Cascade of 8,000 poppies installed down the side of St Peter’s Church in Wellesbourne
A STUNNING poppy cascade of 8,000 knitted poppies has been installed down the side of St Peter’s Church Tower in Wellesbourne.
In what was a huge community project, the bright red poppy cascade was originally meant to include 4,000 poppies but the enthusiasm for the project - in time for Remembrance Day - meant more and more poppies were created.
The brilliant display has attracted praise from neighbouring communities with many people making special trips to Wellesbourne to see the poppies for themselves.
Resident Kate Skinner said: “I had seen other flower installations around the country over the last few years and wanted to create something for our village. The idea was welcomed by our vicar, Greg Bartlem, and in January we set out to knit and crochet 4,000 poppies. At first I wondered if we’d ever reach anywhere near 4,000, but the community responded with huge enthusiasm and a total of 7,845 poppies were made, almost double what we asked for!”
A series of drop-in sessions were held to make the poppies and then sew them on to the netting which is 21m long and 5m wide at the bottom. A total of 3104 were stitched on, and the rest of the poppies have been used to create lots more decorations around Wellesbourne; at the Methodist Church, the school and also in around 25 shop windows. There is a trail to follow so people can search for poppy clues during half term and enter our trail and colouring competition.”
Kate added “The project has been a huge amount of fun and has brought many people together in the community. We are all very excited for everyone to come along and enjoy the amazing installations.”
The cascade opened on Saturday 28th October and remains in place until 20th November.
