Appeal to find knitters for ‘poppy cascade’ at Dronfield community garden

The stunning display will see the Argos community garden near Sainsbury’s transformed into a carpet of bright red poppies modeled on similar projects that have adorned places such as the Tower of London.

The idea is the brainchild of Argos manager Joanne Tanner, who was also behind the NHS key worker rock hearts which went on display in the garden earlier this year, but she now needs the people of Dronfield to get knitting like they’ve never knitted before if her vision is to become reality.

She said: “It looks like the Royal British Legion are not going to be able to do the poppy appeal as they normally do this year so this might be a good way of reminding people about it.

“This year needs brightening up and something vibrant like this will cheer up the whole area. It will look lovely.”

The patterns are available online or from Argos, Sainsbury’s or the Jolly Farmer pub in Dronfield Woodhouse, but Joanne says people don’t need to stick to the set format if they can’t get one.

“People can make up their own styles if they want and they don’t need to be uniform or pretty - they just need to be red,” said Joanne.

“And people can drop them off once they are done at the same places. We just need people to get knitting!”

Joanne says she thinks it will be a tall order to create the approximately 10,000 poppies they need to make a cascade big enough for the garden, but believes if enough people volunteer their time they will get there.

The Argos Community Garden was set up on Wreakes Lane in Dronfield in 2019 and earlier this year put on a display of painted stones in the shape of a heart in honour of the NHS key workers who have kept people safe during the pandemic.

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