By Casey Neill
A sea of red poppies will spill down the steps at the Pillars of Freedom in Dandenong this Anzac Day.
Carole Bloomer and Leslie Whitiskie led a project to create the crocheted carpet.
“It sort of started last year when we had volunteers get together down at the RSL,” Ms Bloomer said.
“Somebody thought it might be a nice idea to make some poppies.”
She later asked who was taking charge but nobody seemed to know.
“I thought I’d better get on with it,” she said.
The Saturday knitting group and Monday craft group at Willow Lodge in Bangholme made “a huge number”.
Residents at Herbert Street Village in Dandenong made lots too,” she said.
Ms Bloomer and Ms Whitiskie gathered them all up and attached them to old carpet bowl mat, creating 4 by 1 metre runners covered in poppies.
“They look fantastic. Once they’re rolled out down the steps at the pillars, I think they’ll look mighty,” Ms Bloomer said.
The poppies range in size from about 2cm up to 15cm.
“Everybody had their own idea of what a poppy looked like,” Ms Bloomer said.
“They’re all different shades of red.
“A lot of people have put a lot of hard work into it.”
One lady, Dot Heard, knitted 376 on her own over three or four months.
“Her husband was a returned serviceman, he passed away last year,” Ms Bloomer said.
“She enjoys being down at the RSL.
“She wanted to give something back and she certainly has.”
