Care home residents in Sherborne and Blandford made beautiful displays for Remembrance Day.

Residents of Colten Care homes Abbey View in Sherborne and Whitecliffe House in Blandford handcrafted hundreds of poppies to put on display. Relatives, care staff and community contacts also spent time fashioning the poignant tributes by knitting, crocheting and felting red fabric and sewing on black buttons.

An appeal for friends and families to lend support resulted in more than 900 wool and felt poppies forming a prominent cascade outside Abbey View in Sherborne.

Resident Captain Gerald Blackburn, 90, said: “I was particularly touched while watching the poppy display grow as we have worked on it over the last few weeks.” Gerald joined the Merchant Navy aged 16 in 1946 and quickly rose to gain a Masters Certificate.

He added: “It’s a very special thing we have done and deeply touching to know that even during covid times we are able to remember the lives of the fallen. I’m very proud of the display.”

Among the contributions from the community were felt poppies made by Sherborne Beaver Scouts and nine poppies knitted by eight-year-old Grace Turner and her family.
In an accompanying letter, Grace wrote: “Dear Abbey View, here are some poppies for your Remembrance day display, knitted by myself, my mummy and my grandma. Best wishes to you all.”

Colten Care resident Maureen Smith, who lives at Whitecliffe House in Blandford, crocheting poppies for the home’s display

All 21 Colten Care homes in Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Sussex marked Remembrance with poppy displays and physically distanced gatherings including services and wartime poetry readings.
Diane Duffield, Companionship Team Leader at Abbey View, said: “Remembrance is always an important occasion for us as so many of our residents have childhood memories of the war and its aftermath. “Preparing our display was a lovely project to be part of. Our residents really enjoy their arts and crafts and the poppy making activity certainly prompted many conversations and recollections.”

Complementing the displays of poppies, Colten Care homes have also been fundraising for the RBL annual poppy appeal.

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