Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal - Basra

[Richard]

From BBC News...

Poppy Appeal launched from Basra



This year's Poppy Appeal has been launched in Iraq, the first time the campaign has been launched from an active war zone.

The Royal British Legion said the choice was a reminder that it helped active personnel as well as veterans.

Spokesman Robert Lee said UK troops had been on active service somewhere in the world every year since 1945, with some 16,500 lives lost.

The launch in Basra was accompanied by songs from the soprano Hayley Westenra.

The Poppy Appeal raises funds for the Royal British Legion, which provides support to serving members of the Armed Forces, the ex-service community and their dependents.

Mr Lee told the BBC: "Every single one of these veterans is eligible for legion support and every single person in uniform today is eligible for our support."

Speaking from Basra, Sgt Kevin McAloon of the Adjutant General's Corps told the BBC: "It just shows the nation how big the Poppy Appeal actually is for both serving and ex-serving members of the forces.

"There are many ex-servicemen or current servicemen who have used the British Legion to assist them after injury in combat."

This year's appeal is accompanied by "Poppy Man" - a life-size figure constructed from scores of poppies - that has toured operating stations in Iraq.

The appeal's posters feature the figure pushing the wheelchair of an injured serviceman and putting his arms around a boy whose father was killed in Iraq.

Poppies became a symbol of remembrance because they grew in ground devastated by trench warfare in World War I.

BBC newsreaders will begin wearing poppies from the weekend.

Richard

[Richard]

I'll quote part of an article from the Manchester Evening News. Click on the link to read it in full.

In Basra, Warrant Officer First Class Frank Greenwood, from Prestwich, took part in a parade and service which saw singer Hayley Westenra sing for troops to mark the beginning of the Royal British Legion's 2008 appeal.

The appeal aims to raise £32m nationally to help serving and ex-service personnel in need.

Warrent Officer Greenwood, 37, said: "It is an absolute privilege to have the Royal British Legion here and to be a part of the launch of the Poppy Appeal for 2008.

"Hayley Westenra was absolutely fantastic when she sang 'I vow to thee my country'. The lads were all quite taken with her and it's a real boost for them to hear her singing."

Richard

[drew]

It seems that Poppy Man has his own laptop in Basra as he shows some pictures on his blog:

Poppy Man Blog

[keithp]

Oct 21, 2008 10:54:48 GMT @roger said:

I am a little surprised that Hayley was talking openly about it in Dunfirmline last night but, presumably, that gives us clearance to discuss the trip.

Its probably as simple as the fact that we asked what she was doing with her 8 day break in the tour and Hayley just answered in the honest way you would expect of her. She may have thought about it later and wondered if she really should have mentioned it

[Dave]

Hello everyone,

NZ has now caught up with this story and as I'm sure some of you already know, there is a NZ.stuff website story from The Press:

Hayley lifts morale for troops in Iraq
The Press | Friday, 24 October 2008 DEAN KOZANIC

Canterbury songbird Hayley Westenra has flown to Iraq on a mission to raise British troop morale.

Westenra's father, Gerald, told The Press the young singer would arrive back in London this morning after a whirlwind trip to Basra, in southern Iraq.

Westenra was invited to perform for British troops by an army brigadier who heard her sing at a charity concert at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

"She had a gap of a few days between her tour shows so she decided to go for it."

Her father said the trip was a "big deal" for the Christchurch singer.

"I spoke to her the night before she left and she was excited but slightly nervous. As parents we were naturally a bit worried because she was flying into a war zone and there is always a risk."

Westenra was issued with a bullet-proof vest for the visit, he said.

Oh, and I guessed last night that Hayley might pop up on Breakfast TV so i recorded it all As Drew said, Hayley was indeed shown in the background in Basra, but she was not interviewed, possibly due to shortage of time following the technical difficulties they mentioned.

