Poppy Day’s 80th anniversary

For the last 80 years New Zealanders have dug deep into their pockets on the Friday before ANZAC Day to make voluntary donations to Returned Services’ Association welfare funds. In exchange they receive a stylised poppy to wear as the manifestation of their respect for the memory of those who have fallen in war and their generosity towards those who returned and regrettably, are in need of support.

The poppy, a touching reminder of the World War I battlefields of Flanders - where the small red flower grew in great profusion - has, over the years, become recognised as the international symbol of remembrance for those who have given their lives in the service of their country.

	IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN: Women of the French Children’s League, many with children on their laps, hand-making hundreds of thousands of poppies in the early 1920s for distribution to Allied countries including New Zealand.

The first recorded Poppy Day was observed on the streets of London on Armistice Day, 11 November 1921, when hand-made poppies, donated by French war widows were sold to aid the distressed among those who had been incapacitated as a result of war. Some £106,000 was raised throughout Britain to alleviate hardship among the country’s veterans.

The New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association - as it then was - introduced the idea to this country in 1922 when its first street appeal was held. Three hundred thousand poppies, made by the French Children’s League, went on sale on 24 April, the day before ANZAC Day.

On that first New Zealand Poppy Day, 245,059 small poppies sold for 1 shilling each and 15,157 larger versions of the flower attracted two shillings each, netting the national association, after all expenses, £13,166. Of that sum, £3695 was sent to France to help alleviate distress in the war-scarred former battle areas. The remainder was used to assist unemployed returned soldiers in need, and their families, survive a bitter New Zealand winter.

So started a national tradition that has endured for 80 years.

New Zealand’s poppies - about a million of them each year - are now the responsibility of Christchurch RSA and are made by widows of returned servicemen and members of the city’s disabled and handicapped community.

The annual Poppy Day collection is not a combined national appeal. Each of the nearly 300 Returned Services’ Associations and branches affiliated to RNZRSA mount their own individual street day exercise with all monies collected being used for welfare work within the local area.

"Each and every one of our associations has an honorary welfare officer heading a team whose job it is to follow up reports of eligible people in need," says David Cox, RNZRSA National President.

"They don’t have to be members of RSA to qualify for help," he says. "The prime criteria for assistance from Poppy Day - and indeed all RSA - welfare funds are an identified need and the proposed recipient is a veteran or dependant of one."

David Cox says there is no room for moral judgement in RSA welfare work. "In dealing with all cases, our welfare officers endeavour to come up with the right mix of sympathy, objectivity, and where necessary, physical and financial help.

EIGHTY-ONE YEARS OLD: An original French hand-made poppy bought in London on Armistice Day, 11 November 1921. Identical poppies were sold on the streets of New Zealand on this country’s first Poppy Day, 24 April 1922.

"Be assured, even after 80 Poppy Days, there are still a great many war veterans and their families needing the kind of practical relief that only RSA welfare funds can give," says Mr Cox.

"On their behalf I sincerely thank all New Zealanders for the unstinting support they have shown on Poppy Day over the last 79 years and I look forward to that generosity continuing into the future."

David Cox says, the whole country has a sacred duty to honour those who died in protecting our way of life. "In remembering them on Poppy Day, we also provide humanitarian succour for those who returned from the battlefield - many scarred physically and mentally - who are now, unfortunately down on their luck".

This year’s 81st Poppy Day will be observed on Friday, 19 April 2002 - in some areas, Thursday 18 April.