Washington soldier's handmade tributes to villages's fallen

Karen Joynson is a corporal with the Military Provost Guard Service based at Catterick Garrison – but lives in Washington.

She has handmade poppies for war graves at Holy Trinity Church in Washington Village – and plans to do the same for the nearby Our Blessed Lady Immaculate.

“I always walk through the Holy Trinity churchyard with my aunt’s dog and I see the war graves,” she said.

"I thought it would be nice to do something as this year there will be no Remembrance Parade, no commemoration like we normally have.

"So I ordered some poppies – they were actually yellow in the middle, but I spray painted them black – and I have put them on the graves.

"There are 20 in Holy Trinity and I have ordered another 20 for Our Blessed Lady Immaculate, where I am going on Monday.”

Karen has been in the Army for 18 years and went out to Iraq on the first operation in 2003: “I was injured there but I was lucky enough to come back,” she said.

Washington Red Cap Simon Miller was on the same operation but was less fortunate: “I know Simon’s plot is at the top of the graveyard, so I always walk past and I always say ‘Hello’, even though I didn’t know Simon myself,” said Karen.

She is a keen supporter of the Poppy Appeal and says The British Legion have done a lot for her.

She said: "Last year, I had an operation on my foot and the rehabilitation and physio I received were second to none – it just made me more grateful.”

Karen hopes seeing the poppies will make people walking through the cemetery more aware of how many of those buried there made the ultimate sacrifice.

"Previously, people would have walked past and not looked at the graves but a big red poppy there draws their attention,” she said.

Earlier this month, work in the churchyard uncovered a number of lost graves and Karen has marked some of them with poppies at the request of volunteer Mary Evans.

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