Coronavirus: Pennington spells out message in wool

The woollen flowers were used to spell out a message of solidarity

Residents of a New Forest village have spelt out a coronavirus message in wool on a hedgerow.

Pennington church had organised the crocheting and knitting of hundreds of items for an Easter "yarn bomb", which was abandoned due to restrictions on gatherings.

Instead vicar Rachel Noel used them to make the words "Pennington stands together - even when we're apart".

She said it "recognised the strength of a community working together".

Hundreds of flowers, eggs and crosses had been knitted by individuals and groups in the village since January ahead of the planned Easter display.

Ms Noel said: "Then the whole world changed and I was left with 1,500 woollen flowers on my floor, thinking, 'what are we going to do now?'"

Two knitted figures illustrate the two metre social distancing rule

Along with the words, she also created two figures showing the 2m social distancing rule introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

She said the hedge had become a "focal point" for the village with the message seen by people out walking and images had been widely shared on social media.

The village created a similar display of knitted red poppies for Remembrance Day 2019.

Ms Noel is encouraging people to continue crocheting and knitting while the restrictions on movement are in place ready to create a "riot of colour" when the crisis ends.

"For a lot of people its helps with the isolation when you feel you are part of something bigger," she said.