Southport’s breathtaking Poppy Drape honours Remembrance Day

“We created three postbox toppers for Remembrance Day last year which had three individual soldiers on and a few poppies and this year we thought we would go bigger and better.”

Southport has unveiled a stunning display in honour of Remembrance Day: a 12-by-2-meter Poppy Drape adorned with 10,000 hand-knitted and crocheted poppies.

Installed in the Remembrance Gardens on Lord Street, the artwork has been created by local group Southport Hookers in collaboration with the Southport Royal British Legion.

Red poppies have been created to honour the people who have lost their lives in war with purple poppies to honour the many animals that also died in conflict. 

They have also created crochet poppies to surround the planters in the gardens, as well as Remembrance themed postbox toppers around Southport. 

The Poppy Drape was installed overnight on Friday and was unveiled by Sefton Council Leader Cllr Marion Atkinson following the 2024 Poppy Appeal launch at Southport Town Hall on Saturday. 

Since then, the artwork has been admired by thousands of visitors to Southport, ahead of the Remembrance commemorations in Southport this November. 

The Southport Hookers were founded just over a year ago. 

Since then they have worked hard tirelessly to create beautiful crochet postbox toppers across Southport. They also created special crochet artwork which was on display at the 100th anniversary Southport Flower Show this August. 

In April they were honoured with an award at the 2024 Grand Pride Of Sefton Awards at The Grand Southport as a Finalist in the Sefton Arts Award, sponsored by Fitton Estates. 

Southport Hookers founder Suzanne Urquhart said:

“We are really pleased with how it has turned out. 

“We created three postbox toppers for Remembrance Day last year which had three individual soldiers on and a few poppies and this year we thought we would go bigger and better. 

“We looked at what other towns were doing for Remembrance Day and saw some of the wonderful poppy drapes that have been created and thought we can recreate this for Southport. 

“We spoke to Sarah McEntee from Southport Royal British Legion earlier on in the year and asked if we could create a large poppy drape, whether we could showcase it for Remembrance Day this year and she was very excited about this idea. 

“We estimated that we would need 10,000 poppies to create this drape and we put an appeal out to Southport for locals to create knitted or crochet poppies for our project. 

“We have been overwhelmed with the response we have had. 

“Southport Library agreed to act as a drop-off point and we collected the poppies from there. 

“What a fabulous community spirit we have here in Southport. 

“Each poppy has been lovingly made and are all different which we think adds to the beautiful display.

“The Southport Hookers have spent the last eight weeks busy sewing the poppies to a 12m x 2m cargo net and we are pleased with how it has turned out. 

“We want to say a huge thank you to every single person that has created poppies for this project and for all of the Southport Hookers for taking their spare time to help to create it.

“We also want to thank Southport Royal British Legion for all of their help and support with this project and for the installation.

“We have also created new postbox toppers using these poppies which you will be able to see around Southport now.

“We hope everyone enjoys the display.”

Southport Royal British Legion Chair Major Nick McEntee said:

“About nine months ago the incredible Southport Hookers came to us with an idea. We loved it. 

“They have been working tirelessly behind the scenes, in addition to creating their amazing postbox toppers, to create this mind blowing Poppy Drape.

“Our job was to find a way to hang it. Using some Army and Navy engineering and rigging skills, plus some A-Level DT wisdom from 1996 we found a solution. The poppies now look like they are cascading from the sky.

“On Friday it was lovely to watch people standing and reflecting as they looked at the installation. 

“Please do go and spend some time admiring it, taking some time out with your own thoughts. 

“Lest We Forget.” 

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