Crochet poppies add splash of colour ahead of Remembrance Sunday

A labour of love by eight women has resulted in over a thousand red poppies being displayed on a balcony at the Heritage Trust premises in John Mackintosh Square, in time for Remembrance Sunday.

Across the square in City Hall, a similar poppy display hangs on the City Hall balcony.
One of the crocheters, Elizabeth Farrell, explained that during the Covid pandemic, the group started a project to make crochet poppies for City Hall.

Some were left over and the volunteers decided it would be nice to hang them on the Heritage Trust balcony.

But this required further poppies to be made.

Susan Bruzon, also from the group, explained that each poppy takes on average ten to 15 minutes to make. Therefore, the ladies spent over 166 hours in just the creation of the poppies alone, with further hours required to sew it to netting ready to be installed on the balconies.

Ms Farrell added that the volunteers hope to continue the project in the future as it brings the community together and looks amazing.

Claire Montado, chief executive of the Heritage Trust, said: “I think it's really, really striking on our facade.”

“I think a lot of work went into it as it is a lot of poppies.”

“I'm really grateful that they took an interest in enhancing the square, which is one of our most historic squares in the town centre.”

“So it really brings remembrance to the forefront and keeps it present in our minds, which is the point of the event.”

The crochet poppies are also sold through at the Arts and Crafts shop in Casemates, and the proceeds go to poppy appeal charity.