WW1 poppy installation unveiled at Big Pit

Big Pit features in The Royal British Legion's annual Poppy Appeal launch today with an installation to highlight the legacy of the WWI generation.

It's one of 15 artworks across the UK showcasing the contribution of women, children, the Commonwealth, the Armed Forces, pioneers and artists in the year that marks the end of the First World War centenary.

The installation at Big Pit has been inscribed with the words of a former soldier Credit: The Royal British Legion

Big Pit, which was a working coal mine between 1880 and 1980, saw its workforce decimated during the Great War as men were moved to the mining units and battalions on the front. Women, children and the elderly took up the trade in their place.

The installation at the site, in Blaenavon, is inscribed with the words: "Cos we’d been miners, biggest part of the battalion or the division were miners,the majority”, by Irving Jones of the Welsh Regiment.

The central installation, which is six metres high, is at the National Maritime Museum, in London, where the records of Royal Navy and Merchant Sailors lost in the war are held.

The central installation at the National Maritime Museum Credit: The Royal British Legion

Smaller installations have also been revealed at other locations across the UK, including Downing Street and the Library of Birmingham.

One of 15 smaller artworks, at Downing Street Credit: The Royal British Legion

The Poppy Appeal runs from Thursday 25th October to Sunday 11th November, which this year marks both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.