Veterans benefit from Darlington's hand-crafted poppies

Four the past four years, dozens of knitted and crocheted poppies have adorned the footbridge in Darlington's Head of Steam railway museum.

Each poppy was stitched together in an overwhelming response to an appeal for help from the museum to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War and the 2,236 railwaymen who died in it.

With the museum's exhibition exploring women's contribution to the work of the railways in the First World War now coming to an end, staff were keen to use the poppies to support ex-personnel in the area.

The Mayor of Darlington, Councillor Veronica Copeland, who is also the council’s Armed Forces Champion, joined members of the Age UK North Yorkshire and Darlington Veterans Support Group and staff at the museum yesterday to launch the special fundraising campaign which will see the poppies given to visitors at the museum for a donation.

All money raised will go to Age UK North Yorkshire and Darlington Veterans Support Group.

The Mayor said: “Over the past four years as the nation marked the 100th anniversary of World War One, the people of Darlington have paid tribute to those who were killed in many different ways and I’ve been honoured to be part of that as both Armed Forces Champion and as Mayor.

“Whenever I visited Head of Steam, I always stopped to admire the poppies hanging from the footbridge and it’s lovely to think that they are now going to help support our local veterans."

She added: “Hundreds more poppies were hand-crafted for a special Poppy for a Soldier display at Crown Street Library and these are to be donated to the Royal British Legion – one of my chosen charities – to support its annual Poppy Appeal.”

More than 1,100 Darlington men were killed during the conflict. A database about the soldiers was compiled by historian Stephen Nicholson and published by The Northern Echo, available by visiting thenortheastatwar.co.uk