Over 12,000 handmade poppies were destroyed in a fire at a cemetery, which was believed to have been started deliberately.
A group of volunteers in Prescot had crafted the poppies by hand for last year's Remembrance service and had planned to use them again in a display this year. They were stored in a storage container in Prescot Cemetery which went up in flames in the early hours of Thursday (April 14) morning.
Lesley Porter from Friends of Prescot Cemetery & Churchyard told the ECHO that a local resident spotted the fire and rang the fire service. The swift arrival of fire crews ( Prescot Fire Station is 0.2 miles away from the cemetery) meant that the fire did not spread to nearby trees, which Lesley said could have caused 'absolute devastation'.
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However, the fire in the storage container has not only destroyed the poppies, but the group's gardening tools. Lesley also said that their lawnmower was stolen from the unit.
She said: "Whoever it was must have come prepared because the container has secure locks on them. They’d cut the flap, opened it up, took a lawnmower, didn’t take anything else, they must have shut the door and set it on fire.
"All of our tools have gone, everything and the 12,400 poppies. It is absolutely devastating.
"It could have been worse, the container is amongst trees and graves. It could have been absolute devastation there."
Lesley spoke about the group's disappointment at seeing their hand-crafted poppies destroyed. She said: "As a voluntary group, we can’t afford insurance for the container. There was nothing of huge monetary value, but it’s when you put it all together and think of all that stuff that’s there, it adds up."
She continued: "We’re all devastated. We don’t do this to benefit ourselves. It’s for the community and to respect the people who are buried there. The poppies all represent lives that were lost in wars. Every single one of them is handmade, all that is gone."
A spokesperson for Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service said: "Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) attended an incident at Prescot cemetery in the early hours of Thursday, 14 April 2022.
"Crews were alerted at 00.32 and on scene at 00.36. One fire engine attended.
"On arrival, crews found one storage container well alight and used a high pressure hose reel to extinguish the fire.
MFRS crews left the scene at 01.06."
Merseyside Police has been contacted for comment.
