The railings on either side of Glasgow’s People’s Palace are festooned with colourful blankets at the moment. During the First World War, Queen Mary’s Appeal for Knitters exhorted the women of Britain to produce 300,000 pairs of socks and 300,000 woollen belts for soldiers, a target which they exceeded. This inspired current members of Glasgow Knit and Stitch to form SOCK – Somme Observed Community Knitting – as an appropriate way to commemorate both the soldiers of Glasgow’s three Pals Regiments who took part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the women at home who knitted for them.

Somme Observed Community Knitting

Somme Observed Community Knitting

Somme Observed Community Knitting

Somme Observed Community Knitting

Somme Observed Community Knitting

Somme Observed Community Knitting

Each knitted or crocheted square represents one soldier – about 3,700 in all. Come September, the blankets will be cleaned and given to local charities working with refugees and homeless people.

What a tremendous idea – a memorial with a practical use afterwards. Thanks to Beverly McFarlane, one of the knitters, for alerting me to it.