Home » Poppies to create living stage for WWI event: 100: The Day Our World Changed
Poppies to create living stage for WWI event: 100: The Day Our World Changed
The award-winning Lost Gardens of Heligan, with Wildworks Theatre Company, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to sow one of the first living stages made of poppies to mark the centenary of the First World War.
Heligan's West Lawn has been ploughed and will be planted with poppy seeds that, once in flower, will stretch into the distance towards Mevagissey and become part of a 'living stage'.
On August 3, Cornwall's Wildworks Theatre Company and The Lost Gardens of Heligan will create 100: The Day Our World Changed that will re-tell and re-live the lives of the men who went to war and the families they left behind.
Heligan and Wildworks are looking to raise £7,500 to help pay for the poppy seeds, performers, costumes and event materials to mark the special day and will offer rewards in return for pledges of cash on the Crowdfunder website.
Campaign rewards range from £5 for a packet of poppy seeds for the field and a thank you email, £10, rewards you with a packet of seeds for the field and a handwritten thank you card from a gardener at Heligan, £100, a centenary pass, £250 VIP gardener for a day at Heligan for two with lunch and a tour from Candy Smit and finally £1000, a tour and lunch with Tim Smit for two, signed book and Heligan hamper.
Crowdfunder enables people with a great idea to ask their community for funds in return for rewards. It's an all or nothing model, so if the funding target is not reached, money is returned to pledgers.
"100: The Day Our World Changed is a day for the community, about the community, involving as much of the community as possible – that's why we felt crowdfunding was a great way to reach out to and engage people," said event curator Candy Smit.
"Crowdfunder is the UK's biggest crowdfunding network and it's based in Cornwall – so it's a natural partner," said Lorna Tremayne, The Lost Garden of Helligan's marketing and media manager. "We're really excited about this and hope people will pledge and support us."
Candy said: "A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who has already donated and supported the project and enabled us to plough the fields this weekend. However, we still have a long way to go to fund all the elements of the day, poppy seeds need to be bought and sown whilst costumes, music and theatre all need to be created, so we welcome pledges on our Crowdfunder page."
The six-week crowdfunding campaign launched on Friday, March 21. You can pledge by visiting: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/100
(from a press release)
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Filed Under: Cornwall Tagged With: 100: The Day Our World Changed, First World War, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Wildworks Theatre Company