The 101 knitted dolls in St Breward church and why they were made

There are 101 small figures standing among the poppies and ferns in St Breward Parish Church this month. A hundred of them are women. One is a man.

Every one of them was knitted by hand, and the story of how they came to be there started with a plan for about twenty.

Women at war, from WW1 to today

To commemorate and support this year’s Remembrance, Fran Calver and Sara Burrows have worked together on a combined display for the church flowers for November. It brings together the 101 knitted dolls with foliage and artificial poppies.

All of the dolls were knitted by Sara. Between them they show the different roles women have taken on during war, in the armed forces, nursing, factories and on the home front, with uniforms running from the First World War through to modern members of the forces.

How twenty dolls became 101

Sara started making them in January, intending to knit twenty or so. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer.

The project became her personal therapy and a distraction for her mind through a major operation and complications. It has carried on as she completes weekly chemotherapy.

Even at her lowest, Sara says, researching the different uniforms and roles has been really interesting and fulfilling. It took her from the many nursing uniforms to the Canary Girls in the factories, and to the discovery that Girl Guides were used to pass on secret messages because the Boy Scouts weren’t seen as reliable.

The help behind the display

Sara says all of her hard work would be nothing without the assistance of Fran, flower arranger and display coordinator extraordinaire, who arranged the foliage that forms the backdrop to the dolls. Sara is incredibly grateful for her advice, support and ideas.

She also thanks her mum Hazel and neighbour Robin Fry, who cut the display blocks, and everyone who helped put the dolls up when chemo brain and fatigue hit.

Visiting the display

The dolls are on display at St Breward Parish Church as part of the church flowers for November.

Anyone close by is invited to stop and remember the often unsung and forgotten women who looked after those at the front, kept the war effort moving, and prevented or put out fires on the home front.

And somewhere among the hundred women stands the one man.