Lest We Forget

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the remarkable "Royal British Legion Poppy Drop". The idea came from BlackArtsCo Founder, Ian Cassie, for his previous Company, The Bank. Three million Poppy Petals, one for each Briton who had lost their lives in War since the start of the First World War in 1914, were released from two Second World War DC3 Aircraft with D-Day markings over the River Thames.

The fact that the aircraft needed to fly at 800 feet above the water towards the Houses of Parliament required both a high level and large number of permissions. 

The CAA warmly welcomed the application and drove the event from there on, closing London City Airport as well as changing the flight paths into and out of LHR at the time of the event.

Other required consents included Air Utilisation, Network Rail, The Environment Agency, Metropolitan Police, MI5, Pool of London, the Greater London Authority as well as Westminster, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth and Southwark Councils. 

An OB Unit from the BBC, including a HeliCam, sent pictures into the Network Centre for Live Transmission into the 6pm BBC Evening News the across the globe.

 Importantly the iconic Shell Building had, for a number of years, been home to massive projections of falling Poppies. Shell offered to fund the “flyover” and it duly took place at 6pm on the 11th of November 2005.

The significance of the date is that the Armistice was agreed at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th Month. The clever symbolism was spoilt by the fact that it was ready to sign many hours before and thousands of troops were killed or injured in Northern France while waiting for “a time and date that will always be remembered. 

Sadly, these men didn’t live to celebrate it.