Ludlow plans a sea of poppies for the fallen

Plans are being hatched to install hundreds of the artificial flowers at the castle to mark the centenary of end of the Great War in 2018, in a display inspired by the 888,246 ceramic poppies that filled the Tower's moat in 2014 to mark the anniversary of outbreak of the war.

The idea has come from a committee of residents in Ludlow devoted to remembering the fallen from in and around the town.

Margaret Edwards, of Poyners clothes shop, leading the committee, said the fresh idea had come as fundraising to get the names of the fallen put on slabs around the town square's currently blank memorial has now been completed, with the stones expected to be in place for July 14 this year.

She said: "We gave ourselves four years to get the names of the fallen put around the memorial, and we've done it in two.

"When we set up the committee we intended to do things to remember our fallen for the full four years. So because we'll finish early, we decided that we'd like to do something else."

She said they had approached British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry about making the poppies. There will be at least 200 of the large metal flowers, to represent those on Ludlow's roll of honour lost in both World Wars and the Korean War, she said.

"We know there are more than 200 men lost from Ludlow, but we can do more poppies if anybody has somebody in the services they would like to remember that is not on the roll," she said.

She said they were thinking of putting the flowers somewhere inside the castle grounds, but nothing had yet been agreed.

"All the finer details are yet to be finalised," she said.

"Plans are currently in the very early stages but the wheels are in motion now because it will take a bit of time to organise."

She said town councillor Graeme Perks, who is a member of the memorial fund committee, had taken the lead and was talking to Sonja Belchere, custodian of Ludlow Castle, about the possibility, and so far everyone was keen on the idea.

"We've given ourselves until 2018 to get everything in place. We're planning to have them all there by remembrance day in November that year," she said.

The committee has now raised more than £9,000, with £700 added recently from a special fashion show held at Stokesay Court by various independent clothes retailers in the town.

Hundreds of steel forget-me-nots, also made by British Ironwork Centre, were unveiled at Shrewsbury Castle and Attingham Park last month, as part of an appeal by Severn Hospice, with money from the sale of the flowers going to help the charity.