Poppies arrive in Orkney for cathedral display

The ceramic poppies that will form a spectacular display at St Magnus Cathedral arrived in Orkney earlier this week.

The truck carrying the poppies was given a free berth aboard the NorthLink Ferries vessel mv Helliar on the crossing from Aberdeen to Kirkwall.

The poppies will now be held in safe storage until the work to install them begins later this month, although work has already started on scaffolding outside the cathedral.

Earlier this year, 14-18 NOW, the UK’s official arts programme for the First World War centenary, announced that Poppies: Weeping Window would go on display at the cathedral from April 22 to June 12, to commemorate 100 years since the Battle of Jutland.

Poppies: Weeping Window is from the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper.

The installation was originally at the Tower of London in 2014 where 888,246 poppies were displayed, one to honour every death in the British and colonial forces of the First World War.