Quilters capture images, personal stories, from WW I

Family stories and iconic images from Beaumont-Hamel are among the stories told through a series of quilts that are being assembled for a First World War anniversary event next May.

So many quilters took part, there are enough panels to create 17 quilts with 260 images.

Members of the Cabot Quilters Guild gathered Tuesday to assemble the pieces, working out of a building on Churchill Ave. in St. John's where the Royal Newfoundland Regiment once trained.

Donna Walsh and Elsa Flack spoke with Here and Now's Jonathan Crowe. Check out the video above.

Walsh made a block with a picture of her grandfather, who enlisted when he was only 15.

"He's my hero, that's what I call him, because he said every man who went to war was a hero," she said.

Quilter Ellen Penney worked on a map of Beaumont-Hamel, as well as a ghostly image of the Danger Tree, a petrified tree on the battleground that gained its moniker as casualties mounted during the battle. 

Penney said her husband and son also became involved, doing research.

"It certainly makes you realize how foolish war is," said Penney.

A book is in the works, and the quilts will be on public display at the Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay May 14 and 15.