A village near Wotton-under-Edge has been transformed by more than 2,000 knitted poppies, wartime figures and bunting ahead of Remembrance Day.
Residents of Kingswood spent months creating the display, which now fills parts of The Chipping and Rectory Road. The project was organised by Kingswood Abbey Women’s Institute after the Royal British Legion asked the group to get involved.
Teams worked on Sunday morning to install the displays, which are intended to be in place ahead of the village’s Remembrance commemorations next Sunday. The project has brought together the WI, other village residents and the Kingswood Village Association.
How the Kingswood display came together
Work on the project began in March, while the appeal for knitted poppies was launched in January. The Craft Group of the Kingswood Abbey WI made the figures and bunting, while residents and other WI members contributed poppies.
Sarah Taylor, from the Kingswood Abbey WI Craft Group, said the village had not previously had a Remembrance display of this kind. She said the Royal British Legion’s request prompted the group to take action, with the wider village then helping to bring the idea to life.
“This was conceived after the Royal British Legion asked us to get involved because I don’t think up until this point Kingswood had a Remembrance display, so the Craft Group of the Kingswood Abbey WI decided to get involved.”
The Kingswood Village Association provided financial support and helped with the manpower needed to install the displays.
Knitted scenes depict the home front and trenches
One of the main installations, titled The Home Front, depicts VE Day celebrations and includes more than 20 knitted figures. The scene features land girls, sailors, RAF pilots, wardens and nurses, representing the different roles associated with life on the home front during the Second World War.
“We’ve got land girls, sailors, RAF pilots, wardens, nurses and everybody that was involved in the home front and it depicts VE Day where we were celebrating the end of the war.”
A separate central display focuses on the First World War. It includes knitted soldiers positioned in trenches, together with knitted Nissen huts.
Images from the installation show hundreds of knitted poppies covering The Chipping, while another knitted design has been placed over the post box outside Kingswood Post Office.
The display was completed and installed by community members on Sunday morning, giving residents and visitors a prominent village setting in which to reflect before the Remembrance commemorations.
