Villagers near Banbury unveil spectacular war horse memorial sculpture covered in thousands of poppies

Located outside the village’s Memorial Hall, Jim the War Horse will now become a permanent fixture for Woodford Halse.

The idea to purchase Jim and decorate him with hand-crafted poppies for Remembrance Day came from the village’s Community Crafting group.

Founded by Hilary Wintersgill, whose father Jim was a jockey, the group soon organised a committee and got to work making the idea a reality.

The Woodford Halse Community Crafting group then spent the next 18 months working hard to fundraise for the purchase of Jim and create the poppies.

Poppy patterns were sourced from the Royal British Legion and the group put posters up around Woodford Halse to inform the village of their ambitious plans.

Thanks to the help of a grant, donations and various fundraising events held, the group was able to purchase a horse sculpture made from recycled metal from Kenya.

The group, which meets every Thursday from 1pm until 4pm at the Memorial Hall, then spent countless hours knitting and crocheting the bodysuit of poppies.

Jim the War Horse will be decorated with a bodysuit made from almost 10,000 poppies each year to mark Remembrance Day.

Some of the leftover poppies from the project will be used to decorate fly sheets for two horses that will take part in the village’s Remembrance Day parade.

The sculpture was officially unveiled by Hilary alongside the chair of West Northamptonshire Council Cllr Jo Gilford and chairman of Woodford cum Membris Parish Council Paul Blackwell.

Hilary said: “I am amazed at how many people have come out and supported us. It has been a community project the whole community has come together just to see the unveiling of Jim. It’s overwhelming and I feel very humbled.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Cllr Jo Gilford said: “Without everybody involved, Jim the War Horse would not have got over the finishing post.

“Birmingham have their bulls, Milton Keynes have their cows but now Woodford Halse has their war horse.”

The Woodford cum Membris Parish Council will now take over as custodian of Jim and will work to maintain it and decorate it each Remembrance.

Chair of the parish council Paul Blackwell said: “The horse looks fantastic and the parish council is very pleased to accept it and look after it forever, hopefully.

“It sits well outside the hall, looking up the road on the plinth and will be a landmark of the village long after we have all gone.

“It was lovely to see the village come out in such numbers to support the project and watch the unveiling on a work day in the middle of the afternoon.

“The Community Crafting group started about 18 months ago and they have gradually drawn in more members. The group has been great for the village and we are very grateful to Hilary for driving the group and leading this project.”