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Tower of London poppies to go on tour

Prime Minister David Cameron planted a ceramic poppy at the Tower of London today after announcing parts of the popular artwork will remain in place until the end of the month.

Parts of the artwork will then tour sites around the UK until 2018 before being permanently displayed at the Imperial War Museum.

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Bank fines to fund Tower of London poppy tour

The Weeping Willow and the Wave will stay on display until the end of November.

Penalty fines paid by banks over the Libor rate rigging scandal will be used to fund a tour of the Tower of London poppies across the UK until 2018.

From next week many of the ceramic poppies will be dismantled before being sent to buyers who have paid £25 each for them.

But part of the installation, the Weeping Willow and the Wave, will remain until the end of the month before being sent on tour.

The wave of poppies at the Tower of London.

Chancellor George Osborne said £500,000 of Libor fines would be used "to ensure that people across the country will be able to see this moving tribute over the next four years".

He added: "It's only right that fines from those who have demonstrated the very worse of values should go to support those who have shown the best of British values."

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'No plans' to extend poppy display at Tower of London

Historic Royal Palaces, the organisation that looks after the Tower of London, has said it has no plans to extend the poppy display at the landmark despite its huge popularity.

In a statement, the charity said:

We have been overwhelmed by the support from the public for ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’, our installation of ceramic poppies in the moat at the Tower of London.

It has always been intended that the poppies will be in place until 11 November 2014 and after this time they will be cleaned and sent out to all those that have purchased them.

The transience of the installation is key to the artistic concept, with the dispersal of the poppies into hundreds of thousands of homes marking the final phase of this evolving installation.

We are currently planning further ways in which the Tower of London will be marking the coming years of the centenary and the legacy of the poppies in the moat.

– Historic Royal Palaces
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