THE Ormiston College community came together on Remembrance Day in a ceremony held at the school to honour Australia’s fallen.
Guest speaker at the service was Pozières Remembrance Association president Barry Gracey.
A wreath laying ceremony included Redland councillor Wendy Boglary, Ormiston College headmaster Brett Webster, prep students Carter Trask and Matilda Daly and secondary school students Ryan Watson and Tess Photinos.
A special feature of the service was a display of thousands of knitted poppies, made by the college’s Parents and Friends Association’s MOCCHA (Members of the Creative College Handiwork Alliance) Club.
A college spokeswoman said the club’s coordinator Samantha Allen approached the P&F and the MOCCHA Club to ask if they would assist in the making of 7,000 poppies that could be sent to France for the 100 Year Anniversary of the Battle of Pozières on July 23, 2016, honouring the sacrifice of each of the Australian soldiers who lost their lives there.
“An amazing response was received from volunteer parents, grandparents and members of the local community, many of whom had never before handled a knitting needle,” she said.
“Unperturbed, the majority of knitters took over two hours to fully finish the outer poppy petals, make the knitted black centre, sew them all together, then plait the tails for attaching to the crosses.
“Well over 10,000 hours of knitting was completed by the end of the project.”
The spokeswoman said on the day before the service, each student placed two or three poppies in a special display surrounding the circular stage in the college’s southern courtyard.
“The display was designed to represent the rays of the rising sun from the armed forces emblem and the words ‘Lest We Forget’,” she said.
“On the day of the service, those who knitted poppies were invited to lay the remaining red poppies on the three words.”
She said the poppies would be collected after Remembrance Day, ready for shipping to France.
