Exhibition of knitted and crocheted D-Day scenes on display at Peterborough Cathedral
'The Longest Yarn' is an 80m long exhibition
Last updated 4th Mar 2025
A new exhibition has opened at Peterborough Cathedral showing knitted and crocheted scenes of one of the big moments of World War 2.
D-Day was the largest seabourne invasion in history. It marked the start of the liberation of France and the rest of Western Europe.
The scenes are broken up in to 80 one metre panels that have been constructed around the world.
Each panel represents what happened on June 6th 1944.
Tansy Forster, the president of the longest yarn charity, tells us why she created the project:
"The purpose is to tell the story of what happened on D-Day. It's a story we all know but we don't talk about.
"Where I live in Normandy - I'm in the heart of the D-Day landing beaches and it's living history.
"I've tried to give everybody something to think about that how much sacrifice was given."
The scenes are retained to be historically accurate, with each one selected by the creator to depict the story
Sheila Cole is part of a group that helped to create one of the panels, she tells us what getting involved means to her:
"It meant us getting together as a community - because we did it in a group as lots of us had been a bit isolated.
"It's a big thing isn't it - but it's also the little thing that it meant to us."
The Very Reverend Chris Dalliston, the Dean of Peterborough Cathedral, says why displays like this are important:
"D-Day was a turning point in a past conflict. Some people can still remember that time.
"But we need to keep those memories alive because the new generation forgets.
"As we are seeing in Europe we really need to keep ourselves alert of justice, peace, the dangers of war and the price we have to pay if we don't get that right".
Exhibition at Cathedral 1
