East Preston Yarnbombers' Village Trail for the Poppy Appeal 2024East Preston Yarnbombers' Village Trail for the Poppy Appeal 2024
East Preston Yarnbombers' Village Trail for the Poppy Appeal 2024

See superb poppy installations on West Sussex village trail created by East Preston Yarnbombers

A superb poppy trail has been created in East Preston to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and help raise money for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.

East Preston Yarnbombers created the trail using woolly poppies left over from the spectacular poppy cascade they made at St Mary the Virgin Church. There are displays in various parts of the village, including a fabulous garden of knitted and crocheted poppies oppose the Royal British Legion, in The Street.

The Yarnbombers were overwhelmed by the response to their plea for poppies to make the cascade. The plea went out in February, with members thinking it would take until August to reach the target. But such was the enthusiasm for the project, 3,000 poppies had been collected by the end of April and in the end there were more than 11,000 woolly flowers being fitted into displays for the village.

Valerie said: "It has been great fun putting this together but what a huge project it has turned into. We got 11,000 and will now have 'Poppy Preston' for a few weeks. Not only will there be the cascade but 500 red poppies on sticks linking the seven War Graves in the churchyard, with a further 700 making a Garden of Remembrance opposite the Royal British Legion. There will a children's competition and a poppy trail around the village showing all the installations."

The village trail is running in East Preston until November 20 and each display has a QR code linking to a fundraising page.

Valerie said: "It has been great fun putting this together but what a huge project it has turned into. We got 11,000 and will now have 'Poppy Preston' for a few weeks. Not only will there be the cascade but 500 red poppies on sticks linking the seven War Graves in the churchyard, with a further 700 making a Garden of Remembrance opposite the Royal British Legion. There will a children's competition and a poppy trail around the village showing all the installations."