The Longest Yarn, 3D depiction of the D-Day Landings, coming to Southwell Minster

The Longest Yarn is an 80m, 3D depiction of the D-day Landings, on June 6 1944, in wool art, and boasts 80 displays, each measuring one metre in length depicting scenes of the world’s largest amphibious invasion.

Scenes include the meetings held in the build-up to D-Day in England, the horrors on the Landing Beaches, and the inland battles.

The installation has been on display in Carentan, France, throughout May, and is now coming to Southwell Minster from September 9 to 27, the first location in the UK to host the exhibition.

Created with guidance from professional historians to be accurate, each scene has been selected to depict the story of this momentous day in history, with some depicting actual WW2 veterans that were in the theatre of war in Normandy on June 6 plus the lesser-known events in local towns and villages in Normandy.

Over 1,000 knitters from across the world, including the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, and even people with NATO stationed in Europe, have joined in to help make this project happen.

The idea was created by Tansy Foster, who led the operations from France.

She said: One of my favourite scenes that will be on display is the depiction of the famous moment Lord Lovat and Piper Bill Millin crossed Pegasus Bridge, and another is when he plays his pipes on Sword Beach.

“Piper Millin’s son donated his father’s favourite jumper to us which we unravelled and used the wool to knit the figures of Piper Bill - it’s given a real poignancy to these scenes.”

The Very Revd Nicola Sullivan, Dean of Southwell has extended her thanks to Big G Logistics who agreed to collect the exhibition from France and bring it over at a discounted rate, and Brittany Ferries who waived their transport costs to bring the yarn safely across the sea.

She said: “We are honoured to be the first place in the UK to host this prestigious exhibition.

“We look forward to welcoming visitors to Southwell to view these scenes from what is one of the most important days in European history.”

An accompanying book will also be on sale while the exhibition is on display at the gallery, giving more information on each of the 80 scenes, including a picture from 1944 to show viewers what each scene was based on.

The Longest Yarn are a non-profit Association and self-fund the exhibition – to make a donation, visit www.thelongestyarn.com