More than 3,000 hand-crocheted poppies made by Let's Make Jam WI have transformed the Spitfire Gallery at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley for Remembrance.
What's new: Let's Make Jam WI has once again surrounded Stoke-on-Trent's Spitfire, RW388, with a remembrance display at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley.
By the numbers: More than 3,000 hand-crocheted poppies, on display until Sunday 15 November 2026.
Why it matters: Made entirely by local hands, the display has grown every year since 2021 and has become one of the city's most moving tributes for Remembrance.
More than 3,000 hand-crocheted poppies have transformed the Spitfire Gallery at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, in a remembrance display made by the women of Let's Make Jam WI.
Stoke-on-Trent's Spitfire has once again become the centrepiece of one of the city's most moving tributes for Remembrance.
A river of red poppies spills from the wing of RW388, pools across the gallery floor and climbs the staircase to the balcony above. A wreath rests beside the cockpit, and garlands of poppies are threaded along the railings, so that wherever visitors stand, they find themselves inside the display.
Every poppy has been made by hand by members and friends of Let's Make Jam, a Women's Institute group whose members are spread across North Staffordshire. The museum says the display contains more than 3,000 crocheted poppies, each one "carefully handcrafted with love", and describes it as a moving tribute to those who have served and sacrificed.
The Staffordshire Signal visited on Remembrance weekend, and the gallery was busy with families, older visitors and people stopping quietly to take photographs. Among the sea of red are white poppies, symbolising peace, purple poppies remembering the animals who served, and black poppies honouring the contribution of Black, African and Caribbean servicemen and women.
A display that keeps growing
The poppy project has grown year on year. It began in 2021 with a display for a local cenotaph, and in 2022 a larger version was hung along the railings outside the museum entrance. In 2023 the group moved inside the Spitfire Gallery for the first time, draping more than 1,000 poppies made from wool, felt and even paracord from the aircraft's wing.
By 2024 the display had passed 3,000 poppies, and the group has said its members have made close to 10,000 over the years. Parts of the display are also lent to other organisations for their own remembrance events.
The city's Spitfire
RW388 is a Mark XVI Spitfire built at Castle Bromwich in 1945. The RAF presented it to Stoke-on-Trent in 1972 in memory of Reginald Mitchell, the Spitfire's designer, who was born and educated in North Staffordshire.
After decades on display in the city, the aircraft spent three years being restored by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society in Kent. It returned to a new £5.4 million glass-fronted gallery at the museum, which opened to the public in September 2021.
The museum itself closed for a £5 million redevelopment and began reopening in stages from 28 March 2026, with the Spitfire Gallery among the first spaces to welcome visitors back.
Visiting
Where: The Spitfire Gallery, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 3DW
When: Until Sunday 15 November 2026
Getting in: Entry to the museum is currently through the Spitfire entrance
Photos and video: Jenna Goodwin / The Staffordshire Signal.
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