Rededication

This will be a short post but it's reminding you that the rededication of the Tuncurry War Memorial will occur this Sunday 22nd. at 11am. There will be a band present too, and a BBQ lunch at the Memorial Hall after the band concert. It sounds like a great program for the day and we're all praying for fine weather.

Ted Bickford, our extraordinary Graffiti Buster in Forster-Tuncurry, has organise about 12 young people (and parents) to come and assist Julie and me put out the poppies. Our husbands, John and Ken, are also helping.They have been really marvellous supporting us in this project but I'm sure they will be very  happy to have homes free of poppies after ANZAC Day.

Yesterday, Julie and I collected the red painted letters - A, N, Z, A, C - from the Men's shed here. They look great! The letters are 50cms tall and will go on tree guards near the War Memorial on ANZAC Day.

Today we had some more lovely women come to join us on our Crafty Tuesday morning at the Church hall to make poppies. They had seen our ad in the Advocate where we were appealing for more poppies. We've attached about 4,500 poppies to the approx. 240m of Velcro strips - to be used on Sunday. Julie and a couple of other women are working to cover strips of sheeting with poppies but that takes quite a long time to do. There are over 800 poppies on a single bed sheet. The poppies are attached to wide strips of sheeting using a price tagging gun - we now have several of these guns to make things go faster.

It's great to see that poppies continue to be delivered to the parish office so we will make a reasonable field of poppies for ANZAC Day. PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING EVERYONE.

2015 - close to War Memorial Rededication on 22nd Feb

It's a long time since my last post but there's been a big family gathering here over Christmas and New Year so poppies have been rather neglected. It seems that most of our poppy makers have also been otherwise occupied as there weren't many poppies handed in early in January.

Today we received about 350 - wonderful! This means we probably have collected well over 12,000 poppies now and on the way to 13,000. We've really stopped counting every one as we're using poppies in different ways. Some poppies are going on to sheets to create a field of poppies on ANZAC Day and lots are going on to Velcro strips.

 This photo shows a few poppies along the new pathway.

These strips of poppies will be used to line the pathways when the Tuncurry War Memorial is rededicated on 22nd February. We're delighted that our wonderful graffiti Buster, Ted Bickford, and his helpers are going to assist in putting out and picking up the poppies on 22nd. Feb. Many thanks to Ted and your group for helping us in this way -  the Great Lakes 5000 Poppies ladies!

We've placed and ad in the local paper, The Advocate, for 11th Feb and we're appealing to the public for more poppies. We need more so we have enough to line the pathways and to cover the sheets for ANZAC Day.

 
We've also made many smaller poppies and stitched brooch pins to the back of them. The RSL sub-branch people will take as many as possible of these as they like to wear them on ordinary shirts. We gave some of these small poppies and a variety of larger poppies to 14 school children and the accompanying adults who are travelling overseas to visit war cemeteries and see battlefields in Europe in April. They will place the larger poppies on gravestones. It's unfortunate that the situation in Turkey has meant that schools are not taking pupils to Gallipoli now.

Here are some of the wonderful poppy makers at a Tuesday morning workshop.

We're all ages and are enjoying the friendship here as we work and chat.

WOW - We've now collected over 10,000 poppies.

This is just an amazing result. Julie and I never expected that we'd make this number so quickly. In late February when we started, we thought a target of 5,000 was ambitious. When we reached that, we decided we'd try to make 10,000 poppies. We never expected we'd make that target before the end of November - only 9 months.
CONGRATULATIONS and MANY THANKS to all you amazing women who have been making poppies for us. It's a thrill to open a parcel which has been sent to us and find even more beautiful poppies to add to our collection. However, we're happy to accept even more poppies to make our display next year look really impressive.

As we've reached this last target of ten thousand poppies, we've been able to pass on to the Forster-Tuncurry R.S.L. sub-branch 3,000 poppies. This means they will be able to give 500 poppies to each of the six local centres with war memorials.

We're continuing to discuss just how we will use these lovely poppies when the War Memorial at Tuncurry is rededicated on 22nd Feb. and then for the major display on ANZAC Day 2015.

I've also included a photo of the wreath made for Remembrance Day which Julie and I laid on behalf of the local community.

