D-Day: Woolly soldiers and tanks to mark 80th anniversary

Hundreds of crafters from around the world are taking part in a crochet and knitting project to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Lyn Standfield, 63, from Poole, Dorset, is one of the volunteers involved in making the 80m-long (260ft) woolly representation of the historic day.

The Longest Yarn exhibition will depict 80 scenes, including the D-Day or Normandy landings on five beaches.

It will be on display at Notre Dame Cathedral in France from 28 May.

Troops from the UK, the US, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of northern France on 6 June 1944.

It was the largest military naval, air and land operation ever attempted and marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied north-west Europe.

It involved the simultaneous landing of tens of thousands of troops on five separate beaches in Normandy - known as the D-Day or Normandy landings.

Many rehearsals and training exercises were carried out along the Dorset coastline.

Ms Standfield previously knitted postbox toppers before discovering the Longest Yarn project - a non-profit association in France.

"I've been making lots of things, from jeeps to full-size riffles," she said. "There's no pattern for anything we are doing so we've had to make them all up."

Ms Standfield said her work had prompted her children to ask her about D-Day.

"I know it's all about the past but it's all about the future as well," she said.

The Longest Yarn said its crafters were "all age groups and walks of life", including "those in pressured careers that find crafting therapeutic" and "busy mums".

"Everyone has contributed their yarn, their hours and creativity, along with costs for posting things, collecting their empty boxes in readiness for shipping to France," it added.

The exhibition will be on show at the cathedral in Carentan until 1 September. The team then hopes to take it on tour in the UK.

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