Liz Carnell, a former journalist from Harrogate who comes from a military family, asks why the poppy has become a gaudy symbol of our country’s respect for the war dead.

It’s that time of year when my father clipped a sprig of rosemary to his coat and headed to Pershore Abbey in Worcestershire, or wherever we happened to be living at the time, for the Remembrance Day service.

I don’t recall him ever wearing a poppy. I asked him once why not and he replied: “Rosemary is for remembrance”.

For many years my widowed mother was the village poppy seller in Little Comberton, and was so well known in the role that we included it in her newspaper death notice. She was invited into many homes for a G&T and a hefty donation.

My grandmother Nesta, a sister in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, and her brother, Lt Col John Hyde Bennett, who commanded 1Bn The Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regt) served in both world wars. Both Canadian citizens born in Ireland, they could have decided to stay in the relative safety of their adopted country.

So what might they think of the tawdry annual tributes to the war dead in the United Kingdom?

Poppies on car radiators, flashy fake gold brooches and other tat made in China. We need a reset when the Royal British Legion is telling us: “from paper poppies to pins, bag charms to pet poppies, the best way to wear a poppy is simply with pride”. Does that include the Christmas tree decoration?

Elsewhere online you’ll find a ‘tommy” window sticker, “tommy” socks and even a “tommy” solar garden ornament. If you prefer poppy earrings, a keyfob, or even a ‘party banner”, Temu has you covered, even if it does have the Union Flag plastered on the picket fence of a suburban US home.

It’s very tacky. I can just about put up with the Royal British Legion’s offer to deck out Tiddles in a commemorative collar, but this Chinese tat is an offensive money-making racket – for the People's Republic of China.

So much more acceptable are the numerous poppy displays up and down the country where knitted poppies, my own included, have been created with thought, stitched onto camouflage netting and draped over pulpits and buildings.

Most poignant is Nesta’s autograph book, which includes a beautiful painting of the union flag and prophetic poem by HJ Blampied, a friend she made when her father was HM Superintendent of Customs in Jersey:

Harold John Blampied is recorded on the Roll of Honour at Victoria College, Jersey.