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2014

Remembrance Day 2014

Julie and Margot made a wreath from over 100 poppies which they laid at the Remembrance Day service at Forster, NSWNearly 500 poppies were used to decorate the altar at St Alban's church last Sunday. We tried to follow the idea from the Tower of London, with a river of "Blood" red poppies spilling out of the basket and spreading in front of the altar. There was also an unveiling of the refurbished honour boards in the church hall after morning tea and these had poppies around them too.

We're thrilled that ladies everywhere are still making poppies to add to our collection.  Keep them coming so we can make a great display next year.
The RSL sub-branch people are thrilled with our display plans for the rededication service at Tuncurry on 22nd Feb. and for ANZAC day next year. We have over 9,500 poppies now and will be giving 3,000 of these to the RSL so they can hand them on to the local memorial committees. These people will then be able to plan their own display for ANZAC Day 2015.

I'd still love to have more poppies dedicated to people who served in wars. We have some but not many yet. If you wish, let us know by email, the name and details and we'll put a dedication on a poppy for you. The email address is: 5000poppiesgreatlakes@gmail.com

Here's a photo of some of the stacked up boxes in a garage.

We are now discussing with lots of people how we will display the Poppies at Tuncurry on ANZAC Day 2015 . With all the poppies being made, we will give 500 to the RSL for each of the local centres to display too.

We're all excited having reached 9,000 completed poppies now. In fact there are 9,045 poppies all ready to be displayed. We carefully pack and store in polystyrene boxes. There are 500 poppies in each box.

We're very grateful for the donation of these boxes by our local Forster fruit and vegetable shop - Farmer's Patch.

However, our first display will be when the rededication of the Tuncurry War memorial happens on 22nd Feb. 2015 . Poppies will line all the pathways and there will be a small display - but not all of the poppies will be on display then as we want ANZAC Day to be the major event.

I continue to be stunned and thrilled by all the poppies we receive from so many women around the area! One woman arrived with 140 poppies in  plastic bag and wanted some more yarn so she could knit more when  she holidayed in New Zealand - how wonderful is that? There are also the many other dedicated and regular contributors of poppies with their 7-20each week. It really makes the total mount up quickly and we've now reached 8880 poppies with our 10,000 target very close indeed. The RSL sub-branch in Forster-Tuncurry is thrilled with all these and discussions are occurring as to how we will display all these poppies to their best advantage and ensure that they are a mark of respect and remembrance of all those who have been part of military forces - in war and peace.

Once again many thanks to all you wonderfully dedicated poppy makers.

By the way, we haven't heard from many about dedications put on their poppies. I want to list all these if possible.

Till next time, keep making the poppies!

8,000 poppies and still counting!

What an amazing effort this is by the many dedicated women who continue to knit and crochet poppies and as well as some women concentrating on making felt poppies. One of our ladies is crocheting small poppies which have a brooch pin sewn on and can be used by men and maybe even the travelling school group who are going to Gallipoli next year. Everyone deserves congratulations for their great efforts working towards our aim of 10,000 poppies.

At the Crafty Tuesday last week there were lots of poppies handed in which included 500 from Margot. This collection included ones made in Vanuatu, in the Whitsundays as well as in the Snowy Mts. in the past 3 months. It never ceases to amaze me where the poppies are being made which are then added to our collection here at St Alban’s Anglican Church in Forster. We will have a lovely problem of how to display all these poppies at the rededication of the War Memorial at Tuncurry in late February and then on ANZAC Day. However, I’m sure that will all be organised and they will make an amazing display as well as lining the pathways of the War memorial. It will be a great reminder all the people who have been part of military forces.


Outlook across the beach where the poppies were made in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu    




        Many of the poppies spilling out of the raffia Vanuatu bag.

     

Display of the variety of poppies made as people cruised in the Whitsundays     

         

Geraldine, one of the dedicated poppy makers sitting in the sun on a yacht in the Whitsundays in September 2014

Poppy makers were looking out across these snow gums to the snow covered mountains in the background as they made poppies.             

This is a display of those poppies in the snow

 

Dedications    I’m aware that some people have attached dedications to their poppies. If you would let Julie know by email at: 5000poppiesgreatlakes@gmail.com, we’ll make a list of all the names of the people for whom the poppies are dedicated and include them on the blog.

Keep making poppies all you wonderful people.