Knitter’s world
Learn about the beautiful Hope Tree and its influence on a local community
The past year has brought a sense of community and togetherness to the world, particularly within the crafting community. One such heartwarming project is the Tree of Hope, created by Duston Parish Council and their surrounding community.
The Tree of Hope is the culmination of a project created during lockdown last year. Made up of individual components, lovingly crafted by many local residents of Duston, Northampton, it also serves to represent and celebrate the wonderful community who pulled together and remained strong during challenging times.
“It is intended to symbolise strength and renewed hope for the future,” Alison Grantham, Community Development Manager for Duston Parish Council tells us.
The project was inspired by the response from the community to the Parish’s appeal to knit poppies back in 2018 to commemorate the centenary of World War 1. “In 2019, we asked them to knit flowers for our East Midlands in Bloom entry which were displayed on railings around the village. Our aim was to come up with a project that would keep our community feeling connected and engaged,” explains Alison. “With a national lockdown and many people shielding, there was no option to hold events; knitting and crocheting was something that they could do from the safety of their homes and add to the ones we already had and so was a perfect solution.”
Alison and her team contacted previous volunteer knitters, put the idea out on social media and mail-dropped to local residents. “All we asked was for their creations to be as bright and as bold as possible; they could choose to make flowers, rainbows, butterflies, bees etc. We even had hedgehogs, worms, toadstools and snails,” says Alison. At that stage, the Parish wasn’t sure how they were going to display them and how many they would get, but by June they had started to flood in. “We began to attach them to garden mesh and the project just grew from there,” Alison says.
Bags of flowers were dropped o by villagers, young and old, and every age in between. The local guide groups got involved as did residents of the care homes in the village. “Some people who couldn’t knit anymore gave their knitting needles, spare wool and buttons to their friends and neighbours to use,” Alison tells us. “Which was lovely as it meant they had still contributed to the project. It was a real team e ort.”
Choosing which tree to decorate was the easiest part. “There was a tall stump of a tree that had been chopped down some years back,” says Alison. “We had been looking at options to turn it into a piece of art for the village – this seemed a perfect fit.”
The response has been phenomenal. During installation, people beeped their horns as they drove past and stopped to say how they had been bringing their grandchildren to see it and sending pictures to family overseas. “A local blogger pulled up and did an on the spot interview for her Instagram, which had 4,200 views,” says Alison. “Our Facebook posts have reached over 50,000 people and it has been picked up by the local papers, radio stations and BBC online.”
The overall aim of the project was to create something that would make people smile. “Any community project is special, but to create something so beautiful out of pretty dark times for people was extraordinary,” says Alison. “Hopefully it portrays everything that a Tree of Hope symbolises.”
For more on this brilliant project visit www.duston-pc.gov.uk