Warwick Poppies Target ‘Smashed’

The team behind the community project Warwick Poppies 2018 has announced that its minimum target has been smashed. But they still hope for many more hand-made poppies for the huge display planned for St. Mary’s Church.

The minimum target of poppies was 11,610, one for every soldier in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment who died in the First World War. But it hasn’t finished there. Helen Fitzpatrick from the Warwick Poppies 2018 committee said, “The target was always a minimum and we are now steaming ahead with collecting as many as possible”.

The display of poppies flowing from the Regimental Chapel around the nave and chancel of the Collegiate Church is due to be launched publicly on October 5th, and will be a central feature of the Remembrance events on November 11th, the centenary of the Armistice.

Groups and individuals are still crocheting and knitting poppies; some are being made from felt, cardboard and metal. There have been many contributions from abroad, often from relatives of Warwick men who fell in WWI. The committee is asking for further contributions to be delivered to the church or various drop-off points around town by the end of July so that they can be incorporated in the display.

There will be a special display of children’s poppies in the Beauchamp Chapel

There are instructions on how to make poppies at www.warwickpoppies.org.uk

There will be a poppy-making session for St. Mary’s on July 4th at the Market Hall Museum

Here is a link to the Warwick Poppies newsletter for July. Warwick Poppies Newsletter No 5