2018 Pop Up Poppies, Melbourne

In 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One, Melbourne Festival pulled together nearly one hundred knitters to create 4680 poppies for the Grenadier Guards who lost their lives during the conflict. Each Thursday afternoon the group met at Pool Cottage Residential Home to make the poppies as well as eat cake. The project gained momentum, to the extent that we lost count beyond 7000 poppies. The initial 4680 were mounted on camouflage netting for display alongside Melbourne Pool during the 'Melbourne Festival Art & Architecture Trail' in September. In November 2018, they were displayed again outside Melbourne Parish Church, with the remaining poppies hung in other Melbourne Churches and on railings around the village. The main piece is now stored at Melbourne Parish Church to exhibit during the annual remembrance period in November. The project was funded by Arts Melbourne Ltd. The project was originally inspired by Frank Green, a resident at the Care Home, who was in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War.