Anyway, here is the interview where Hayley can be seen:

BBC Breakfast - Basra (full frame, 900 kbps, xvid, 19MB), right-click on the link and download it to your computer ("Save As)".

It is a 4:3 crop from the widescreen broadcast, I saw no point in showing the black bars originally at the side of the Basra feed!

Edit

I also did a wmv version which should play almost immediately without waiting for the download to complete - I cropped out the middle bit containing Hayley to reduce the file size.
Hayley in the background in Basra 640x288 500 kbps 9 MB.

Dave

[stuartj]

Now those were difficult circumstances -- a cappella, in the open air, no amplification, and with what sounded like artillery fire in the background...

Edit: actually I don't think it was artillery ... on a second listen it was just someone's not very good vidcam picking up the "wind" noise.

[stuartj]

Oct 23, 2008 17:36:19 GMT Dave said:

Hello everyone,

NZ has now caught up with this story and as I'm sure some of you already know, there is a NZ.stuff website story from The Press:

Hayley lifts morale for troops in Iraq
The Press | Friday, 24 October 2008 DEAN KOZANIC

Canterbury songbird Hayley Westenra has flown to Iraq on a mission to raise British troop morale.

Westenra's father, Gerald, told The Press the young singer would arrive back in London this morning after a whirlwind trip to Basra, in southern Iraq.

Westenra was invited to perform for British troops by an army brigadier who heard her sing at a charity concert at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

"She had a gap of a few days between her tour shows so she decided to go for it."

Her father said the trip was a "big deal" for the Christchurch singer.

"I spoke to her the night before she left and she was excited but slightly nervous. As parents we were naturally a bit worried because she was flying into a war zone and there is always a risk."

Westenra was issued with a bullet-proof vest for the visit, he said.

Oh, and I guessed last night that Hayley might pop up on Breakfast TV so i recorded it all As Drew said, Hayley was indeed shown in the background in Basra, but she was not interviewed, possibly due to shortage of time following the technical difficulties they mentioned.

Anyway, here is the interview where Hayley can be seen:

BBC Breakfast - Basra (full frame, 900 kbps, xvid, 19MB)

It is a 4:3 crop from the widescreen broadcast, I saw no point in showing the black bars originally at the side of the Basra feed!

Dave

The picture of Hayley being "undressed" from the vest is one of my favourite Hayley photos. It would be well worth checking or posting here if that doesn't breech the copyright regulations.

[graemek]

Here's that very cute pic. I couldn't get it to become an image but just click on it:

www.defencenewsimagery.mod.uk/FotoWeb/FWbin/preview.dll/zHQMND(SE)-2008-149-0145.jpg?D=07DA4F5881F21B8D64180C7193569C8F322F96589A660209DBCC065CDE190622C2D2FC7F4A3F3B6FEA04A3059E18B69337D4F5E2EE118227412ECD59A5C27628CC021AC8895B48C8DFB2B76B6DBAC2B53B98C530CEF6642B923822D7BC4C3DD211200707D72B1204FC04BD43836F07E9647B2323BB96F8E6648E30633B9A48BEF92C597DCD2525F3C3A3A3C2C0E078F606A0B20E86BA6FAE086FF240DD9CE50B

Graeme

[Paddy]

Oct 23, 2008 23:29:56 GMT graemek said:

Here's that very cute pic. I couldn't get it to become an image.

Graeme

Hi Graeme.

Just call Hayley's name.

[Dave]

Oct 23, 2008 17:36:19 GMT Dave said:

Anyway, here is the interview where Hayley can be seen:

BBC Breakfast - Basra (full frame, 900 kbps, xvid, 19MB), right-click on the link and download it to your computer ("Save As)". It is a 4:3 crop from the widescreen broadcast, I saw no point in showing the black bars originally at the side of the Basra feed!

I also did a wmv version which should play almost immediately without waiting for the download to complete - I cropped around the middle bit containing Hayley, to reduce the file size.
Hayley in the background in Basra 640x288 500 kbps 9 MB.

