Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Poppy display an incredible tribute
Congregation’s colourful commemoration
New St Andrew’s Church in Coatbridge marked Remembrance Sunday by reprising its striking handmade tribute to the fallen.
The exterior of the building, at Baird Street and Church Street in the town, has again been decorated with a total of 650 handcrafted plastic poppies.
Congregation members collected plastic drinks bottles, and a dedicated team of volunteers led by minister Rev Fiona Nicolson painstakingly cut them into shape, painted them red and used candle flames to tinge and shape their edges to look like poppies.
The incredible tribute was first crafted and put in place for Remembrance day in 2017, and proved such a success that the volunteers spent time creating and adding more plastic poppies for this year.
New St Andrew’s also has a handmade poppy cross on the front of the church building, made by shaping wire coathangers and then attaching dozens of paper poppies.
Church elder Moira McCall told the Advertiser: “The poppy display has been very well received – lots of people seem to really like it and we’ve had people stopping as they pass to take pictures.
“We do lots of things to mark festivals and events throughout the year, and Rev Nicolson came up with this great idea for last Remembrance day.
“It was a lot of work for the whole team involved, so we decided that it was such a lot we should use it for more than just one year only.”
New St Andrew’s marked Remembrance Sunday with a special service, attended by members of the local Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade and Girlguiding units; and had a “songs of praise” event in the evening.