The Longest Yarn – Southwell Minster

A piper whose piper-father led soldiers onto the beaches on D-Day will play the bagpipes for The Longest Yarn, a wool art depiction of that fateful day, when it opens in Southwell Minster next month. 

Like Father like Son: Bagpipes lead the Longest Yarn installation of the D-Day landings

The textile installation, The Longest Yarn is an 80-metre-long 3D depiction of scenes from the world’s largest amphibious invasion including the build-up to D-Day in England, the horrors on the landing beaches and the inland battles.

John Millin, son of Piper Bill Millin, will be the guest of honour for the opening in Southwell Minster on 9 September when, like his father before him, he will play the bagpipes to mark the occasion.

Bill Millin earned the nickname The Mad Piper, for leading men into battle on that day armed only with his bagpipes. He is depicted in two of the eighty scenes that make up The Longest Yarn and wool from one of his jumpers has been used to knit the man himself.

The installation will be first on display in Carentan, France, in May, before coming to Southwell Minster from 9-27 September.

Created with guidance from professional historians to be accurate, each scene has been selected by the creator to depict the story of this momentous day in history and has involved over 1,000 knitters from across the world, including the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and France.

Some of the scenes depict actual WW2 veterans that were in the theatre of war in Normandy on 6th June plus the lesser-known events in local towns and villages in Normandy.

Tansy Foster, who came up with the idea and has led the operations from France said:

“One of my favourite scenes 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 (frogged) 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 said:

“We are honoured to be the first place in the UK to host this prestigious exhibition and look forward to welcoming visitors to Southwell to view these scenes from what is one of the most important days in European history.

The exhibition runs from 9-27 September. An accompanying book will be on sale, 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 is a non-profit organisation and the exhibition is self-funded – if you would like to donate, look for the go fund me button at www.thelongestyarn.com

The exhibition was made possible by the generosity of Big G Logistics who will bring the exhibition from France and Brittany Ferries who have waived their transport costs.