EVERY British soldier killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme will be represented with an individual poppy lovingly handcrafted for a community memorial.

Volunteers have knitted, sewn and crocheted thousands of poppies for The Great Cornforth and Ferryhill Poppy Project which will turn them into a tribute to those First World War fallen heroes.

Veteran and genealogist Andy Denholm, who came up with the idea, originally hoped to gather a poppy for every County Durham man or boy lost in the war– thought to be 7,117.

Overwhelmed by the public response he set a new target of 19,240 poppies which is the number of British soldiers killed on July 1, 1916 which was achieved this week.

The process of tying all the fabric poppies onto nets to be displayed in the West Cornforth area during the Remembrance period is now underway.

Volunteers can help at Holy Trinity’s Parish Hall, in Cornforth, near Ferryhill, on Saturday, between 9am and 5pm, and Sunday, 1pm to 5pm.

Mr Denholm thanked contributors and said it was not just about honouring the fallen but also uniting people in neighbouring communities and the USA, Canada and Australia.

Extra poppies will be used to decorate railings in the village.