More than 5,000 poppies knitted for Torquay displays

  • Published
Knitted poppies post box topper TorquayImage source, Julie McGowan
Image caption,

More than 5,000 poppies were knitted for displays in St Marychurch

An array of knitted poppy decorations have been placed in Torquay.

More than 4,000 poppies were knitted for a cascade placed in St Marychurch's yard, alongside postbox toppers and a knitted poppy horse.

A total of 13 knitted wreaths were placed on war graves and almost 240 poppies lined the church pathways.

About 15 knitters took part in the project, which Sandra Jackson described as "emotional to work on".

Image source, Julie McGowan
Image caption,

White peace poppies have been placed in the church yard

The St Marychurch Torquay yarn fairies member said: "The fairies decided they wanted to do something really special to mark Armistice/Remembrance Day, so we started off by thinking about doing a cascade of poppies, and it took off from there.

"We have all worked very hard on this project for just over three months, a lot of time and dedication went into knitting over 5,000 poppies for all the displays."

Image source, Julie McGowan
Image caption,

About 15 knitters took part in the project

The Banwell WI and local Crafter and Natter group began knitting poppies in May.

Co-ordinator Vivienne Bailey said she started the project as she was "passionate about giving back to the community and providing support to others".

"We saw that we could do something on a larger scale than previous years so an appeal was put out to the ladies of Banwell WI to join us on our venture, after that the poppies kept coming in," she said.

Image source, Vivienne Bailey
Image caption,

Forces represented in the poppy displays included the Army, the Navy and the Royal Airforce

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk, external.

Related topics

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.