CADETS, officers and committee members from the Thurrock Sea Cadets visited the Tower of London to see the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red display of ceramic poppies.

The group was taken into the moat to help plant a poppy for each British fatality of the First World War.

A spokesman for the cadets said: “Nothing had prepared us for the sight that met us.

“The swathe of poppies already planted depicted the huge loss of life.

“The cadets were part of a whole planting team, who over the morning prepared and planted more than 8,000 poppies.”