Dorothy is an artist and has been painting pictures of poppies throughout the year, which she has now sold, with all proceeds going to Help for Heroes, a charity that works to provide better facilities for wounded servicemen and women in the UK. She has raised over £300 in the last two years.

Although her family has no links to the armed forces, she said that her husband inspired her to do something for the charity. "My next door neighbour and my husband went to Brides Norton and back in one day to pay homage to the soldiers," she said. "They hadn't got relations in the forces but they just felt they had to go down and do it and I thought what a wonderful tribute that was, and we're all sitting up here doing nothing."

She chose to paint the poppies with acrylics on canvas board. Using silk poppies, she painted the stalks and the leaves.

"I did them in black, white and red," Dorothy explained. "I thought it looked quite stunning, and a lot of people have that colour scheme in their house so it seemed like a good idea. Then I thought that it might be a bit too morbid for some people so I did some green stalks and leaves as well. They looked quite impressive!"

Dorothy is now an accomplished artist, but she didn't even start painting until she moved into the Warrington retirement village.

"I've only really been painting since I came here," she admitted. "I used to decorate cakes but when I moved here my kitchen wasn't big enough, and I'd done it for 12 years so I needed a change anyway. I started painting and I've never looked back since!"

Picture: Dorothy with her certificate from Help for Heroes.

For further information, please contact:

Lucy Henson, PR officer
0789 105 3062
lucy.henson@extracare.org.uk