Creativity in full bloom for Anzacs
A request for ornamental poppies that could be carried across the world for Anzac Day commemorations has sprouted into a blooming industry in Palmerston North.
The idea was raised by New Zealand Defence Force senior communications adviser Emma Horsley, who wanted the 27-strong contingent travelling to France and Belgium this month to be able to take some durable poppies.
‘‘I wanted something the servicemen could give to the people in those towns who look after the cemeteries where our guys are buried. I also wanted something that could be attached to a headstone, that would last and not do any damage.’’
The challenge was picked up by NZDF brigade registry supervisor Kathy Brereton, who spends her spare time working at craft space Retro Rehab.
Within a week, 200 poppies – made from clay shaped in a single silicon mould – had been air-dried, painted red with black details, and then coated in polyurethane to make them weatherproof and shiny.
‘‘When she showed the [poppies] to me, I almost cried, they were so gorgeous,’’ Horsley said.
Some poppies have lapel clips, others feature a sticky strip so they can be placed on headstones, while some have neither – they can be given as a trinket.
Tough and durable, the handcrafted flowers are light enough to carry in luggage to foreign lands like Le Quesnoy and Paris in France, or Belgium’s Menin Gate, Messines and Comines Warneton.
Delighted at having so many poppies available, Horsley then gifted some of the collection to the 36-member Kiwi contingent going to commemorations at Anzac Cove and Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli.
Brereton and painter Alison Paine haven’t stopped their production line. So far, 1000 poppies have popped out of that mould, and Brereton said almost everybody who saw them wanted to buy one.
The poppies’ $5 price-tag had already helped raise $290 for the Fallen Heroes Trust.