WHILE the bloodbath of the Battle of the Somme was coming to an end in France in December 1916, the track on which the Alton to Basingstoke railway line ran was taken up and shipped to the Western Front, ending what had been the first light railway service between the two towns.

Last Friday, to mark the 100th anniversary of the track being removed – it was put back in 1923 – a ceremony was held on Platform 3 at Alton station – the home of the Mid-Hants Railway – to receive poppies specially grown for the anniversary.

To add to the authenticity, a lorry from that era, a 1919 T-type Thorneycroft GP, was parked outside Alton station.

The poppies, a special Victoria Cross variety, were grown by Nigel Merry, a South West Trains employee at Basingstoke, who arrived with them on a trolley to be greeted by Mid-Hants volunteers in 1916 period costume.

With them were members of Alton Royal British Legion – president Bill Webb, chairman Fred Holton, deputy chairman Derek Maughan, RBL Club chairman Colin Murrell, community fundraiser Dave Moore and standard bearers Kevin Berry and Rob Graham, who at the handover of the poppies unfurled their standards.

Waiting to receive the poppies was Alton deputy mayor Dean Phillips, along with Colin Fuller, dressed in a genuine Victorian silk coat and top hat, Helen Broadbent as a 1916 housewife with daughters Jessica, Gwendolyn and four-month-old Ivy, Simon-Campbell Smith in military uniform, Rowena Turner, in a vintage black embroidered long coat and Freda Lawes, in an Edwardian long skirt and blouse, all Mid Hants Railway volunteers.

The poppies, which are in pots, have been placed on Platform 3 while small replica pots were given to Mr Phillips, who will present one to Alton Town Council, one to Alton British Legion for their headquarters, and one for the Mid Hants Railway.

The arrival of the poppies was welcomed by Pauline Fell and Pauline Blackmore, the “official” gardeners of Alton’s Mid Hants Platform 3, who said the flowers, deep red and with a small carnation-like flower, blended in well with the other displays.