First came the 15-foot knitted Christmas tree, which captured the imagination of Norfolk's knitting community and raised thousands of smiles and funds in the process.

Now the Friends of John Grooms Court have unveiled their latest ambitious project – a 10-feet tall, six-sided pergola which boasts a wooden framework covered with knitted squares and hundreds of colourful flowers, leaves and wildlife.

The impressive display was officially launched yesterday by Songs of Praise presenter Pam Rhodes at The Forum in Norwich, where it will be on show during the Easter holidays until Tuesday, April 22.

The BBC presenter, who was once the anchor for Anglia TV's evening news programme, described the pergola as an 'amazing achievement' which showed off the 'skill, love, talent and laughter' that has gone into the project.

The Knitted Christmas Tree was created in 2010, with 600 knitters making 4,600 green squares for leaves and nearly 2,000 tree decorations.

It was displayed in a variety of locations in Norwich and helped raise nearly £10,000 for John Grooms Court, in Sprowston Road, which is a home for adults with disabilities and is run by national disability charity Livability.

Organiser Ann Meijer, whose 28-year-old daughter Catherine lives at John Grooms Court, came up with the original idea for the knitted Christmas tree and has spent the past few weeks assembling the knitted pergola in a room kindly provided for her at Honingham Village Hall.

She said that with all the contributed flowers, leaves and wildlife, the number of knitted items used to create the pergola comes to more than 10,000.

She added: 'We have even got hanging baskets and bird feeders. It's really quite amazing to see the variety of flowers people have sent in and we've even had flowers knitted and sent from as far as Australia.'

Mrs Meijer toured Norfolk to speak to knitting groups to ask them to get involved, and she said the response had been tremendous and had come from much further afield.

She said: 'Our oldest knitter was 104 from Walton-on-Thames, and we've had things sent from Canada and Italy, we've also been given some wool from the Falklands. It's been a real community effort to benefit John Grooms Court and it's given a lot of people who enjoy knitting the chance to do something creative.'

Financial donations can be made payable to 'the Friends of John Grooms Court, Norwich' and should be sent to the Knitted Flower Pergola, John Grooms Court, 215 Sprowston Road, Norwich NR3 4HX.

Do you have a story about a community fundraising project? Call Kim Briscoe on 01603 772474 or email kim.briscoe@archant.co.uk