WITH those lost in the two world wars fresh in the mind due to Remembrance Sunday, Okehampton Town Council is considering planting poppies next spring to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.

Park keeper David Whitfield has suggested that red poppies be planted in wild areas around the town to pay respect to those who fought in the first world war.

Among the areas suggested for planting are Fairplace Terrace, around the Joan Pauley commemorative bench on East Street, around the billboards on East Street, and on a parcel of land near the entrance to the town via New Road.

The red poppy has become an image synonymous with the first world war, due to the poignant war poem In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

Okehampton Community Archive has been looking in to ways to commemorate the occasion, and Cllr Paul Vachon, a member of the archive, said that poppy planting was a good idea.

Any planting would take place next spring so that the poppies flower during the autumn months next year, in time for Remembrance Sunday 2014.