Friends from afar join forces to knit wartime life

Volunteer knitters spent hundreds of hours creating wartime scenes as part of an exhibition highlighting life in World War Two.

Rosemary Fielder, from Penrith, Cumbria, was keen to get involved in the project, having previously knitted for a similar exhibition commemorating the D-Day landings.

She roped in two friends, one from Newcastle and one from Sussex, with a third joining from Norway after they met on holiday. They knitted Winston Churchill visiting HMS Exeter as it returned from a mission in 1940.

Fielder said: "When you're sewing up 80 sailors' feet - and, literally, their shoes are the size of my thumbnail - it's a bit of a labour of love, but it's been so rewarding."

It took the group about seven months to knit the scene, which is one of 80 making up The Longest Yarn 2 exhibition coming to Rheged near Penrith on 26 March.

It aims to portray what everyday life was like for people in Britain during the war, from when it was declared until the parties in the streets to mark its end.

Fielder described taking part in the project and coordinating the help from her friends as a "wonderful opportunity".

She said: "When you see all 80 of the panels together, plus the full size models that we've got, it's just such a wonderful tribute to the people that lived through it - or didn't."

She visited the exhibition when it toured other counties and is looking forward to her friends from around the UK visiting the Penrith exhibition, with her Norwegian friend also due to visit later in the year.

"[The exhibition] just blows you away," she said.

"It's such a marvellous opportunity for children to learn about history through a different medium."

Profits from tickets go to supporting veterans' charities including Forces Veterans Afloat - a project to refurbish canal boats to provide permanent homes for veterans with PTSD.

The exhibition runs until 28 April.

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