Tom Daley inspires care home trio to become 'knitting brothers' creating poppy display for Remembrance Day

Three care home residents who have been nicknamed the ‘knitting brothers’ have picked up their knitting needles to produce a woollen poppy memorial ahead of Remembrance Day.

Eric Starsmore, 80, Walter Ross, 88, and Peter Gibbon, 86, from Hazelgrove Court Nursing Home have knitted dozens of woollen poppies, which have been arranged into the famous Unknown Soldier Silhouette.

Mr Gibbon and Mr Ross both learned to knit during the Second World War when they produced warm clothing for soldiers fighting on the front line. Today they find knitting “therapeutic” and reflect how “knitting helped the wives and children” when the men went to war.

Mr Gibbon, who was 10 when the Second World War ended in 1945, said: “All children were expected to contribute to the war effort. Boys were taught to knit for our soldiers, and they would do this at school, which is when I learnt to knit.”

Mr Ross, who was 12 in 1945, said: “I remember knitting socks for the soldiers and being told this would prevent them from getting trench foot, which was very serious and could cause a soldier to lose their foot.

“My mam would knit balaclavas and talk about knitting for victory during the First World War, when she was a child.”

Mr Starsmore can recall his mother doing the same before he picked up the skill when he got older and remembers his mam knitting in the air raid shelter.

He said: “When I was old enough, she taught me to knit. In those days, it was more common for boys to knit.”

'I am very proud of how well our men have embraced this project'

It was while watching Olympian Tom Daley knit between competing in his diving during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this year that activity coordinator Sharon Lewis found out the three men could knit.

Ms Lewis said: “When wanting to do some knitting with our men I discovered Peter, Eric and Walter could all knit.

“We were watching Tom Daley knitting between competing and they told me they learned when they were younger.

“Both Peter and Walter had knit at school during the War and were keen to do a project that would reflect this. Peter said he can remember being told that you had to knit for Tommy, to keep the great war soldiers warm.

“So, we decided to knit poppies, as this year is a hundred years of the poppy, and cover a Tommy soldier in poppies. We will then get people to pay a pound a go to guess how many it took and donate the money to The Royal British Legion.

“We started calling Walter, Peter and Eric our ‘knitting brothers’ as they said how they have enjoyed knitting the poppies and how therapeutic they found it.

“They said on reflection how knitting must have helped the wives and children when the men went to war.

“I am very proud of how well our men have embraced this project and delighted with the finished picture.”

Visitors to the care home will be asked to guess how many poppies are on the display for £1 – with all proceeds going to The Royal British Legion.

click here for more details or to contact Hazelgrove Court Nursing Home