Dave

[Joe]

Cheers, Dave, for the link to your BBC Breakfast video ! And well done, Hayley!

[stuartj]

Oct 24, 2008 0:23:49 GMT Paddy said:

Oct 23, 2008 23:29:56 GMT graemek said:

Here's that very cute pic. I couldn't get it to become an image.

Graeme

Hi Graeme.

Just call Hayley's name.

No need -- this time she should be right here:






I corrected the tags to display the photographs.
Richard

[graemek]

Hi All
Just a tip for those finding this difficult :
"Due to space constraints there can be no cameras in the news conference. Still and video imagery of the visit of The Royal British Legion to Basra will be available for download from the MoD’s Defence News Imagery website at www.defencenewsimagery.mod.uk
(username: GuestUser password: SilverCup)"

There are quite a few movie clips offered on the above site.
Make sure you choose "broadcast quality" not "preview quality".

The 2 outstanding clips are :Broadcast_Quality_MPEG2_0002081.mpg 165 Mb
and Broadcast_Quality_MPEG2_0002083.mpg 282Mb
These 2 give
1. Hayley's excellent speech &
2. her beautifully rendered song.

Well worth downloading. Also if you use VLC player & use an aspect ratio of 16:9 they will be restored to their correct proportionality (sigh).
Graeme

[stuartj]

Oct 24, 2008 3:20:10 GMT graemek said:

Hi All
Just a tip for those finding this difficult :
"https://i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifue to space constraints there can be no cameras in the news conference. Still and video imagery of the visit of The Royal British Legion to Basra will be available for download from the MoD’s Defence News Imagery website at www.defencenewsimagery.mod.uk
(username: GuestUser password: SilverCup)"

There are quite a few movie clips offered on the above site.
Make sure you choose "broadcast quality" not "preview quality".

The 2 outstanding clips are :Broadcast_Quality_MPEG2_0002081.mpg 165 Mb
and Broadcast_Quality_MPEG2_0002083.mpg 282Mb
These 2 give
1. Hayley's excellent speech &
2. her beautifully rendered song.

Well worth downloading. Also if you use VLC player & use an aspect ratio of 16:9 they will be restored to their correct proportionality (sigh).
Graeme

I have those clips, but the audio is of poor quality, even in the broadcast quality ones. Edit: It's a lot better in VLC player!

I thought I had given some links to the Christchurch Press scan:
www.flickr.com/photos/31695690@N07/2967790685/
www.flickr.com/photos/31695690@N07/2967779135/

And from Poppy man:

Hello from Basra! I can’t believe I’ve had the chance to come out to Iraq to launch the national Poppy Appeal for 2008! But it’s true, I’m here, and I can’t tell you how happy and how proud I am to meet with the British Armed forces. What a world away from the UK. If you were up early this morning you may have caught me on BBC Breakfast. I was worried that I might have been a bit quiet, but apparently it all went down really well! So you might be wondering why I’m here. Well, my friends The Royal British Legion and I want the British public to remember our Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. Remembrance isn’t just about honouring those who fought in the two world wars, after all, but also about those who are still involved in conflict and the fight for peace. I guess I’m here to let them know that we’re thinking of them, and we're supporting them. It makes me sad that they might not know, you see. The Poppy Appeal’s theme this year is ‘Serving those who Serve’, and I think that says it much better than me! I was a nervous wreck when I found out that Hayley Westenra was also here – she’s a famous soprano, you know. I watched her give a wonderful address to the troops – she said she was nervous but she didn’t look it at all! She even wowed everyone with a few songs. I’m certain she helped raise morale; I'm not sure when these men and women last heard some live music! What a day. More later! Poppy Man Posted by PoppyMan

[Richard]

Thanks to Paddy for providing the link to the amazing photograph of Hayley in her bullet-proof vest. I managed to display it in Stuart's post by replacing the hyperlink (url) tags with image (img) tags.

Richard