Skegness Community Remembrance Project is reaching new heights - this time in a Guinness World Records bid. Skegness branch of the Royal British Legion plan to cascade poppy nets from the 21-metre high Altitude 44 high ropes challenge on the seafront as part of this year's display. RBL vice-chair Tracy Turner tells us more:
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00:00Skegness' 2025 Community Remembrance Project is reaching new heights,
00:07this time by being part of a new Gillies World Records bid.
00:12Tracy, last year's poppy display around the clock tower created global interest, didn't it?
00:20And how many poppies were on that? So last year we managed 37,082 poppies
00:28around the clock tower and this year we're going up so we're going to put the nets around the clock
00:36tower again but in addition we're going 21 metres down from high altitude. Now as if that wasn't
00:46enough because I know you've got people busily knitting already and quite a few thousand already
00:52made, you're now going for a Guinness Book of Records I understand, can you tell me what all
00:58that is about? We are, I just didn't think I was cracking the whipping off so I thought I'll add
01:04a little bit extra into the mix. So we are going for an official, this is the official attempt medallion,
01:13a Guinness World Record. So we are going for a Guinness World Record,
01:17it's a new record so it's not just the most amount of poppies because that would be boring.
01:23So we are attempting to set a new record which is very much under wraps because it is very much a
01:32easy to beat record. But the idea is Skegness sets it, Skegness will always have set it,
01:42but it then gives other communities the ripple effect of what Skegness is doing to go out into
01:48the community, of their own community and gives them a goal to go, Skegness did this,
01:55we know we can do that and then it just gets other people doing what we're doing in Skegness.
02:01So when will you be revealing exactly what it is?
02:07Probably the 18th of October, that's the day that we're putting,
02:11we're having the nets going up. So the first net of five is done and there's over 18,000 poppies on
02:23that one net. Now last year we had 37,082 over five nets, one net we've got over 18,000 and we've
02:34had to place them a lot more denser on these nets because because of where we're going, we're going
02:40high up and it's a frame. If we didn't, you wouldn't see it, you wouldn't get the impact and
02:45the wow factor. So yeah, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, we're going to come in the next couple of
02:54weeks and do a test deployment and the first test will be trying to get it out of the shop because
02:59five of us couldn't even lift it the other day. We took it outside the Hildreds to roll it up
03:04and we only couldn't lift it, we had to roll it back in. So I'm sure that they trained for this
03:11kind of thing. Well it would be a new challenge for them, absolutely. So many challenges come out
03:19of this pier all the time, don't they? Oh it's brilliant, it's just brilliant.
03:26So for the people who want to know more, I understand this first net is hopefully going on display this
03:32weekend. The first net isn't going on display, the first net is waiting to go up for a test
03:40do. What we're doing now is net number two is now up in the shop at the Hildreds which is the
03:45old Curtis building, Exabagel Blinders in the Hildred Centre. The third net which we started at the VE
03:53and VJ picnic in the park, if it's dry weather and it's got to be dry, we're going outside Rosie
04:00Jones in Compass Garden which is in the shadow of high altitude for a community tie-on, just like
04:06we did all through last year. Come along, have a brew, have a bit of cake, have an ice cream and come
04:12and tie some poppies on because not only you then being a part of this year's project, you're being,
04:18you can say that you helped set a Guinness World Record in Skedness.