The Bombed Out Church is excited to announce an ambitious art installation in the gardens at St Luke’s to mark Remembrance Day.
In the interests of creating a sense of unity and togetherness during pressing times, the church is inviting schools and members of the public to create poppies from plastic bottles, which will then be planted en masse in the memorial garden on Leece Street.
“In respect to St Luke’s status as a war memorial, we wanted to find a meaningful way of inviting people to join us in remembering the service of our Armed Forces, veterans and their families, both past and present, and thanking them for the sacrifices they have made.”
“The poppy garden symbolises our unity then and our unity now; it encourages us to recall the difficult times we have overcome together in the past and reminds us of the importance of community in achieving this.”
“Following the new lockdown measures, we figured households across the city would be looking for ways to entertain themselves at home – so we came up with a fun and easy arts and crafts project which promotes the values of resourcefulness and recycling, while inviting the people of Liverpool to figuratively come together by contributing to an exciting installation at the church.”
The contributed plastic poppy flower heads will be attached to garden stakes and planted in the garden by the team at St Luke’s.
“The plan is to start planting around the ‘Truce’ statue by Andy Edwards and then radiate the poppies outward; the dream would be to fill the whole memorial garden!”
The team at St Luke’s have created an easy to follow infographic and instructional video – all you need is an empty fizzy drink bottle, scissors and some paint! You can contribute your finished poppies by posting them to the Poppy Post Box at the church, or popping them into the box in person: The Poppy Post Box, St Luke’s Church, Leece Street, Liverpool, L1 2TR
For those who are able, the church is encouraging a donation of £2 with each poppy – £1 will be forwarded to The Poppy Appeal, while the other is dedicated to the organisation of further community projects at St Luke’s. If you are unable to donate, the church have expressed that they would still be delighted and most grateful to receive your poppy or poppies.
You have until Saturday 7th of November to contribute your flower, in time for a full display on Remembrance Sunday.
For all the instructions and to donate head to bombedoutchurch.com/poppies.
There’s also an option to sponsor a poppy which will be made by the team at St Luke’s on your behalf. St Luke’s Bombed Out Church is also delighted to invite applications to their new volunteer programme, with opportunities to get involved in horticulture, landscaping, carpentry, media, events, arts, heritage work, and historical research. For more information please visit bombedoutchurch.com/volunteer.