Shropshire Village Unveils Knitted Poppy Cascade for Remembrance Day

Residents of a Shropshire village have created thousands of knitted poppies, which are now on display, flowing down their local church. Inspired by the poppy exhibition at the Tower of London in 2014, individuals in Cockshutt developed this installation for St Simon and St Jude’s Church to commemorate Remembrance Day. The church tower stands approximately 60ft (18m) high, and the flowers are affixed to camouflage nets. “It all started after Remembrance Day last year, because we couldn’t go out by our memorial cenotaph in the graveyard because the weather was so bad,” stated Andy Mole, who organised the project. He reflected, “I thought: ‘What could we do next year to make things better?'” “Ladies in the village and friends started knitting poppies and crocheting poppies, and we’ve got hundreds and hundreds of them. There’s over 2,000.” In addition to the traditional red poppies, which signify support for the Armed Forces community, the display also includes dozens of purple versions of the flowers. “We put purples ones on because they represent the dogs and horses in the war,” Mr Mole explained. The connection to animals involved in warfare holds particular significance for those in Cockshutt, notably because Rob, a black and white collie from the nearby village of Tetchill, parachuted during World War II. He completed 20 jumps, which resulted in him being awarded the PDSA’s Dickin Medal for Gallantry. “He’s there with all the other chaps from the village who went and served in the army,” he added. The display was erected on Tuesday, an event Mr Mole described as “incredible.” “The red poppies against the green camouflage net looks lovely,” he commented. “We’re going to put a floodlight on it, as well.” The intention is for this display to be installed on the church annually. “We ran out of time so we’ve still got some poppies to put on…so we’ll put those on next year as well, to make it even better hopefully.” For more updates, follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X, and Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.