St Mary's in Radcliffe puts its 14m poppy cascade back up this Saturday after the storm: 2,000 poppies made from plastic bottles, on show until 15 November.

The poppy cascade on the tower of Radcliffe Parish Church of St Mary is going back up this Saturday, 31 October, after the storm forced the church to take it down. It will stay in place until Sunday 15 November.

The display is made of about 2,000 poppies, and every one of them started life as the bottom of a plastic bottle.

“There are about 2000 poppies in total, with 1500 poppies in the 14m cascade from the tower & the others used under the lych gate, along the path & inside church,” the church told The Bury Post.

A long cascade of red poppies running from high on the stone clock tower of St Mary's Church, Radcliffe, down to a bed of poppies and small crosses on the grass
The 14m cascade runs down the clock tower to a bed of poppies and crosses at its foot. Photo: Vicky Bridge, supplied by Radcliffe Parish Church of St Mary

Made from the congregation’s bottles

The poppies were a parish effort from start to finish. “They are made from plastic bottle bottoms that the church congregation collected & Vicky & Mark Bridge spray painted,” the church said. “They were then assembled by volunteers from the church and Radcliffe Litter Pickers.”

The cascade was already up when the storm arrived. “The display has currently had to be dismantled due to the storm, but it will be back in place from Saturday … until Sunday 15th November along with displays in church honouring our local war dead,” the church said.

Hundreds of red poppies made from cut plastic bottle bottoms laid along the churchyard path at St Mary's, Radcliffe, between two strips of grass
Poppies made from bottle bottoms laid along the churchyard path. Photo: Tee Martin-Judd, supplied by Radcliffe Parish Church of St Mary

Where and when to see it

  • Where: Radcliffe Parish Church of St Mary, Church Green, Radcliffe M26 2QA (directions from the church).
  • When: from Saturday 31 October to Sunday 15 November.
  • What you will see: the 14m cascade from the tower, poppies under the lych gate and along the path, and displays inside the church honouring Radcliffe’s war dead.
  • Sunday worship at St Mary’s is at 9.30am, according to the church’s website.

Saturday Cafe on 14 November

St Mary’s also runs a Saturday Cafe on the second Saturday of every month, and the church asked us to let readers know about it. The next one falls on Saturday 14 November, while the cascade is still up, so a visit to the poppies can take in the cafe too. The one after that is on Saturday 12 December. The church lists the cafe on its events page; for opening times, email help@radcliffeparishchurch.com.

What it means for you

The cascade is outside, on the tower and in the churchyard, so the best of it can be seen from the path. The displays about the town’s war dead are inside the church. If you have questions before you go, the church asks people to email help@radcliffeparishchurch.com.

Radcliffe’s own Remembrance Sunday parade on 8 November runs from the Royal Oak to the Cenotaph and then to St Thomas’s Church. Times for every town in the borough are in our Bury Remembrance Sunday guide.