Misterton Poppy Group
Now in its second year the group of crocheters and knitters either meeting together on Mondays or working at home and want to produce commemorative displays for Remembrance Sunday each year.
The 2025 display is up now up!
We have re-purposed the 2025 panels and worked with Alex Brand, who made the wooden poppies, to create a tribute to all those named on our war memorial. Our main focus this year has been producing purple poppies to commemorate the service of a wide range of animals, whose service contributed and continues to contribute to our nation's security. As you walk and ride around the village, look out for the dogs, horse and pigeons.
Children from MIsterton Primary School joined in and made the poppies displayed on the school fence and members of the Youth Club tried out a weaving technique to contribute to the poppies on display outside MIsterton Centre and LIbrary.
Following feedback last year, we have draped the canal road bridge on Gringley Road and the cemetery gate pillars, as a welcome to our village.
Did you know :
Dogs have a wide range of roles in the forces.Casualty dogs were trained to find wounded or dying soldiers. They carried medical equipment so an injured soldier could treat himself. They would also stay beside a dying soldier to keep him company.
Carrier Pigeons were used as messengers during World War 1. Pigeons always flew home when released, so troops made sure the pigeons nested in places they needed to send messages. Some pigeons were kept in unusual places like old London buses. Pigeons became so valuable to the British army, the punishment for killing or wounding one was six months imprisonment or £100 fine.
In WW1, one million horses, donkeys and mules were conscripted into the British forces. Only 62,000 returned after the armistice.
The British Army used horses early in WW2. The final British cavalry charge was on March 21, 1942, when the Burma Frontier Force encountered Japanese infantry in central Burma.
Future projects
The Poppy Group are working on their entry to the Christmas Tree Festival and will be planning another display for 2026. If you want to join in and/or have any ideas for a display or want to suggest an area of the village to be decorated, please get in touch. Susan 07874 713873 .