Page 8 - Phonebox Magazine May 2013

Newport Pagnell Brownies
Our Trip to the Poppy Factory
On Thursday 11th April 2013 3rd and 4th Newport Pagnell Brownies and some Members of Ouse Valley Trefoil Guild met up in Market Hill bright and early on a damp morning at 7.45. We boarded a coach bound for the Poppy Factory in Richmond upon Thames. We arrived at the Poppy Factory ready for our 10.30am tour – we were welcomed by our tour guide Brian and he explained what we would be doing, while we were served a much needed refreshment (squash and Biscuits (hot tea for the leaders)) - after a long journey.
We were first shown the various wreaths on the wall and explained which member of royalty they belonged to and how they were made up! We were shown the different types of poppies and then two films about the Wars and the Poppy fields. We then had a tour of the factory and were shown how the poppies are made. The most exciting part of the tour for the girls and adults alike was that we got to make poppies!
We are allowed to try our hands at making Poppy 1 (normal poppy you see sold by poppy sellers) and in fact
we filled a whole box for the factory they weighed this and we had made a grand total of 593 poppies in just under one hour. We also got to make Poppy 2 – this is a silk poppy; we were allowed to make one of these and take them home along with a Poppy 1. We then helped some of the workers make wreaths – each of the 21 brownies made a wreath – this was great fun. All too quickly it was soon time to go. We thanked the tour leaders for great time and for our poppies.
We hope to be able to visit again soon. The Trefoil members would definitely like a return visit.
We then boarded our coach and off to The London Wetland Centre in Barnes – where we first had our lunch. After Lunch we went off for a walk around the centre for a spot of bird watching.
Then it was time to shop. After shopping we boarded the coach home returning back to Newport Pagnell tired and happy after a great day out at 6pm.
3rd and 4th Newport Pagnell Brownies
8 Phonebox Magazine