Lest We Forget
The poppy and dove installation in St Mary's Church has been a massive community project.
All the children in the three village schools have had the opportunity to make a poppy or a dove. Our thanks to Francesca Flaxton and the schools' staff for their help in facilitating this.
Thanks also to Graham Tyack who has spear-headed the other Remembrance activities for this special WW1 centenary event.
Back at the start of September, every organisation was made aware of the request for poppies and doves to be made. This was reiterated by a request on Haddenham.net. Drop-off boxes were located in various places in the village – thanks go to:
- Bloomin Fruity
- The Community Library
- Bradmoore Farm
- The Garden Centre
- St Marys Church
for their cooperation in holding a drop-off box.
Word seemed to spread and the creative spirit in Haddenham was ignited, given the desire to produce at least 1,000 poppies and 1,000 doves.
People soon got busy knitting, crocheting, sewing and making poppies with a wide range of materials and there have been some truly lovely poppies made. Every single poppy made has been included in the installation, helping to reflect our wonderful diverse community.
Likewise with the doves, there have been some extremely busy and dextrous individuals folding paper and creating doves until they could virtually do it in their sleep!
It's impossible to name and thank every individual who has helped to make this possible, but please know that your effort has been hugely appreciated. Some people however, have been prolific in their making; those of whom I am aware are:
- Janet Morgan – who was the trigger for this installation
- Janet's neighbour who I think has been knitting day and night from the start
- The Knit and Natter group
- The Brownies
- The Cubs
- Visitors to Cafeplus+
- The Monday Club
- Various Art Groups in the village
- Brenda Bonnage
- Little People's cafe (2 – 3 year olds)
- Steve
- Naomi
- Georgina
There will be so many other unnamed individuals too – to every one, a sincere thank you!
Of course, the poppies and doves all needed to be installed in the church in readiness for the village Remembrance service this year – no small task! Without some key individuals the installation would not have been possible, so special thanks go to Mary & Andy Price and Colin Nicholls, who have worked for hours to ensure that netting and wires were made ready to receive the poppies and doves. In addition, special thanks also need to go to Roger Ward who put the frame work on the pillars from which we could work.
Over the past three days there has been an army of approximately 30 people who have been cutting, sticking, tying, punching holes and any other activities required to put the poppies and doves up, so that the wonderful installation could be created. This has truly been an amazing community effort involving all ages.
Thank you to all.
The installation will remain up in church until Friday 30th November, when it will then make way for the Christmas Tree Festival.
