What’s all this about?
REMEMBRANCE Sunday in Queen’s Park had a new element to the usual service this year, with the model of Loughborough’s war horse - Songster - wearing a blanket of purple poppies.
The initiative was the idea of Alison Mott and Liz Waddell, the author and artist behind the picture book about Songster published by the Carillon Museum in 2018.
They had attended the unveiling of Songster’s armature – the model commissioned by Charnwood Borough Council – in the park on Armed Forces Day in June, where they met Susan Osborne of The War Horse Memorial Organisation.
This charity uses the symbol of the purple poppy to raise awareness of the role animals have played in conflicts throughout history and inspired by this, Alison and Liz decided to do the same with Songster.
The blanket was designed and made by Alison’s sister, Christine Sweeney, and Mary Baird of the Carillon helped spread the word about the need for poppies. These were crocheted, knitted, sewn and junk-modelled by individuals, craft groups, community groups and school children across Loughborough and beyond.
“We knew we’d need hundreds of poppies,’ Alison said, ‘so we put a call out on Facebook, thinking we might get a few from friends. The post was shared over 120 times and we were sent a phenomenal number of poppies, some even by people who no longer live in the town.”
Charnwood Museum in Granby Street hosted a poppy-making workshop and acted as a drop off point, as did Knotty Knits and Purple Pumpkin Patch craft shops, both of whom made poppies with their regular craft groups.
“It was a real community effort and we can’t thank people enough,’ said Liz.
“Saturday was a long day, pinning them all onto the blanket, but hearing people’s gasps when they saw Songster wearing it made it all worthwhile.’
Songster could only wear the poppies whilst the Carillon was open on Remembrance Sunday, but Alison and Liz hope he’ll wear them every year: “A lot of people went out of their way to help us with that blanket,’ Alison said. ‘For me, it’ll always be a reminder of what can be done when people work together.”