Historic Hartlepool museum's poppy and poems tribute to fallen soldiers for Remembrance

The Heugh Battery Museum on the Headland, which saw action during the 1914 Bombardment of the Hartlepools, has created an eye-catching display.

The Heugh Yarners in the Community group have put up a large number of crocheted poppies on the front fence alongside the message We Will Remember Them.

And the museum has put over 20 war-related poems on display for passers by to stop and read after asking people to nominate their favourite.

Museum manager Diane Stephens said: “We have poems about nurses and military horses and dogs already on display.

"The poems can be about people who have lost loved ones, life on the home front, serving in any of the forces… anything war related.

"They can lament war, convey pride in those who serve, or speak of the experience of war.

“We currently have 21 poems on display, and have space for more if people want to contact us to tell us their favourite and why they like it.”

The museum prints out and laminates the poems people suggest.

Diane added: “We would also like to convey our thanks to the Heugh Yarners in the Community for their contribution not only to the museum but other sites on the Headland, including the Sebastopol Cannon and Andy Capp statue.”

To nominate a poem email: [email protected], or via the museum’s social media at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Hartlepool MP Mike Hill says it is regrettable that this year’s Remembrance Sunday ceremony will not happen in its usual form.

Hartlepool Borough Council has announced a number of virtual events and people are invited to lay wreaths at the Victory Square memorial over Friday, November 6, and Saturday, November 7.

Mr Hill said: “This year Remembrance Sunday will be very different, but organisers and volunteers have worked hard to mark the occasion and keep it special.

“I will be laying a wreath at both the Headland and the main cenotaph in town.

“I urge people to sign the Book of Remembrance which is easy to do and can be found online on the council’s website and to stand on your doorsteps in silence at 11am on Sunday.”

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