Selsey care home residents share family memories of two world wars on handmade poppies

Residents at a Selsey nursing home have shared their families' memories of both world wars, from fathers who served in the First World War to uncles who never came home.

To mark Remembrance, residents at Tenchley Manor in Ursula Square, Selsey, each wrote a personal story on a large handmade paper poppy. Among them are a woman who turns 100 next year, a daughter whose father worked in bomb disposal, and a woman who lost her father the day before the Second World War broke out.

Sue was just six years old when she lost her father, a First World War soldier.

She wrote: "My dad was in World War 1 as a soldier, but he passed away the day before World War 2 broke out. I was only six years old when he passed."

Joyce, who will celebrate her 100th birthday next year, grew up through the Second World War.

She wrote: "I lived the Second World War as an only child. I met my husband after the war ended. Next year I will turn 100 years old."

Ruth's father served in both conflicts. After returning injured from the First World War, he went on to work in bomb disposal during the Second.

She wrote: "My dad was in the First World War and my uncles too. They all came back but they were injured. In the Second World War my dad worked in bomb disposal."

For Molly, the poppy was a chance to remember an uncle who never came home.

She wrote: "My uncle served in World War 1 and my father too, but my dad came home but my uncle never did."

Jay, who was born in 1927 and will soon turn 99, wrote: "My family served in both wars."

The poppies were made as part of the home's Remembrance activities, giving residents the chance to share stories that remain deeply personal more than a century after the First World War ended.