The Warwick Poppies project a year on - where did the poppies go?

It has been a year since the Warwick Poppies project was on display and the project team have announced where thousands of the handmade creations have gone.
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The project, which featured a display of more than 62,438 handmade poppies, was set up in St Mary's Church in Warwick to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Now the organising team behind the project have announced that thousands of the poppies have now moved on to new homes.

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Richard Warren of the Warwick Poppies projectvisited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers.Photo by Warwick PoppiesRichard Warren of the Warwick Poppies projectvisited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers.Photo by Warwick Poppies
Richard Warren of the Warwick Poppies projectvisited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers.Photo by Warwick Poppies
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Whilst retaining a large number of poppies for a display each year at Remembrance time, St Mary’s Church could not house the entire collection of poppies, so the team have spent the last year finding new homes for the poppies.

In March the project team held a 'poppy sale' inside St Mary's Church, where people could buy a piece of the project.

Many have gone to churches in Warwick, Leamington, Whitnash, Coventry, but also further afield in Scotland, Suffolk, Norfolk, the Isles of Scilly and Grimsby.

Richard Warren of the Warwick Poppies projectvisited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers.Photo by Warwick Poppies.Richard Warren of the Warwick Poppies projectvisited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers.Photo by Warwick Poppies.
Richard Warren of the Warwick Poppies projectvisited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers.Photo by Warwick Poppies.

Some have also gone to South Africa and the America, and more than 300 are being made into a permanent memorial in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Garrison Church in Tidworth.

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Around 20,000 have been sent to Exmouth, to Tower Street Methodist Church. They are supporting a local initiative to create thousands of handmade poppies that will cascade down the outside of the church.

Richard Warren of the Warwick Poppies project visited Exmouth with fellow group members last week to hand over the knitted flowers. He said: "We have left enough poppies in our own church to do what we needed to do - we have sent so many organisations poppies too.

The Warwick Poppies 2018 project inside St Mary's Church in Warwick.The Warwick Poppies 2018 project inside St Mary's Church in Warwick.
The Warwick Poppies 2018 project inside St Mary's Church in Warwick.

"We had 62,438 poppies and this is what we would have liked to do, move them on. We are so pleased that the poppies in Exmouth get another life in Remembrance 2019."

After the display in Exmouth closes, the poppies will then be circulated around Devon churches and organisations.

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A second donation, of around 3,000 poppies, have gone to the charity “TEAMS4U”.

Some of the creations made using the handmade poppies in St Mary's Church.Some of the creations made using the handmade poppies in St Mary's Church.
Some of the creations made using the handmade poppies in St Mary's Church.

These poppies have been individually crafted into things such as hair bands, hats, broaches, knitted purses, scarfs and badges for teddy bears. They have been packed, with other items, into shoe boxes to be sent to Romania, where the boxes will go to girls and ladies.

A spokesperson from the Warwick Poppies team said: "We are really happy that so many of the beautiful poppies that formed part of last year’s fabulous display in St Mary’s Church are now finding forever homes where they are can continue to demonstrate the power of Remembrance and love.

"Meanwhile, the many remaining poppies will again be on display within St Mary’s throughout Remembrance time 2019, and annually."

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