A Sudbury group is looking to adorn thousands of hand-knitted and crocheted poppies across the Bridge of Nations in honour of Remembrance Day. Helen Bromley came up with the idea of “Poppy Project Sudbury” in January after hearing about a similar display in Stratford. “At that time, I thought the Bridge of Nations, how great that would be?” she said. “To do that for the veterans here and actually make it a community project.” Helen has personal ties to the military and to veterans. “The veterans mean a lot to me,” she said. “My father and my husband’s two parents were actually in the services, so, you know, it’s kind of close to home to me.” Helen and a group of 24 individuals have been regularly contributing to the project. Helen told CTV News that she sews, on average, 10 poppies a day. Group faced tight timeline after approvals in late August After receiving approval from the Legion to utilize the poppy and the City of Greater Sudbury approved the use of the bridge at the end of August, Helen said they were short on time. “We’re trying to physically do a miracle here,” she said. “We had 52 days basically to work on this project that should have taken 52 weeks.” She and her group initially set a goal of 18,000 to 20,000 poppies. Currently, she estimates they have over 12,000 and are working quickly to sew the poppies to netting. The group first announced their initiative on social media in August and word has caught on. Poppies have poured in from across the city, the province and beyond – they have even received one from the United Kingdom. Helen and her husband, Graham, have had to go on road trips across Ontario after local stores ran out of yarn. “We ended up, in August going to Pembroke area, Mattawa, buying whatever they had in the in their plastic and, got the funny looks like, where are you going with all that red yarn?” Graham said. “In September, we were in Barrie, Orillia, Penetanguishene, we were down around Midland-area last month with two vehicles full of yarn because the yarn we ordered here wasn’t in yet.” He added that he believes it’s important for veterans to know that the community cares. “We like to see the veterans and let them know that the public care about them,” Graham said. “That’s why I got involved. I get emotional when I talk about it, but, they need to know we care, you know, and don’t hide it.” Legion branch marks 100 years amid community support The initiative has been supported by numerous community partners, including Legion Branch 76, ANAVETS, the United Way Northeast Ontario and the Greater Sudbury Public Library. Bob Cullens, VP of Legion Branch 76, said the initiative feels particularly special, with the branch and the Legion as a whole marking 100 years this year. “It’s really been encouraging to see the amount of Legion members who are encouraged and wanted to be engaged in this and are constantly bringing in Ziploc bags full of poppies and, saying, here we got more to add, should we stop? No. Keep going,” he said. “It’s a full community initiative in here and it kind of warms your heart to see that involvement.” Volunteers needed ahead of installation Helen said they are in desperate need of volunteers to sew the poppies on to the netting and to install them on the bridge on Oct. 23, to coincide with the official launch of the National Poppy Campaign on Oct. 24. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony and speeches will be made at Memorial Park to mark the occasion starting at 2 pm on Oct. 24. Helen said the project has been approved by the city for two years, so, they’re hoping to reach the 20,000 poppy target by Remembrance Day 2027 – adding that she hopes the project knits the community together and lets veterans know that they are not alone. “I’d like them to know that we are thinking about them,” she said. “They come back home and I think some of them feel alone with nowhere to go and that maybe people don’t think of them. But we do and I hope that gives them that message that we, the community, care very much about the veterans and their families.”
