On the 10th of August 2026 a group of 30 of us from Brockenhurst WI, organised very capably by Karen, met in the village Hall car park for a coach trip to Richmond and the Poppy factory. We went via Beaulieu  which took extra time as there were fires and road closures on the A31.

Within a short time of arriving we were welcomed by David. There was a fire alarm and we all trooped out which was quite appropriate with what  had happened in the New Forest  fires.

We were told that Queen Camilla is the patron and she has made a  Poppy there. Only wreaths are made at the factory, no longer small poppies now. These were previously made at this factory, and 60 to 100 Poppies were made an hour by hand.

But now machines make 10,000 an hour using recycled paper.150 disabled servicemen now are employed creating a community in Richmond with housing. The building was bought 100 years ago in 1925 it was worth £3000 1927 flats were built for the workers costing £5000 and now it’s worth 85 million. Queen  Elizabeth visited three times she had 93 Poppies on her wreath when asked “why that number “she said “she didn’t know “the largest wreath is to the unknown warrior why two minutes silence  “ the answer is one minute for those who came back and one minute for those that didn’t come back.

After drinks & cake we could make 2 different poppies, buy from the shop wander into town or walk by the river relaxing in the sunshine.

Our driver Graham picked us up at 4 pm & with detours again & traffic hold ups we safely returned at 7 pm 
Thank you Karen for organising..

Grateful thanks to Esther fro writing the report and to Karen, Jackie, Karen and Esther for the photos.