Pippa FitzGerald-Finch wanted to do something special to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, and she’s found a way to do it on a grand scale.
FitzGerald-Finch has organized a project to drape about 7,000 handmade poppies over Calgary’s historic Cathedral Church of the Redeemer.
“This is a wonderful idea of Pippa’s, absolutely wonderful!” Lorraine Sinclair said.
Sinclair and several other volunteers at the church have been working on the project for almost a year, knitting most poppies, crocheting others.
They’re tying the poppies onto netting, which will then be draped from several high points on the outside of the downtown building.
“They make quite a dramatic display,” FitzGerald-Finch said.
She got the idea after seeing a story about people in the UK putting up thousands of poppies on a village church northeast of London.
“I actually spoke to the lady in England who spearheaded that project, and away we went,” FitzGerald-Finch said. “What has astonished me is how the project has grown. We started with just the six or eight of us in the knitting group and now we’ve got well over 70 knitters from all over Canada and as far away as New Zealand. So it’s been amazing.”
The volunteers are planning to out the poppies up on Oct. 20, where they’ll stay through Remembrance Day.
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