A CATHEDRAL city is set to be flooded with a sea of red in a huge community effort to honour the war dead.

Ripon councillor Stuart Martin was so inspired by Thirsk’s town centre poppy display in 2016 that he launched a campaign to inspire Ripon residents to create poppies for a mass display later this year.

The plan is to line Ripon’s Remembrance parade streets with handmade poppies and care homes and schools have got onboard.

The Army has also expressed its support and firefighters have offered to install the poppies.

Community groups such as the Rotary Club have donated funds to cover costs and Cllr Martin said: “It has been absolutely tremendous, the community support has just been overwhelming.

“We put a post on facebook in early January and it just went ballistic overnight.

“We have had most of the care homes getting involved, with residents knitting, crocheting or sewing poppies for the display.”

Cllr Martin sought advice from the organiser of Thirsk’s display and was told that more than 32,000 poppies were used, so Ripon’s display will need at least as many as that.

The poppies will line the Remembrance Sunday parade route from the town hall along Westgate and Park Street to the war memorial in the Spa Gardens and then on to Ripon Cathedral.

Cllr Martin has received donations of timber which could be made into wooden poppies to be displayed along the bypass, subject to permission from the county council.

Pupils from Outwood Academy are also researching the stories of the people behind the 240 names on the town’s war memorial.

They will display their findings on large poppies which they will carry in the Remembrance Day procession, subject to approval.

Cllr Martin admitted that the project is ambitious but is confident it will be a success after the way the community has embraced it.

He said: “It is a bit nerve-wracking because we don’t want to let ourselves down, or the the people of Ripon, and most importantly the people who are being remembered.”

The poppies will be installed in mid-October and will stay up until mid-November if the weather allows.

To get involved, contact Cllr Martin on 07811-390448 or bigstu.martin@virgin.net.