Villagers join forces to knit Remembrance Day poppy cascade

Almost 200 residents in Holt, ranging in age from three to 94, have knitted the poppies for a massive cascade to remember those who lost their lives in conflicts around the world.

The team of poppy knitters was enlisted by Holt resident Helen Gray and already they have doubled their initial target of 3,000 poppies.

Helen said: “We felt it was particularly fitting this year, as we commemorate not only the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings in WW2, but also 120 years since the start of WW1. These dates should be marked and remembered for future generations.

“Everything from the crochet hooks and bright red wool – acrylic so that the poppies dry quickly after rain – to the netting and rope have been donated.

“Now people are making cut-out figures, soldiers’ boots and floral tributes to add to the displays around the village. It is a real community effort.”

Poppy seamstresses hard at work at The Wild Herb café in Holt. (Image: Fiona Campbell)

Astonishingly, the poppy tally is now double the original target, at around 6,000 and still counting - allowing the willing volunteers sewing them onto the increased metres of mesh, to also make decorations and keepsakes for visitors to buy.

It has become a mammoth project with groups of residents meeting each week this summer to complete the eye-catching cascade, which will be unveiled from the top of St Katherine’s Church on Friday, November 1 where it will remain on show until November 18.

Helen sparked the project after seeing pictures of a cascade of poppies tumbling down from St Peter’s Church tower in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire.

It gave her the idea to create something similar in her Wiltshire village – involving as many people as possible and thus the Holt Poppy Cascade was born. 

Together with fellow ‘organising whirlwind’ Lisa Wickes, they enlisted the help of almost 200 villagers and their families and friends.

The project has involved informal sewing, craft and gardening groups, sports players, church congregations, local shop and café customers, schoolchildren, the Holt Youth Club, Guides and Brownies.

Even the pre-school children joined in with painting poppies, making it the largest gathering of volunteers that Holt has ever seen – ranging in age from three to 94.

Part of the poppy cascade in the National Trust’s Courts Gardens in Holt where the volunteers meet weekly. (Image: Fiona Campbell)

With at least 3,000 poppies needed, knitting needles have clacked and crochet hooks crunched throughout the spring to create red poppies in different sizes and styles.

They will all be sewn onto netting and fixed from the bell tower of St Katharine’s Church cascading 50 ft down to the grass below and spreading across into the lane.

It will create a mini ‘Tower of London’ display - on show to the public in the lead-up to this year’s Remembrance Sunday in early November.

All money raised will go to the Royal British Legion and Help For Heroes - charities that provide practical support for members and veterans of the Armed Forces and their dependents.

To celebrate this Holt village achievement, there will be a special concert in St Katharine’s Church at 3pm on Sunday, November 3.

The concert will feature the original Military Wives’ Choir from Warminster and the West Wiltshire Good Morning Choir among other artists, followed by tea and home-made cakes. 

Tickets at £10 per head will be on sale at Holt Superstore from early September.