Poppy cascade in Northampton ‘ready to go’ ahead of Remembrance Day with new homemade flowers

A poppy local memorial has been ‘freshened up’ with new homemade flowers ahead of Remembrance Day.

The poppy cascade, which is put up on St Luke's Bank off the roundabout that joins Millway with Main Road in the heart of Duston village, will benefit from around 100 new knitted and crocheted flowers this year.

For Duston Parish Council, it was as important as ever to get the display ready this year, for its third year, as some services across the county have had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

Each year, a group of volunteers normally help to assemble the display, but due to restrictions this was not allowed to happen this year.

Instead the parish council was inundated with homemade poppies after asking for help a number of weeks ago to add to the existing display to ‘freshen it up’.

Sarah Percival, community events officer for the parish council, said: “We’re so lucky in Duston to have such a great community that is always keen to get involved.

“The people are so lovely and creative, some of the ideas we have had sent are so simple and so effective. It’s amazing.

“We asked for 100 but we’ve reached that and we’ve still got more to come in. They will be used as back-up as the weather plays a big part.”

According to Sarah, the display is ‘ready to go’ and will be in place from October 26 for two weeks to include Remembrance Day on November 8.

She added: “We’re so limited with what we can do at the moment, but we all need that bit of normality back in our lives, so I think this display is really important.

“We have a lot of elderly people who may have been self-isolating who have made a poppy. It gives them something to focus on and it’s nice for them to feel wanted and to have contributed.

“People can walk by, take photos, pay their respects and appreciate it.

“I think it’s extremely important to remember and I think residents in Duston and surrounding areas think it’s vital.”

Sarah was also keen to say massive thank you to all the keen crafters who sent in a poppy.

“Without them and their great ideas, none of this would have been possible,” she continued.

The cascade will be flood lit at night for the two weeks that it is in place, which Sarah says is the best time to see it as it ‘really stands out’.

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