Look what we made out of 800 Coke bottles...
COUPLE’S INCREDIBLE POPPY SALUTE TO ARMED FORCES
IT’S made from hundreds of old Coke bottles and took 12 months to put together.
This incredible poppy display is the work of Armed Forces veteran Rob Martin.
And after spending countless hours handcrafting the tribute, it was finally unveiled in the front garden of his Oldham home just in time for Armistice Day.
Each of the 800 poppies is made using the bottom of a plastic Coke bottle, while the 120 wooden crosses each bear the name of a First World War battle.
After months of work, Rob began setting up the display on Friday and finished on Monday, just in time for the two-minute silence at 11am, which commemorates the end of the First World War.
Rob, 72, who served with the Royal Army Ordance Corps in the 1960s, drafted in friends and family – and even his grandson’s school – to help collect hundreds of empty bottles.
Each bottle was then cut out and shaped by Rob and his wife Christine before being painted.
Rob, a retired bus driver, said: “It’s a labour of love. All our family served in the forces.
“My dad was in the Lancashire Fusiliers, one of my brothers was in Royal Engineers and later joined the SAS. My two other brothers were in the Merchant Navy.
“I really enjoy doing it. The neighbours love it.
“We have kids walking past and they ask me questions about it and I tell them using what knowledge I have, about what it all means. “It’s a way of raising awareness and we also raise money for charity.
“We have collection tins outside and all the money raised will be split between the British Legion and Help for Heroes.”