Ceramic Poppies Removed From the Tower of London

An army of volunteers has begun removing the field of Remembrance poppies at the Tower of London.

The first shift, wrapped up against heavy showers, began pulling up the 888,246 hand-made ceramic flowers that make up Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red.

The first poppy was removed by John Mould, 67, part of a team of gardeners from Hampton Court who joined the volunteers and who has worked there for 52 years, as hundreds of people watched from the moat edge.

Some 1,000 people a day will spend two weeks pulling and packing them, with some 8,000 volunteers expected to take part overall.

Stripped of their stems, they will then be taken to a Midlands factory to be cleaned and packaged in commemorative boxes before being sent to more than 600,000 people who paid £25 per bloom, each of which represents a British or Commonwealth First World War death.