Lockdown project to be put on display at City Hall

The project was to crochet, knit and sew poppies that would eventually be placed on show at the City Hall for two weeks to commemorate Remembrance Day.
What started out as ten people quickly turned into 200 individuals being involved, who have now made a total of six thousand poppies, which will be on display on the balcony of the City Hall from Monday 1st November.
Explaining the though process behind the project, Corina said: “I originally had this idea during lockdown when our shop was closed and we, the members of The Arts and Crafts Association, could not meet. I thought that if we could all work on a common project, it would feel like we were together.
“When I heard that some Gibraltarians were feeling depressed and lonely and they feared for the future, I thought that we can go bigger and grander and make it a Gibraltar community project. I didn't know how many would be willing to take part. I didn't have any goal of how big the display should be, the idea was that everyone should have fun and enjoy doing it.”
Corina obtained the necessary permission and in April 2021 started work on the project. She initially created a Facebook Group called ‘Knitting, Crochet & Sewing for the Fallen – Gibraltar’ as a way to stay in contact with the people involved. Ladies were making the poppies at home and once they had finished were bringing them to the Arts and Crafts shop in Casemates.
Corina states that Saturday’s were known as ‘the counting day’, with member’s eagerly awaiting to find out how many poppies had been made thus far.
ONE LADY MADE TWO THOUSAND
By mid-July, the group had collected over 5000 poppies, with around 200 people now involved in the project. “We've got poppies from the Knit Gibraltar Group and also from the ladies from Mount Alvernia. We even had a lady from the UK that came to Gibraltar to visit her son, heard about our project, and knitted 50 poppies for us. One lady made over 2000 poppies, another lady made 2” Corina said.
MAYOR PLACED FIRST POPPY
The next step was sewing the poppies that had been created onto the net. The Mayor of Gibraltar, Christian Santos had the honour of sewing the first poppy on the net.
Most of the poppies are red in colour, which is the standard coloured poppy, however, some poppies are purple, to also pay tribute to all the animals that died in service.
When it was then safe to do so, members started to meet up at the Arts and Crafts Shop and began to sew the poppies onto a 10m X 2m net. “We made new acquaintances, met old friends again, we sewed, we talked, we relaxed and we produced a wonderful display in honour of the fallen. Their sacrifice brought us together again,” Ms Gidei said.
Corina stated that even though they managed to make over 6000 poppies, she didn’t have a goal in mind as to how many she wanted to create. She said: “My only goal was to bring the community together after the terrible separation during COVID, to make people feel good, to make them feel part of community and since crafting can be relaxing and is beneficial to mental health, it seemed a good idea.”
The remaining poppies that did not make it onto the net will be sold in the Arts and Crafts shop in Casemates, with all proceeds going to The Royal British Legion.
Corina added: “We hope the public will donate money to the British Legion during the time the veil is displayed and after. Donation tins are available at the Arts and Crafts shop.”
The net will be displayed on the City Hall balcony for two weeks, from the 1st - 15th November. Corina notes that they hope to display it elsewhere in Gibraltar next year if the veil remains in good condition.
At the moment the association do not have any other projects planned, however since they enjoyed doing this one so much, Corina states she might think of something.