Leigh984, The creative portfolio of Leigh Spencer

As part of the " Newbold Remembers " Remembrance Sunday commemorations the Girlguiding groups in the village created a beautiful display at The Church Of St James in the village using the base of plastic bottles painted red and mounted on green sticks, recycling and helping the village to mark an important date at the same time.  

  In Newbold Verdon as Remembrance Day approached in 2025 the Newbold Knitseys got to work creating a fitting tribute in the form of a postbox topper in the village. Taking the form of a wreath of Poppies with the silhouette of a solider stood beside a fallen comrades grave in mourning with further poppies around the base (including a purple poppy for animals who served) the topper is a focal point for villagers to remember the fallen and the sacrifice they made for our freedoms.  

  On BBC East Midlands Today a Weather Watcher photo from a viewer featured a spectacular bright red Poppy field noting its location as Witherley a small village in Leicestershire and only 20 mins drive from home one evening we set off to find and capture the stunning sight. As we arrived on the edge of the village the low hum of drones and sight of multiple parked cars told us we where close, sure enough through glimpses in the hedge we saw flashes of red colour, parking in an open gateway we where greeted by a spectacular carpet of bright red poppies stretching as far as our eyes could see. In the distance the village church spire could just be seen over the hedges and the birds where singing in the hedgerows and trees around us. Soon as the evening sun began to cast long shadows and back lit the flowers, bees moved buzzing between them and various smaller insects completed the scene. Overhead a plane makes a trail through a near cloudless sky as the warm graduations of sunset ...

In 2022 the Stoney Stanton Yarnbombers in Leicestershire created a display of knitted Poppies to remember the fallen and all who served their county in various conflicts through history. I visited on Armistice Day to see the display which featured Red, Purple and white Poppies alongside square knitted silhouette details of soldiers and horses. The 17 large panels where hung across the wall of the St Michael`s Church and featured a middle panel with the words #wewillrememberthem.

The Newbold Verdon Knit and Stitch group meet most Wednesdays at the village library. One meeting the group decided they wanted to mark the 100th anniversary of armistice day approaching in some way, it was decided that kitted poppies would be the way to go and so plans and Knitting needles where set in motion creating hundreds of Poppies for a display who`s form was yet to be finalized. Ideas flew about the group faster than than their hands could knit, how would the poppies be displayed, inside or out, cascade or hung from a tree, maybe even a model plane could be included ?. Eventually a cascade over the planting behind a bench just outside the library was agreed and the poppies where attached to black plastic netting familiar to many a gardener and placed over the prickly hedge, the poppies where joined on either side of the bench by large silhouettes of soldiers on plastic signboard printed by a local sign maker and applied by myself completing the display. My film acts as a...