Park group recycling for Remembrance
A Sunderland group is turning trash into a tribute by creating a stunning Remembrance Day memorial out of recycled materials.
Friends of Doxford Park are urging residents to go along and place their own poppies in the park.
Young people from the nearby Box Youth Project are already supporting the project and have created lots of poppies out of waste materials, particularly plastics.
Karl Stabler, chairman of the Friends of Doxford Park group, said they wanted to do something special to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
Vice-chairman of the group, Beverley Cooke, came up with the idea of using recycled materials.
Karl said: “We knew we wanted to do something special for the memorial and it looks really lovely.
“We want other people to get on board and place their own poppies onto the netting.”
He said the amount of discarded materials, such as plastic bottles, is a huge problem and it is important to encourage recycling.
Beverley said: “To mark the centenary of Armistice Day we decided to make the poppy tribute.
“All of the materials are recycled and most of them we got from the park itself, such as discarded plastic bottles and garden mesh.
“It’s situated in the walled garden at the willow seat. We thought it would be nice if people would like to add their own poppies, so they felt involved in some way by paying their respects.”
The Friends of Doxford Park is made up of a group of volunteers who do regular litter picks, plant bulbs and arrange community events.
Karl said: “We haven’t been going very long. But, we hope to start getting funding so we can do more things.”
He said in the future the group hopes to create a permanent memorial to the armed forces.