Community Remembrance project begins to take shape

The Westbury community has begun creating an art installation for the town ahead of this year’s Remembrance commemorations. 

The Westbury Yarn Bombers, a local knitting and crochet group, were invited by Westbury Town Council to create a Remembrance display. Local people and businesses then sponsored posts to be covered with handmade poppies in the High Street, with hundreds of poppies being created so far.

The group began to install the poppy posts on Sunday 30th August, following a community sewing event which was open to anyone who wished to contribute to the project.

“We were very kindly hosted by the White Horse Community Hub at the Parish Hall, where volunteers spent the day arranging and sewing poppies onto the covers,” said Westbury Yarn Bombers founder Marisa Befoh. “Some people stayed for hours, others came along for a shorter time, but every pair of hands helped.

“One of the loveliest parts of the day was taking some of the covers outside and seeing people working on them around the actual bollards. Suddenly, something we have been planning and talking about for months started to become real.

“There was lots of conversation, laughter and teamwork throughout the day, and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who gave their time.

“We still have plenty of work ahead of us before Remembrance, and we are still very much welcoming poppies. Starting to assemble the posts does not mean we have enough or that people should stop making them.”

Poppy collection boxes are available at Westbury Station and Westbury Library for members of the public to donate homemade poppies ahead of Remembrance Day.

For more information about the project, contact Marisa on westburyyarnbombers@gmail.com.