Alistair Hardaker
Image: Threads of Remembrance (Lynnette Crisp, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust)
Original target nearly double, with volunteers spending hundreds of hours installing display honouring 11,000 naval personnel
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust is to display 20,000 poppies, as its the Threads of Remembrance project completes.
Created in partnership and Nucleus Arts, with support from Medway Council, the community produced nearly double its original goal of 11,000 poppies to represent one of the 11,000 men who lost their lives aboard the 142 Royal Navy destroyers sunk during the Second World War.
The poppies now form an installation at the National Destroyer Memorial at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, unveiled in the lead up to Salute to the ‘40s and will remain on display until Armistice Day.
At the centre of the memorial is HMS Cavalier, the last surviving Royal Navy destroyer of the Second World War.
Lynnette Crisp, director of public engagement at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, said “we are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed.
“We are also grateful to the volunteers who devoted hundreds of hours to building the installation. Attaching thousands of poppies has been no small task and their commitment has been incredible.
“Thanks to our research volunteers we have sourced the 11,000 names of those who were lost.”
David Stokes, chief executive of Halpern Charitable Foundation, added: “Partnerships like this show what’s possible when heritage and creativity come together. Threads of Remembrance also proves that art can do more than decorate, it can unite, heal, and give us a powerful way to remember and get involved.
“When visitors see this sea of handcrafted poppies, they will not only see a tribute to the lives lost but also feel the hands and hearts of thousands of people who took the time to create them.”
