Yarn bomber hands over reign after two royal assignments

Holmes Chapel Community Yarn Bombers have once again painstakingly created a moving Remembrance Sunday montage.

With pride and passion, each individual poppy was lovingly created at home by enthusiastic knitters and crotcheters.

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The sea of red woollen flowers were then meticulously attached to strings and the whole arrangement handstitched together.

This poignant Remembrance Day display took weeks of painstaking work making each poppy by hand (Image: Anita Armitt)

Once each part of the design was completed, the display was finally put into place, with the help and support of family and friends.

Dedicated crafter Anita Armitt, who co-ordinated the team with Nicola Swinnerton, said: “It is a lot of work. It took me two weeks and six days.

Handmade poppies adorn the railings around St Luke's Church (Image: Anita Armitt)

“I hand sewed them on and lost count after 2,000!

“I absolutely love doing this but it is very time consuming.”

Anita started the group during Covid to ‘give people something to do’.

We will remember them (Image: Anita Armitt)

However, this labour of love didn’t just spring to life each November but snowballed with two prominent royal events.

Crafters created a stunning seven-foot foot figure of the late Queen Elizabeth to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee in May 2022.

The white dress, blue cape, gold crown, red carpet, black handbag an even the corgi were woven together from six-inch squares.

Crafters also adorned post boxes, traffic lights and the entire village with knitted bunting, soldiers and a miniature Queen.

A seven-foot figure of the late Queen was created to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee (Image: Anita Armitt)

Less than a year later, villagers made a life-size sculpture of King Charles, ahead of his Coronation.

To celebrate the sovereign’s passion, knowledge and dedication to ecology, they designed a garden, complete with a wheelbarrow, wellies and watering can.

Crafters even made butterflies, bees and flowers to celebrate the King’s love of nature.

A life-sized sculpture of King Charles and a garden were created to celebrate his Coronation (Image: Anita Armitt)

“The only reason we do this is because it brings us joy and gives us something to focus on,” said Anita.

“It is priceless to put a smile on someone’s face.

“However, I think it’s time to hand over the reigns of the yarn bomb group to someone else now.

“We’ve had an incredible few years.

“Making a King and Queen in under 12 months is remarkable.

“The Queen was very well received all over the world.

“It’s been a roller coaster but now my enthusiasm is dwindling “Expectations are high and I can’t keep up the demand for something bigger and better.

“Hopefully, someone else will take over.”

Villagers have paid tribute to Anita on social media, for her unstinting efforts.

Liz Banks said: “You’ve done an amazing job, especially with the royal figures in the church yard.

“You and your group have brought so much pleasure to so many and put the village firmly on the public awareness map.”

Martine Nicholson said: “Well done, Anita, you have been an amazing leader to our group. Thank you.”

Victoria Acres added: “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done.

“Co-ordinating all the knitting and crocheting and the displays must have taken a huge amount of your time and energy.”

Jayne Wignett said: “Anita, you’ve done so much and the village has been so lucky. We are all so grateful.”