With remembrance day just around the corner, poppies will be popping up all over Britain as a symbol of those who have given their lives at war.
In Werrington, near Leek, hundreds of volunteers came together at Werrington Community Volunteer Group to make a special memorial. The sculpture of a man covered in poppies was made using around 3,000 recycled plastic bottles. The poppy man is the main focus of their local poppy appeal, and has been placed on the Werrington War Memorial.
Jean Fryer, a local parish council and the brain behind the idea said “I saw a picture of a poppy man sitting on a bench on the internet and I thought it would be nice if we could do something similar. So many people came to support us. We have had hundreds of people making the poppies… Most of them are made out of pop bottles, but we have also had some poppies knitted, or made out of fabric and ceramics. Seeing it all completed makes me feel quite emotional.”
The designer, Sue Brownsword, who then lead the project, said “I had got a picture in my head of how it would look when it was all put together, but I was quite nervous about how it would turn out, especially when I had thousands of poppies in my house. But seeing it all put together, I can breath a sigh of relief.”
Volunteers came from all sorts of groups and clubs, including brownies, scouts and guides, and were even amazed when recycled plastic poppies were sent from a girl guide group in Hong Kong!
Using recycled plastic for positive messages is a great idea because whatever the message is, it doubles up with an environmental concern and addresses the issue of plastic consumption and waste! We think this is a great idea and hope to see more ideas of a similar ilk in the future.
