FEATURES
Poppy Day
Service wife Amanda Prowse has written a novel called
Poppy Day. Suzanne Savill meets her and her husband,
Major Simeon Prowse at their favourite café in Bristol.
Who is Poppy Day? Poppy is fictional but has all the traits of all Service wives and girlfriends in that she is smart, industrious and strong. SWAGS need these qualities because it’s not always the easiest life. The glamour of dating someone in uniform quickly fades when our men go away and we are left at home to look after the kids and keep everything going, it’s often difficult. Add to that the fact that you can be lonely and worried about your partner’s safety... all SWAGS are superwomen like Poppy!
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manda Prowse is wearing a corsage in the shape of a poppy on the lapel of her grey cardigan. It seems
like the perfect accessory, given that Amanda is having her photograph taken as part of publicity for her book, ‘Poppy Day’. But then she begins talking. And it becomes clear that to her the poppy is far more than an attractive adornment.
“I wear a poppy every day,” says Amanda who is married to Major Simeon Prowse and lives in an Army house in Bristol with their two sons. “I’ve got loads of poppies in all sorts of different styles. It’s my way of acknowledging all that our Servicemen and women do.”
Amanda is hoping to provide even greater support to serving and former military personnel, by donating every penny of profit from her book to the Royal British Legion. Amanda, recalls, “Simeon and I had been
Envoy Winter 2011
talking about how, if only we had enough money, we’d love to make a difference and help provide support for serving and former military personnel – there are so many things that the money could go on, such as bereavement counselling, rehabilitation, pastoral care. Then we realised that The Royal British Legion has been doing all this brilliantly for 90 years and started thinking about ways of making money for them.
The idea came from her friend, television presenter Carol Vorderman, who had already read her novel. The two women have been friends since Carol moved to the Bristol area. “Carol is the person I go to for good advice. She has been so supportive of me, and she’s a great supporter of the Armed Forces. Particularly the work she does with the Pride of Britain awards.”
Amanda has followed Carol’s advice. On the first pages there is a foreword from Carol, part of it reads: “Mandy is an Army wife who has written about an Army wife, and while Poppy
Day is a work of fiction, she understands life beneath the uniform; what it’s like to be the one left at home, ticking off the days until your loved one returns, and what happens when there is the knock on the door that every Forces’ spouse, parent and lover dreads...
“The times when Simeon is deployed in areas of violent conflict (and those times are frequent) are tough for Mandy and the boys. I witness her pain and worry; the anguish she has to bear, concern that most of us will never have to live through.”
We are sitting talking in the cafe where Amanda and Carol regularly meet. Amanda and Simeon make a striking couple: she with her mane of blonde hair and a poppy corsage, and he in his Army fatigues. But what is most noticeable about them is the way they both radiate happiness and are clearly devoted to each other.
It comes as no surprise when Amanda says it was love at first sight when she saw
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