THOUSANDS of knitted poppies have added a splash of colour to Harwich Quay to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Residents from around the town have been spending the past few months knitting and creating handmade poppies to create a sea of red on the Navyard's perimeter fencing for a memorial display.

Dale Cheesman, secretary of the Royal British Legion Harwich Branch, helped attach more than 2,000 poppies on the fencing on Saturday.

Dale, who launched the poppy appeal in June, said she is overwhelmed with pride at the generosity of the community.

"They are amazing.

"It took about two hours to put everything up on the fencing and I had members of the Legion come to help.

"I am so pleased with how it looks and I am absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of the town with what people have made."

The poppies will be staying on the fencing until November 11.

Dale said she has not decided what to do with the poppies when they are taken down yet.

"The poppy fencing was an idea that came from somewhere in my head and I never imagined it being to the scale that it is at all," she added.