Appeal to help poppy art plan

Sky of Poppies at Queensgate EMN-160607-113348009

Artist Charron Pugsley-Hill came up with the spectacular idea - but needs help to raise £15,000 to turn the plans into reality.

The project would see 1,177 handmade poppies hanging in the nave of the cathedral to commemorate each man from Peterborough who gave his life for his country during the First World War.

Charron was the brains behind the Sky of Poppies that featured in Queensgate in 2016 to remember those lost during the horrendous Battle Of The Somme in WW1.

Charron said: “Peterborough City Council applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund WWI grant which has unfortunately been turned down due to being heavily oversubscribed this year.

“I need to raise £15,000 for this project which is a time intensive process that allows participants to be immersed in a poppy making session whilst hearing stories from WWI and sharing their experience with others as part of a bigger highly visible project.

“Those who took part in The Sky of Poppies project will remember their involvement all their life, and even those who only saw the installation still talk to me about it and beam when they remember their first sight.”

The poppies would be created by Charron and Artisan Felter, Eve Marshall, in schools, businesses and workshops led by the two artists.

Each poppy will have the name of a soldier who died inscribed on it, and the people who make the individual poppies would hear the story behind the soldier their poppy will represent.

Each poppy would then be embellished with beads and sequins to catch the light when hung in the cathedral

It is hoped the installation would hang in the cathedral from mid-October until the end of November.

The Sky of Poppies saw dozens of handmade poppies hung in Queensgate to remember those who died in the trenches of the Somme.

The names of Peterborough men who died in the battle were also displayed on the shopping centre balcony, and read out in a moving ceremony.

For more information about the Cascade of Poppies project, or how to help with the scheme, visit www.charronpugsleyhill.com