This year’s white peace poppy wreath laid by Friends invited to the 11 Nov 2016 Remembrance Day ceremony has again been stolen. It carried the message “for peace without violence”. Last year’s 2015 white poppy wreath was first discarded to the back of the monument then, restored to its position by Friends, then stolen entirely.

Quakers share the compassion for service men women and their families which is expressed in Remembrance Day commemorations, and work with the Royal British Legion. But Quakers are also pacifists, supporting conscientious objecting and taking action against war.

The white poppy represents remembrance for all war victims including civilians, commitment to peace and challenge to any attempt to glamourise or celebrate war (more here). It dates back 80 years.

Bath saw its first white poppy wreath laid by the Bath People’s Assembly in 2011. More recently, with permission of the military authorities organising the ceremony on behalf of the Royal British Legion, Bath Quakers (the local Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends) laid white wreaths in 2015 and 2016.

The white poppy wreaths  cost around £50 each and take some hours to make.