FABRIC poppies handmade by children to commemorate the centenary of the First World War have been flying off the shelves.

The students at Waterfoot Primary School, aged seven to 11, have been learning about the conflict while sewing the Remembrance Day brooches in their lunchtimes.

The voluntary sessions, led by teaching assistant Madeline De Souza, have given the youngsters a chance to perfect their sewing skills while learning about World War One and raising cash for the Royal British Legion.

Mrs De Souza said the groups of around 15 children per session have barely been able to keep up with the demand for the poppies and have so far sold 120 to pupils, staff, and parents.

She said: “The children absolutely love it. They’re learning to sew while being able to chat about the war and learning a lot.

“They only come if they fancy it, but we’ve had a lot of children wanting to take part.

“It has been mainly girls, but we have had some boys take part and interest from others.

“The children are all different ages so what we’ve been discussing is what the poppies stand for, all the people who died in the war and the poppies that grew in the fields.”

Student Alicia Varnom said: “We all came back in September and as soon as we saw Mrs De Souza we asked if we could come to craft club. She could barely get through the door.

“Mrs De Souza has shown us how to use a template, sew on buttons and use special thread and sharp needles.”

Fellow pupil Libby Clayton said: “We ask for £1 from adults and 50p from children.

“Craft club is awesome because we do different things each half term.

“ Next half term we are going to make lavender bags to sell at the fair.”