Thousands of knitted flowers decorate Hampshire church to mark Platinum Jubilee
Thousands of flowers have been knitted and crocheted by a Hampshire village to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
Churchgoers and residents in Denmead made around 2,700 red, white and blue flowers to decorate their local church.
More than 200 metres of bunting have been cascaded around All Saints Church, through the garden and into the road in time for celebrations on Saturday (June 4).
The village is set to host a street party, marking the Jubilee with family events and community activities.
Vicar at All Saints Church, Reverend Emma Racklyeft, says creating the decorations was "a real community effort."
All Saints Church, and others in Hampshire, say they want to celebrate the Queen's historic achievement of serving as our sovereign, remembering "not just her sense of duty as monarch, but also her evident Christian faith."
Its vicar, the Reverend Emma Racklyeft, said: "Over the last few months, members of the church and community have been really busy knitting and crocheting lots of jubilee flowers - red, white and blue.'
"And we have put all those flowers together and made them into lengths of long bunting which are now hanging all across our church."
"It looks absolutely stunning and it's been a great, brilliant community project. Lots and lots of people have contributed, young and old."
Reverend Emma Racklyeft explains what the Queen means to the village of Denmead
"We've counted at least 2,500 flowers, but we think it's closer to 2,700."
"It has been an amazing response to our appeal for people in the village - and their friends - to get knitting and crocheting."
Explaining why the village came together, Reverend Racklyeft added: "For us, we really wanted to mark the Queen's Jubilee: A lady who has served so faithfully, has given so much, and set a wonderful example for all of us on putting other people's needs first, being committed and serving dutifully."
"And so we wanted to celebrate and give thanks for 70 years of our Queen's reign."
The village's street party is set to take place at 3pm, which the Reverend says "is a community event that the church is right at the heart of."
"We'll have a bouncy castle, and gazebos with tables and chairs so people can picnic in our church garden, plus giant Jenga and Connect 4 games and children's activities."
"There will be prayer stations inside the church, and red, white and blue decorations. The fence around our garden will also be decorated with Jubilee decorations created by the local school."