Derbyshire Village Adorned with Hundreds of Poppies Following Social Media Dispute

Heage, a village located in Derbyshire, is now decorated with hundreds of poppies, an outcome stemming from a disagreement that unfolded on social media. The initiative began when Keith Buzzard acquired and installed 134 plastic poppies. This action was a direct response to online criticism directed at a local community group’s handcrafted Remembrance display in the village. Subsequently, a further comment on Facebook, which acknowledged the poppies were pleasant but stated there were “too many,” motivated him to place a poppy on every lamp-post throughout the village. Mr. Buzzard described his reaction, stating it “was like a red rag to a bull, the second I saw that, I thought, ‘I can do better’.” Prior to this, the Friends of Heage community group had crafted 35 poppies by hand for display within the village. Kaye Litchfield, a member of this group, explained their financial situation: “Unfortunately we don’t have much money because we’ve not been formed very long and we’re only voluntary. “So we counted the lamp-posts on the main street and realised we needed to make 35 poppies, so we did that and we did give a donation to the Royal British Legion.” Soon after their installation, the displays drew criticism on a local Facebook page. Following this, Mr. Buzzard, a member of the League of Zeal Motorbike Club, contacted Ms. Litchfield and offered to buy additional poppies. He recounted, “Myself, my in-laws and the bike club rallied round and raised enough between us to go and purchase 134 poppies.” He added, “We thought about doing the main roads around the village so you would come across a poppy which ever direction you looked.” Once these additional poppies were placed on lamp-posts throughout the village, a subsequent social media post commented that there were “too many.” “So we went round and counted every single lamp-post in the village that we’d not put one on and we came to the number of 79 so I worked out how much it would cost us which was £240,” Mr. Buzzard stated. He then appealed to the local community for assistance in raising the necessary funds. “The response was just out of this world,” he remarked, adding, “People just wanted to get on board with it because you can never have too many poppies.” In a span of two days, Mr. Buzzard successfully raised £600. The remaining funds were allocated to acquire a limited edition ceramic poppy from the National Memorial Arboretum. This item is intended as a prize for the village’s top garden display.