HEADING FOR THE FRONT - Framed Collector's Piece

As poppies bloom amidst the shattered ruins of Ypres, units of British cavalry advance towards an area of heavy fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres, spring 1915.

In this poignant piece Richard has selected a moment during the Second Battle of Ypres as a tribute to all those Allied soldiers who fought during the Great War. The city of Ypres, within range of German artillery, lies mostly in ruins yet beside the road poppies bloom, their blood red petals in stark contrast to the drab khaki of the British 2nd Cavalry Division heading towards the fighting.

In a field hospital nearby a Canadian medical officer called John McCrae was penning the beginnings of a soon-to-be famous poem:

‘In Flanders fields the poppies blow
between the crosses, row on row,
that marks our place; and in the sky
the larks, still bravely singing, fly
scarce heard amid the guns below.’