A Wakefield resident and Oxfam member donated this wristband to the museum in September 2005.

Over the past couple of months you might have seen people in Wakefield wearing one of these. Its wearer is showing support for the Make Poverty History campaign, which is an international movement to end poverty at home and abroad. This band has Oxfam stamped on the back because the charity has been one of the main partners for the campaign.

Wearing a charity symbol allows the wearer to show that they support a cause, and advertises the charity to the public. People have often worn emblems to show they support a charity, club, union or society, especially in the last 100 years.

One of the most famous and longest running charity symbols is the remembrance poppy. In 1921 the British Legion began to sell poppies to raise money for veterans of the First World War, which ended on 11th November 1918. Their motto is ‘Remember the dead; don’t forget the living’. The poppy was chosen because during the First World War in the no man’s land between the lines of trenches, thousands of poppies seeds lay in the soil. The explosions caused by shells churned up the soil and the poppies bloomed. It is worn every year on Remembrance Sunday (the nearest Sunday to 11th November), which commemorates veterans of British wars.

Many charities have produced badges and emblems to promote their causes. In recent years ribbon badges became popular. The red ribbon became an international symbol of AIDS awareness in 1991, other colours to support cancer relief soon followed.

The wristband is the latest way of showing support for a charity. They have been especially popular with young people, because they resemble the bands worn to enter music festivals and rock concerts. Like the ribbons there are different colours to represent different causes: White for Make Poverty History; blue for anti-bullying; yellow for the Livestrong cancer survivors; black and white for anti-racism and pink for breast cancer.