Top marks for teacher's Remembrance weekend poppy display

As the nation stopped to remember its heroes on Sunday, one man paused to honour them in an outdoor tribute of his own making.

Teacher Richard Stanton created a stunning Remembrance display in the front garden of his Milford home.

Fired by his passion for history, Richard created a display featuring a cascade of 6,000 paper poppies, with a soldier silhouette, 90 wooden crosses and 200 red lights.

He spent around 10 hours mounting the paper poppies on netting, and a further two hours creating the display itself, with the help of his family.

Visitors to the garden, and those who saw the photos on social media, lavished praise on the display, and some even donated to the Poppy Appeal via a QR code Richard displayed on a poster at the end of the path.

"It's unfortunate that we were in lockdown so not many people could come to see it," he said. "It was something that I wanted as many people as possible to see.

"The idea wasn't to raise money, it was to remember those who have given their lives and fought for us."

Having travelled to many of the battlefields and cemeteries of northern Europe, Richard says the message of heroism and sacrifice should never be forgotten.

"The war period is my area of interest. It's something I am very much into and something i want to share," he says.

"Remembrance is a very important time of year, and I always wanted to do something to publicise and support it. I decided this was the best way to do it as we are in lockdown.

"Quite why I went to such lengths I can't honestly tell you. I was just going a bit bigger, and going above and beyond. But there is no reason why I wouldn't do it again."

The poppies were paid for by "a couple of sizeable donations" from family members, he says, boosted by cash from his own pocket.

"I would like to think it got the attention it needed. Reading some of the comments on the Facebook groups, people were thrilled to see it and really appreciated it, and that was the impact I wanted."