HEMYOCK Poppy Club’s displays have increased both inside and around St Mary’s Church this year and extended to include the village’s listed monument, The Pump.

The Community Shedders Club has also increased the number of silhouette solders, while The River Side Club has contributed towards this year’s display of yellow poppies with their yellow hat.

Volunteers decorate Hemyock's listed The Pump with poppies.
Volunteers decorate Hemyock's listed monument The Pump with poppies. ( )

The new yellow poppies in the displays are in support of the women who worked in the wartime ammunition factories.

The Canary Girls were British women who worked in munitions, manufacturing trinitrotoluene (TNT) shells during the First World War.

Their nickname arose because exposure to TNT is toxic, and repeated exposure can turn the skin an orange-yellow colour reminiscent of the plumage of a canary.

St Mary's Church, Hemyock has an expanded poppy display this year.
St Mary's Church, Hemyock has an expanded poppy display this year. ( )

St Mary’s Church, which is festooned with poppies, is open every day where there is also a display giving more detail as to how hard the women worked in the factories.

This year, there are crocheted bees hiding among the pews, which many children enjoy moving around the church.

The Royal British Legion’s national Poppy Appeal for 2023 is being launched on Friday (October 27).