Full-size poppy soldier among North-East remembrance displays

Communities across the north-east of England are using creative ways to remember those who died in conflict.

A life-sized image of a soldier made from more than 600 knitted poppies has been placed on a bench in the Northumberland town of Wooler.

In Darlington, artist Sarah Oatley has created a Waterfall of Poppies installation on High Row.

Meanwhile, Gateshead's Saltwell Park is the venue for one of the six national Fields of Remembrance.

The Wooler sculpture in the Market Place used poppies recycled from last year's war memorial display - a cascade of more than 2,000 poppies.

Patricia Scott, one of those involved in its creation, said: "Last year we made a poppy cascade. The whole community got involved in sewing.

"We carefully took every poppy off the cascade and my daughter Susannah came up with the idea of a soldier."

She spent three weeks working on the sculpture which involved stuffing a body-shaped mould and stitching poppies on to it.

"The response has been tremendous. We are overwhelmed by the amount of people who have contacted us," Ms Scott said.

Among the usual red poppies in the Darlington display are less commonly seen purple poppies representing the animals which lost their lives in war. These were introduced in 2006 by charity Animal Aid.

Artist Sarah Oatley said: "As a resident of Darlington, I'm incredibly proud of my town for coming together to create such amazing poppies," she said.

The Gateshead display features a poppy cascade from Saltwell Towers and thousands of wooden crosses.

Gateshead Mayor Councillor Dot Burnett said: "It is a huge privilege for Gateshead to host the Field of Remembrance for its tenth year and to honour the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country."

The display is on show until 20 November.

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