Cherry Hinton residents create 6ft soldier adorned with 1,500 knitted poppies

In a powerful display of community spirit, local crafters in Cherry Hinton have come together to create a cloak of poppies to adorn the statue of a soldier at St Andrew’s Church.

This initiative honours the bravery and sacrifice of our veterans while promoting the benefits of community projects that bring people together to create something memorable.

Additionally, the display will feature a wreath showcasing black, white, and purple poppies, representing different aspects of remembrance.

The project, led by a local craft group, began after a fundraising effort to purchase a soldier silhouette. The cloak features hundreds of individual knitted, crocheted, and felted poppies, each symbolising a life lost in service to our country.

Molly Webb, a member of the knitting team, said: “We wanted to create something that not only honours our soldiers but also involved the community.

“The oldest resident working on the project is 98 years old, and the youngest is seven.”

[Read more: Pillar of Poppies at Lion Yard for Remembrance Day]

The cloak went on display on Monday (4 November), to coincide with the Remembrance Day observances, including two church services on Sunday, 10 November.

Karin Voth Harman, vicar at St Andrew’s Cherry Hinton, reflected that “the poppy-cloaked statue demonstrates the residents’ commitment to remembering the role of service personnel in both World Wars and later conflicts in a visual and powerful way”.