VILLAGERS are being invited to help create a stunning snowdrop show along the route of a wildflower memorial walk.

Norley Wildlife Group is hoping to plant 10,000 snowdrops next month along the route of the walk and elsewhere in the village.

The three-mile wildflower walk was created by the group to commemorate the Norley men who died in The First World War.

There are memorial plaques sited around the walk, and blood-red poppies have been sown around them in remembrance, as well as wildflowers with which the men would have been familiar when they walked around the village more than a century ago.

The snowdrops are being planted in part because of their link with returning soldiers from The Crusades and The Crimea, and could boost Norley’s chances of success in any Cheshire Community Pride competitions it enters.

The 10,000 flowers would cost £1,200, of which the group has raised about half, and anyone who would like to donate can do so at the wildlife group’s stall at the Norley Village Garden Show, which is being held at the Tiger’s Head pub on Saturday, September 3.

“The mass planting has been greeted with enthusiasm, and the fund has been given over £600,” said group chairman Phil Gifford.

“The memorial walks has proved very popular with both villagers and visitors to Norley.

“Spring flowers such as bluebells and daffodils are present along parts of the walk, and some crocuses and snowdrops have been planted around many of the plaques.

“The snowdrops especially seem to be universally loved, and what better way to mark the end of winter than to see more of these little flowers.

“These beautiful, delicately-scented flowers are wonderful harbingers of spring, but also a very important early source of pollen and nectar.

“While poppies are now fixed in our thoughts as the flowers of remembrance, in the past snowdrops have been planted by returning soldiers from The Crusades and Crimea.

“Monks and nuns too, especially the Cistercians, planted snowdrops around shrines and on their otherwise unmarked graves.

“In some parts of the country picking the flowers is still considered unlucky as the unopened flowers look like a body wrapped in a woollen shroud, which up to the late 17th century was mandatory to safeguard the woollen industry.”

To support the snowdrop fund people can send cheques to Sheila Hills at 15 School Bank, Norley, or if they wish to buy some to plant themselves please call Mr Gifford on 01928 787217 to let him know how many you want.

The money raised so far includes donations from Norley Horticultural Society and Norley Parish Council.

The wildlife group plans to have a Corn dolly competition at the garden show.