The Poppy & Star Flight – a nationwide fundraising project with 34 volunteer pilots each flying a sector of a four-week circling of the country – hits the Central North Island and Waikato over the weekend .
The flight, dreamed up by travel broker Melanie Salisbury, involves a giant poppy and star flown around New Zealand in the lead up to ANZAC Day with the two large pieces of knitted artwork being added to by locals at welcome events in each town.
At the end of the journey, the artworks will be donated to charity: the star to The Starship Foundation, and the poppy to the RSA.
The events will be “a place where people can come and see what we are doing and why, and children can have fun learning about the charities,” said Salisbury.
In Taupō on Saturday Active Arts chairperson Wendy O’Callaghan said the public was welcome to watch sewers adding their handmade poppies to the works at the Redoubt Street workshop and there would be activities for children, from 11.30am-1.30pm.
“We’re really looking forward to hosting them,” she said, adding that the pilots who were donating their time and costs were deserving of praise.
On Sunday the pieces will be at the Linda Jones Retirement Village on River Road in Hamilton from 11am-3pm where, similarly, visitors can take part in activities, find out how the project is supporting the RSA, The Starship Foundation and NZ Warbirds Association and enjoy tea and cake.
Knitters and crafters were welcome to make more poppies and stars and add them to the donation table along with village crafts, said village organisers.
The Poppy Flight took off from Ardmore Airport on March 26 with a Harvard aircraft flying to Thames for the first of the welcome events before heading down the east coast of the North Island to arrive in Wellington on April 1, then circling the South Island.
This week the itinerary involves events at Nelson on Wednesday, Paraparaumu on Thursday, and Hawera on Friday.
After Hamilton on April 18 the artworks hopscotch their way to Kaitaia, before finally landing again in Ardmore the Saturday before Anzac Day.
Credit: Stuff.co.nz
