Plane poppy drop to take off

A plan to drop around half a million poppies from planes is set for take off in Holbeach this weekend despite the organiser having thought he’d been told it couldn’t.

Harold Payne has organised for Holbeach St Johns Flying Club to fly from Fenland Airfield and pass over the Anglia Motel he owns at 1.30pm this Remembrance Sunday (November 13) as part of his People’s Parade.

Despite getting permission from the Civil Aviation Authority he says he was told he had to cancel the event.

But both Lincolnshire County Council and South Holland District Council have said the Event Safety Action Group, which both are a part of, has not asked for it to be cancelled, so the event will go ahead.

Mr Payne said Lincolnshire County Council’s Highways team had objected, although a spokesman for that council said, while it had raised concerns with the ESAG over the capacity of the car park at the Anglia Motel, the group, currently chaired by SHDC, had not cancelled it.

A South Holland District Council spokesman said the event was not cancelled but that LCC had concerns over poppies blowing on to the A17, but the LCC spokesman said that wasn’t correct and the organisers had mitigation procedures in place depending on the direction of the wind on Sunday.

The event will now go ahead as planned.

“I’m just happy it’s sorted now,” said Mr Payne. “It should be a fantastic event and look spectacular.”