A BEAUTIFUL embroidered tribute to the fallen heroes of World War One has been created by people with little or no sight.

Blind and partially sighted members of the Bournemouth Society for the Visually Impaired’s sewing club have spent the past six months working on a banner to commemorate the start of World War One.

They have now finished their labour of love, which is proudly on display at the charity’s headquarters in Victoria Park Road, Moordown.

It features a central embroidered poppy and strands of poppies designed to look like they are falling. Members also brought in old wartime pictures of their relatives to stand alongside the banner.

The original idea was proposed by Helen Ellis, who is completely blind but who does a lot of bead work.

The design was largely down to 76-year-old Margaret Lewis and volunteer Jackie Selcoe and around 20 people played a part in its creation. Emma McCue embroidered the central poppy and Elsie Young came up with the idea of the hanging poppies.

Margaret said: “What’s been lovely is they’ve all surprised themselves. When we started it was ‘I can’t do that, I’ve not sewn for ages, I don’t know how to do that.’

“We’ve put the material in front of them, given them a needle and thread and said ‘have a go’ and they did and they’ve surprised themselves.”

And Jackie added: “It’s been a very sociable thing to do. That chats that have gone alongside it, the memories that have come out. It’s been a real team effort.

“I think everyone’s really proud of the finished result. Personally I’m thrilled with the way it’s come out.”

BSVI chief executive Philip Tarrant said: “There’s an assumption you lose your sight and are immediately bottom of the class. This is a way of showing to everyone and anyone that losing your sight doesn’t mean losing your ability to do things.”