The residents of Rawdon have gone on a crazy knitting and craft spree, gathering red and black wool to make a cascade of a thousand poppies for the Remembrance season at St Peter’s.
The poppies, which are mostly knitted, can be viewed from 5 November - a week before Remembrance Sunday
Vicar of St Peter’s, the Revd Mark Smith, says, “We handed out patterns and put them for download on our church website, I started promoting it via Facebook - and it all happened! It’s a massive community effort that has really caught the imagination.
“While most of the poppies (made by children and adults) are red to remember the war dead, they will be interspersed with white poppies to reflect our aspirations for peace, and some purple poppies to remember animals killed in war and conflict .
“On 3 & 4 November, they will be threaded into a large cargo net suspended from a point high above the pulpit cascading down to the floor and enveloping the pulpit at the front of St Peter's.
“The display will have its official launch on All Saints Day, 5 November, at our 10am service. It’s also a service of memories in which people bring photos of loved ones who have passed and place them around the sanctuary and also light candles around the Holy Table so we can celebrate our unity with them in the communion of saints. We promote this service in the community to those who have been bereaved in the last year.
"This begins a week of remembrance in which the church will be open for people to visit and see the cascade, light candles and leave messages."
On Saturday 11 November (Remembrance Day) the church will be open (with refreshments) after events at local war memorials. And the week ends on Remembrance Sunday with a special service (10am) and the poppy cascade as its focus. Afterwards, some of the poppies will be taken to the usual Rawdon Town remembrance event at the cenotaph.
All these events take their place in an extended "season of invitation" for St Peter’s - Back to Church Sunday, Harvest Sunday, Animal Blessing Service, All Saints memories service, Remembrance & Poppies.
All are invited to come in and have refreshments and meet others.
There is still time to knit a poppy - patterns are available on St Peter's website http://stpeterschurchrawdon.co.uk/index.php/events/poppy-cascade