Out at Wattle Flat, members of the local craft group are knitting and crocheting up a field of red poppies to mark next year’s 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There will be a poppy to commemorate each local soldier who died in war. They will adorn 400 simple white crosses.
This moving tribute will be co-ordinated by the Bathurst RSL sub-branch, and is just one of a number of options the sub-branch is considering for next year’s commemoration services.
Project co-ordinator Wendy Woods initially started making the poppies for the 5000 Poppies Project, however, changed direction when she realised the organisers had already collected more than 40,000 poppies.
A massive field of those hand- made poppies will decorate Federation Square in Melbourne on Anzac Day 2015 as a stunning visual tribute to Australian servicemen and women who served in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
“Obviously they no longer need ours, so I decided to create a special tribute for Bathurst,” Ms Woods said.
The poppies will eventually be handed over to Bathurst RSL sub-branch to be attached to the little white crosses for our own Anzac Day tribute – 400 poppies for 400 soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Depending on how many poppies are made, they could also be incorporated into other tributes.
A number of members of Ms Woods’ family served at Gallipoli, in the Middle East during World War I and in World War II, so this is a very personal project for her.
She has enlisted the help of other members of the Wattle Flat Craft Group as well as the knitters who meet at Bathurst Regional Library each week.
However, with so many poppies to make, she would like to see the whole community join in.
She has been teaching knitting to the children at Wattle Flat School and they will also be lending a hand.
“We have 150 poppies already, but we will need a lot more,” she said.
Ms Woods said people can either knit or crochet their poppies.
Patterns for the poppies can be found at 5000poppies.wordpress. com/poppy-patterns/
The Salvation Army and Vinnies are also on board, putting aside any red wool that comes in, and the RSL Club is also accepting donations of red wool for the knitters.
Anyone who would like to be involved in the Bathurst Poppy Project can contact Ms Woods on 6337 7095.
