A few of the 500 people who contributed to a banner commemorating Romsey’s part in the Great War gathered in the town’s abbey on Friday.

A thousand felt poppies, made by people of all ages across the Test Valley, have been stitched together to depict the cap badge of the Romsey Remount Camp, where more than 100,000 horses and mules were prepared for service at the front.

Each fringe of the banner bears the name of one of the men from the area who fought and died plus the name of the person who contributed a handmade poppy.

Mayor of Test Valley, Jan Lovell, chair of Test Valley Community Services, Dorothy Baverstock, and the Handmade Collective, who ran poppy-making workshops, attended the viewing along with some of the poppy makers from King’s Somborne School, Romsey Young Carers and Romsey Disability Forum.

Cleon Hutton, community development officer at Test Valley Community Services which commissioned the work, said: “This is a very beautiful and poignant piece of art work which helps to make very real the act of remembrance in the communities of today with the local men who fought in the First World War. “ Cleon thanked Aster Communities Neighbourhood Panel for funding the project, the Abbey for “displaying it so gloriously” and to all of those who helped create the banner.

The banner will be on show in Romsey Abbey until Saturday (November 22) and it is hoped to exhibit it in village halls across the area so that more people can see the hanging up close.

Claire Vine, of Handmade Collective, said: “Many of the young people here today were unaware of what the finished piece would look like and it is great to see their reactions today as they see it completed and hanging in the beautiful surroundings of the Abbey along with photographs of the Romsey Remount soldiers and horses.”