MP demands that Tower of London poppy display comes home to Chesterfield

Remembrance, The sea of poppies installed at the Tower of London

Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has welcomed news that the Tower of London poppy display is to go on a national tour and demanded that Chesterfield is included on the list.

This weekend, the Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the centrepiece of the commemorative poppy displays housed at the Tower of London - Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red – would go on a national tour.

The designer of this display of – which contains over 888,000 blood red poppies in tribute to those who gave their lives in the Great War – is ceramicist Paul Cummins from Chesterfield.

Final ceramic poppy placed in Chesterfield artist Paul Cummins’ ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ installation at Tower of London

Chesterfield’s MP, Toby Perkins, has therefore today written to the Prime Minister (attached) to ask that the national tour includes a visit to Chesterfield, so those in the town were the idea was first conceived, can see for themselves.

Perkins explained: “As I saw this Remembrance Sunday, Chesterfield is very proud of our local service men and women. We are also very proud of Paul Cummins, and the indispensable role he played in creating such a moving tribute at the Tower of London. It would be entirely fitting if the national tour of this display included a visit to Chesterfield so local people can see for themselves what one of our own has created. I hope the Prime Minister will do the right thing and ensure that the centrepiece visits Chesterfield.”