STUDENTS have been recycling plastic bottles to transform into beautiful red poppies as part of a memorial garden.

The pupils at the Thomas, Lord Audley School in Colchester have been learning about the Royal British Legion in their life skills class.

They were tasked with creating a memorial garden made out of recycled materials.

The garden was unveiled at a special event, to which councillor Dave Harris and the Royal British Legion were invited.

Teacher Lorraine Robertson who has been leading the project, said: “The centenary is important.

“I teach a life skills class and one of the elements of that was to look at a charity and what they do.

“We have made 100 poppies, one for each year, and the teachers have been sponsoring them with a namesake to raise money for the Royal British Legion.”

The school researched the names of fallen soldiers which have been added to the poppies.

About 15 children took part in the project, which included making the poppies and preparing a fence around the memorial garden.

Mrs Robertson added: “They have absolutely loved it. We used the bottoms of old plastic bottles for the petals and the lids for the black parts in the middle.

“We have raised more than £150 so far.

“We have also done a lot of work on what it was like to be alive during the First World War and have written letters home pretending to be soldiers in trenches.”