A Labour of Love: Balderton Methodist Church’s Remembrance Poppy Display

In November 2025, Heather Roberts and Karen Green happened to be passing a church in one of the local Nottinghamshire villages and saw a lovely poppy display on the church wall and took a photo of it.

We agreed that there was nothing like this in our area, and it was decided that this was something we should try and replicate.

In early spring 2026, I decided it was time to start knitting and crocheting, so the great knitting event started! Over the course of the next five months, I received over 600 knitted and crocheted poppies, donated in all shades of green, red, black, purple and white.

The purple poppies are to remember all the animals' lives lost in the wars, and the white poppies are to remember ALL victims of war, including civilians and widows, and also to promote peace.

Work then began on the mammoth task of stitching all the poppies to a wire netting frame.

Day 1: Starting to attach the poppies to the frame, with the template as a backing.

Day 2: The display starting to take shape.

Day 3: Starting to infill.

The completed display was finally installed on our church wall on 27th October 2026, and here it is!

I want to give a huge thanks to all the members of our congregation and our community who knitted, crocheted and helped to make this display possible.

Also, a huge thanks to Chris Hunt, Heather Roberts and Karen Green, who all helped to stitch the poppies on, and to my partner, Pete, for making the frame and installing the final display on the church wall.

Hopefully, the finished display is something we can all be proud of and will be in situ during this Remembrance and for many periods of Remembrance to come.

Julie Spooner

Balderton Methodist Church