Poppy Installation at Hertford Castle for the Centenary of Armistice Day

The Secret Society of Hertford Crafters (SSOHC) has joined  together with care homes, primary schools, craft groups and the local community to knit, crochet & craft over 15,000 poppies using 170 miles of wool, with over 2,000 individual people involved. 7 junior schools combining 1,661 pupils, made one poppy each.
Following the incredible feat of making the poppies, the 15,000 poppies have been sewn very securely to seven camouflage nets (kindly donated by the army) which measure in total 120m2; this has taken 1,900 hours,1,000 cups of tea and 4 miles of thread, but more than that the most amazing dedication by a group of ladies who have really taken the project to their hearts. As one lady said “every poppy represents a life remembered”. Around 352 Hertford servicemen died so we feel privileged to have commemorated them. Ivy Buck, a Hertford resident who turned 100 this year has knitted poppies and Bodhi Gover, one of our youngest members made a poppy at school and has sewn 17 poppies onto netting. The project would not have been possible without the backing of Hertford Town Council who believed in our vision and obtained all the permissions needed to enable the installation to be erected at the Castle.