy, but would be suitable for the whole year round.

 

 

If you’re not such a fan of the heart they do similar designs in an oval shape on the website.

There are fabulous long drop earrings from the Falling Poppy collection,  they were created by British Royal Warrant holders, Toye, Kenning & Spencer, and at £10.49 they are an absolute bargain.  The matching necklace is under a tenner!  For a slightly more dramatic look though, we love the Poppy Cascade collection, these feature a similar design of poppy clustered with a silver poppy and an oak leaf.  Also created by Toye, Kenning and Spencer these have a longer drop (6cm) and are a real feature for any wardrobe.

   

For a more traditional approach to the poppy how about a Union Flag inspired poppy brooch.  You know we love a brooch and the personality in this one really shines out.

Finally a special mention for these First World War poppy cufflinks, because these really are an amazing piece of art.  To quote the website “they have been created from the solid brass of original artillery shell fuses found on First World War battlefields. The shells have been melted down and cast, using the traditional ‘lost wax’ method in which each and every poppy requires a wax version, into a hand sculpted poppy design.

The design is based on a 100 year old dried and flattened real poppy from Private Len Smith’s diary – Private Smith, a veteran who lived until 1974, plucked the poppy from No Man’s Land in 1915 and preserved it in his illustrated diary.”  There’s no point me trying to say anything as this speaks for itself – the ultimate form of upcycling, what a great way to Remember.  Additionally these are a beautiful, practical item which is sure to be good value for money at £79.99.

On the topic of cufflinks, do have a look at the fabulous spitfire cufflinks made from an actual spitfire…I kid you not, they are amazing.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this post, please do remember the purpose behind Remembrance Day and bear in mind that the Poppy Shop is the official online store for the Royal British Legion, all profits go to support the charity.  Delivery charges may apply, please see the website for details.

 

 

The charitable approach to jewellery

We’re both fans of charity shop jewellery bargains, and there are plenty of them to be had around here (more on this in a different post!) but the idea of charity based jewellery itself is interesting.

The most obvious one of course is the famous poppy, we pin them to our coats annually and whether you go for the good old pin and paper (how do you get those to work?!), the more modern pin badges or the stunning brooches or other jewellery offered on the poppy shop online (this being a personal favourite) that isn’t all there is to it.

Charity wristbands have been around for a while now, and admittedly they’re not quite the fashionable accessory they once were (you don’t see many people stacking them up any more) they are still a common sight out and about, and still very easy to get hold of.  The big question is, are they jewellery?

On the face of it yes, they are an item worn about the wrist as an accessory, in the same way that you might wear any other bracelet or bangles.  But people presumably don’t purchase these wristbands for the purpose of wearing them as a fashion accessory.  For example I have a Help the Heroes wristband not because it matches an outfit, or looks good, in fact I’ve never worn it.  I bought it because it was a way of supporting the charity and not too expensive…alright and also because my cat likes to play with wristbands so I try to buy them from organisations that I genuinely support.

There have been other examples in the past, such as pin badges, where accessories have been used to demonstrate personal or political messages, so perhaps this is just a follow on from that.  It’s interesting that whereas most of the time people will carefully select jewellery to reflect a piece of their personality or a preference for a certain style, the key thing about an item of jewellery is how it looks.  As far as I can gather the only thing that people are generally demonstrating with their wristbands is their own good nature in purchasing it, and a highlighting of a particular charity, presumably one personal to them.  This makes it quite a unique type of jewellery as it’s one worn not for how it looks but for what it represents.

That said I wonder whether there are people out there scouring charities for a wristband just the right shade of blue to match that bag…let’s hope not, but some people will do anything to stay “in the loupe!”  Either way our closing thoughts on the matter are that whatever the purpose behind the purchase the charity still gets the cash and the wearer raises awareness, whatever their motive.