7 GoodGymers yarn-bombed the Community Centre this week, continuing work on the Craft Coop's stunning poppy masterpiece.

We've spent many weeks supporting this project and it's fantastic to see it all coming together, one poppy and one stitch at a time.

Diya and Kanika took on the challenge of sewing together the next section of canvas, the netting that the poppies are attached to. After a couple of false starts, they settled into a rhythm and worked steadily from opposite ends. With the finishing line in sight and just a few stitches left to go, they discovered they'd sewn the pieces together in opposite directions! Thankfully, all was not lost. Diya quickly came up with a clever workaround, leaving Michelle with an easy fix to complete the following day.

Meanwhile, Mike, Sol, Jess, Anne-Laure and Roberta got stuck into attaching poppies to the prepared canvas. These were the larger poppies, and Michelle's top tip was to have one person tack everything into place before the rest of the team secured them properly. Jess took on tacking duty while everyone else got busy stitching. Sol developed a brilliant system that allowed the whole team to work on the canvas simultaneously, making the process much more efficient.

A huge amount of work was completed during the session, and the finish line is now beginning to loom into view. We have one more crafting session on 14 October to help complete the masterpiece, before returning on 21 October at St John the Baptist Church to assist with the installation. We can't wait to see the final display in all its glory!

Seven Goodgymers spent a happy and productive hour at the community centre adding to the poppy artwork organised by the craft coop. The numerous poppies were carefully placed and sewn in place on the backing material, each was individual and unique. Many hands made light work! We all enjoyed the joyful singing and lively discussion from a community group sharing the building making for an entertaining evening. If anyone missed the fun, we will be back to carry on the task in a couple of weeks!

11 GoodGymers met at the Community Centre to continue the good work of tacking crocheted poppies to a 3 metre net panel. This panel will be part of the 21 metre memorial piece that Craft Coop is putting together for Remembrance Day.

So what is this Le Coquelicot Tapestry, you ask? Well, it's French for The Poppy Tapestry, inspired both by the topical Bayeux and our resident French GG-er, Anne-Laure. Sol jokingly suggested we should charge £2 for people to see this Poppy Tapestry and we thought it'll be more appealing if it sounded French. Enter, Anne-Laure and may we present, Le Coquelicot Tapestry. Voilà! :poppy:

Many hands made good progress as we chatted and laughed, resulting in just another social and productive GoodGym mission.

Seven GoodGymmers met Michelle from the Craft Coop at the Community Centre to begin work on their monumental poppy display for Remembrance Day.

Michelle shared the story behind the installation: the Craft Coop are creating multiple panels of knitted and crocheted poppies that will be hung from a church in Windsor as a flowing memorial. Many people — including some GoodGymmers — have already contributed poppies, and the team have collected around 12,000 so far.

All of these poppies need to be attached to netting panels that will form a dramatic “river of poppies.” The panel we worked on tonight was a test piece, used to calculate the final weight of the installation (including when wet) to ensure it can be safely displayed.

Shelia, Hannah, Jen, Jess and Anne‑Laure took on the task of attaching poppies under Michelle’s guidance. Each poppy needed to be sewn securely to the canvas without overlapping too much — a chance for the Craft Coop to refine the best layout and attachment method for the final panels.

Meanwhile, Amy and Deepti were entrusted with creating the two large feature poppies that will be included in the installation. They stitched together pre‑cut plastic canvas, added the black centre, and began attaching the red pom‑poms. These oversized poppies are already looking fantastic and will be real showstoppers once finished.

It was satisfying to make visible progress, but this project will take many volunteers and many hours to bring to life. Keep your eyes peeled — we’ll be putting on more sessions to help this beautiful memorial become a reality.

The Craft Coop needed help transporting their shop fittings and other belongings out of the Nicholsons Centre before it is demolished. Five amazing GoodGymers offered their time to help, and joined the shop managers and their family members, plus Neil from Bridge Rotary The plan was to load up cars with the stuff and then unload them at the other end. Heidi turned up with her Mini and we did wonder how many items we could fit in, but luckily there were other car boots available too. We loaded the cars up, then walked some of the bulkier items round to the Town Hall. We unloaded the items, taking them through a rabbit warren of passageway and stairs, to the storage room. Several carloads later we completed our task and the storage room was full! Thank you to Angela, Christine, Diya, Sheila and Viv for giving up their time and energy - the Craft Coop is extremely grateful.

Nine crafty GoodGymers responded to a plea from the Craft Coop to assist in the production of poppies which will be used to decorate Windsor Parish Church for Remembrance Sunday. This ambitious project will see thousands of poppies cascading down the front of the church. Poppies could be made of any textile as long as they are weatherproof! The Goodgymers exercised their fingers, thumbs and brains knitting and crocheting over 235 poppies between them in their spare time. Thanks all, it's a great contribution to this community project, and the Craft Coop are extremely grateful