Plea for 10,000 knitted poppies for church cascade
An appeal to make 10,000 crocheted poppies - so they can be cascaded down the outside of a church tower to mark 80 years since the end of World War II - has begun.
The Peacock Women's Institute (WI) in Corsham, Wiltshire, is asking members of the community to get involved to help them hit their target before the end of August.
The poppies will then form a display at St Bartholomew's Church in Corsham, Wiltshire.
Margaret Winskill, from the Peacock WI, told BBC Radio Wiltshire the group already had "huge engagement" on the project from the community.
She added: "St Bartholomew's Church has lots of people knitting. The town council has been supportive and we're engaged with lots of groups including the food bank, the Guides, Brownies and Cubs.
"We collected 400 poppies at our craft group on Tuesday and we estimate we're already up to around 700 - and those are just the ones we know about."
She said: "The final display will cascade down the tower of the church and, at the base of the tower, there's a First World War memorial, and we want it to come either side of that.
"That'll tie in with the reason we have poppies - to reflect and to give thanks to those who lost their lives for our freedom."
The Peacock WI will also open a pop-up shop in the Martingate Centre in Corsham.
"People can drop in and we'll give them a quick [knitting] lesson," added Ms Winskill.
"We have several patterns and one of them is just knitting, so no complex stitching and it's really simple."
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