Volunteers knit hundreds of poppies and life-size soldier for Remembrance Day

Volunteers in Cambridgeshire have painted their town red with a huge knitted display ahead of Remembrance Day. Hundreds of knitted poppies, soldiers, nurses and a service dog have been arranged in Whittlesey as part of an annual "poppy blitz" which takes almost 10 months to prepare. This year's arrangement also includes a life-size soldier with a carrier pigeon made of wool to commemorate those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

The display is put up each year before Remembrance Day on November 11 and relies on donations and sponsorships from members of the public and local businesses. "Year on year, we have ambitions to grow our displays, introduce new and exciting pieces and extend our locations across the town," a spokesperson for the volunteer group said last year. "We love to see all generations visiting our displays and learning about what they represent. Young and old, showing respect."

The tradition began during the Coronavirus pandemic to support Whittlesey's Royal British Legion, and is run jointly by Jackie Fryett, Jenny Palmer, Amy Thompson and Jayne Dando.

As well as the impressive display in the market town's Memorial Garden, the group spreads the remembrance spirit across Whittlesey, with knitted poppies on railings, trees and postboxes.

In 2023, the town drew attention for an ambitious life-size war horse covered in more than 3,000 knitted poppies.

"We feel proud of the efforts that have gone in," Ms Thompson told the BBC. "It's a proud remembrance community here in town. There is a lot of respect for this period.

"I have seen people stopping and looking at them ... telling kids about its significance and it's nice to see that."

Largescale poppy displays have begun to be rolled out in towns and cities across the country, including a cascade of roughly 6,000 poppies from a church in the New Forest and similar installations in Stratford-upon-Avon and Cumberland.