More than 15,500 Norfolk men and women will be represented in the display of handmade poppies to commemorate the end of the First World War 100 years ago.

Eastern Daily Press: Appeal for more poppies to meet the 15,500 target. Picture: County Council Libraries and Information ServiceAppeal for more poppies to meet the 15,500 target. Picture: County Council Libraries and Information Service (Image: County Council Libraries and Information Service)

During the past year, Norfolk County Council's Library and Information Service have been working with Norfolk residents, schools, community groups and supporters worldwide, to create a poppy for all 15,500 of those named on Norfolk's war memorials, who lost their lives in World War 1.

The project by Norfolk County Council's libraries has attracted donations from people from as far as America and Taiwan.

Chairman of Norfolk County Council's communities committee, Margaret Dewsbury, said: 'As 2018 marks the centenary of Armistice Day, this display seems a fitting way to remember those from Norfolk who gave their lives in the conflict.'

The poppies will be on display in the World War I chapel in St Mancroft Church from October 22-30, before being split into smaller displays and distributed across Norfolk's 47 libraries and 8 mobile libraries in November 2018.

As part of the Armitice Day project, more than 400 stories telling how war impacted people's lives in Norfolk have been shared on the Norfolk World War I website.

Sarah Salmon, who is co-ordinating the project for Norfolk County Council's Library's and Information Service said: 'So far, we have around 11,000 poppies towards our total, including 1,000 from America and 500 from Taiwan, so we're well on our way to the target, but we'd love to receive more.'

Anybody can create a poppy for the display, they can be made of any material, but need to be no bigger than 10cm x 10cm (4in x 4in).

Finished poppies can be handed in at any Norfolk library and the last day for contributions is 8 October.

For more information and pattern ideas click here.