A GLOWING memorial to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI was ‘planted’ by Grayshott Parish Council at the village war memorial, on Monday .

Grayshott Pottery has donated 200 specially-created ceramic poppies for the commemorative display – and managing director Glenn Myers joined parish councillors to help plant them out this week.

Thirty of the poppies have been fixed to planks of English oak, as a permanent installation, to represent the 30 servicemen, named on the war memorial who were killed during the First World War, between 1914 and 1918..

The remaining poppies are available for people to sponsor for a minimum of £20 and all the contributions will be given to the Grayshott branch of the Royal British Legion.

Villagers will gather at the memorial in a week’s time for the annual Remembrance Sunday paraade – a service that will be repeated across East Hampshire and South West Surrey next weekend.

Grayshott’s Poppy Lawn will remain in place until Monday, November 19.

Assistant parish clerk Laura Musco said: “The council is very grateful for the support it has had with this initiative from local businesses, who are donating their time and materials.

“Our thanks go to Grayshott Pottery for donating the poppies and its staff for offering to make the poppies in their own time; to James Condie of Condie Tree Care for providing the oak planks for the permanent display; to Andy Clague, of Trusted PC Man, for providing and installing CCTV equipment at the war memorial to protect the display; and to Bryanston Electrical for installing the power supply.

“The council would also like to thank traders for their contributions to cover the cost of installing poppies on the heritage lamp posts.”

Just down the road, St Edmund’s School, Hindhead, is mounting an equally-impressive commemoration for this month’s centenary.

More than 200 WWI artefacts and memorabilia have been sourced and will be on display at the school from Thursday, November 8 until Saturday, November 10. The exhibition is in honour of the 37 St Edmund’s pupils, who lost their lives in The Great War.

Artefacts include weapons, rifles, uniforms, medals and rare items including a WWI blood transfusion box, one of only two left in the world, and a Sopwith Camel propeller. A reproduction WWI tank has been built to scale and a trench has been dug.

Memories of each of the school’s 37 servicemen will be displayed and pupils are also writing stories about their relatives who fought in The Great War.

•To sponsor a poppy, email [email protected] or call (01428) 606510.