Poppies popping up in Nelson
Poppy sellers may be missing but there is no shortage of alternatives being displayed around Nelson neighbourhoods leading up to Anzac Day.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused the usual dawn parades and memorial services tomorrow to be replaced by virtual and online events observed from living rooms, balconies and driveways. As a result, many are creating their own homemade Anzac tributes, from a simple poppy on their fence to a visual memorial to those who have served their country in overseas conflicts. Prominent among these are a number of large poppies springing up and multiplying throughout Stoke and Tahunanui.
Using the red reusable shopping bags available at their local New World Supermarket, the design has gained further traction by members of the StokeTahunanui Men’s Friendship Club as a good lockdown activity prior to Anzac Day.
Ian Christison, a past president of the club and his wife Tricia spotted the large poppies fastened to someone’s fence while out walking recently.
They thought it was a great idea and made up the instructions and sent them to the organisation’s current president Harold Mason, who then circulated the instructions to his club’s 65 members – most of whom are in their 70s and housebound during alert level four.
Mason said a single bag could make two poppies measuring around 28cm wide, when using the front and back.
‘‘Once you make a template and have all the gear – it probably takes 20 minutes each.’’
Mason said anecdotal evidence suggested that the local New World Stoke had experienced increased sales of their reusable shopping bags, with one member alone purchasing 10 on a recent visit.
With the Returned and Services Association cancelling traditional Anzac services this year as well as its annual poppy fundraising sales which raised around $2 million for its welfare programmes, Mason has encouraged Nelson residents to make the large poppies and donate to the RSA Welfare Fund of their local branch. Elsewhere, Nelson man Peter Millward has created a wreath made from strands of rosemary, a herb associated with remembrance, with knitted poppies sewn on top.