21,000 Knitted poppies donated for church tower cascade

People from around the world crafted the handmade poppieswhich adorn St Peter’s Church in Sudbury, Suffolk and the nearby town hall.

Teresa Elford, of Sudbury Town Council, said the cascade over the 90ft church tower is more than 100ft long, including a section draped over the ground at the bottom.

More than 23,000 poppies were contributed, with more than 21,000 on the church tower and the rest placed on the front of the town hall, she said.

Some of the poppies are purple rather than red, in memory of animals who died during the war.

Ms Elford said people had wanted to do something special to mark the centenary of Armistice Day and their idea was inspired by a previous knitted poppy display in Walsham-le-Willows, 28 miles away.

“Our initial target was 5,500 poppies and we were just going to do something on the town hall.

“We smashed our target within weeks – they just came in floods.”

She said poppies arrived in the post from as far afield as Australia and Denmark as word of their project spread on Facebook, and a weekly volunteer group was set up in the town hall to attach the poppies to the netting with cable ties.

The cargo net for the church tower display was donated by RAF Honington and firefighters hung it in place last week.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “Every time…