A GROUP of crafters had ‘poppies coming out of their ears’ when they knitted around 4,000 memorial decorations and managed to raise more than £1,000 for charity in the process.

The Cawthorne Crafty Ladies started their knitted challenge all the way back in March with plans to create thousands of poppies for Remembrance Sunday and it turns out their advanced planning paid off.

Margaret Cooper, from the group, admitted that for a time they had to ‘stop counting’ but ended up with around 4,000 in total.

“It’s mostly just from people in Cawthorne, but there were a couple of people on the fringes who helped out,” she told the Chronicle.

“I’ve got a friend in Low Barugh who helped and there’s a woman at Mapplewell Manor Home who’s been crocheting.

“It was honestly a bit of a nightmare - there were poppies coming out of our ears.

“But it’s there to be built on next year.”

Pupils at Cawthorne CofE School got involved and designed their own poppy wall using paper crafts.

On top of the ladies’ crafting work, which saw the village decorated with red woollen crafts, the group chose to host some fundraising events that earned £1,128.60 for the Royal British Legion - £700 from two coffee mornings and a further £428.60 from a Remembrance Day service.

“It was amazing, I actually couldn’t quite believe we raised so much,” Margaret added.

“At the end of they day they gave their lives for us and those who didn’t can come back so injured it effects them for the rest of their lives.

“It’s easy these days to just forget and carry on with our own lives - we should never forget.”