Poppy Appeal boosted by sale of knitted carnival poppies
Dereham Carnival mascot Biscuit presents a cheque for £390 to John English, Dereham RBL Poppy Appeal organiser. The money was raised from the sale of knitted poppies created by Ann Edwards (second right) in a yarn-bombing project led by Judy Rogers (far right). Picture: Michael Lyons Photography - Credit: Michael Lyons
The Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal is £390 better off thanks to a nifty knitter in Dereham.
Ann Edwards knitted 218 poppies for this year's Dereham Carnival yarn-bombing project, one for every name on the town's war memorial. They made a spectacular display on the grass around the war memorial for the annual town event in July.
After Carnival the committee decided to sell some of the poppies and a total of 65 were bought, raising £390 for the Poppy Appeal.
Dereham RBL Poppy Appeal organiser John English accepted the cheque from carnival mascot Biscuit at the war memorial today.
'I thought the poppies were an excellent idea,' he said. 'This town shows a great deal of respect for the armed forces.'
He said the money would go straight to the Poppy Appeal welfare fund to support serving and ex-service personnel and their families.
The Dereham knitters, led by Judy Rogers, are still clicking away at their needles to create some toy soldiers to adorn the bollards in the Market Place for the Christmas Lights switch-on on December 3.
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'The knitting project has really grown from a tiny idea into something huge,' she said. 'We have big plans for next year's Carnival.'
* A new Poppy Appeal pop-up shop is open in the former Barnardos charity shop in the Market Place. Staffed by volunteers is is selling all the Poppy Appeal merchandise from badges to wristbands and more and is open 10am to 3pm every day until Sunday.
A full range of the Poppy Shop's collection can be found at online at www.poppyshop.org.uk.